~~~ PERU
ADVENTURE ~~~
February 2004.
It had been a very hard winter. We were inundated with snow and ice and confined to our house for days at a time. It was February and Punxatawny Phil had seen his shadow, promising 6 more weeks of winter. It was time to think of warmer climes.
South America seemed like a good place to go. Since one dream of ours was to go to Machu Picchu, we made plans on the spur of the moment and were on our way in less than two weeks, thanks to Kon Tiki Tours. They were extremely helpful and informative before, during, and after our tour. We would highly recommend them to anyone interested in traveling to South America. Although no trip can be perfect and one can always expect glitches, this was as close to perfect for us as it could be.
We arrived in Lima to 80 degree weather at 1:00 AM and were warmly greeted at the airport by Roberto, our guide, and Oscar, our driver. Roberto gave us a packet that included all the information and vouchers we would need for our hotel stays, tours, train and airline travel within the country. He also offered us information about Lima and Peru as we drove to the hotel. Roberto explained that Lima never gets rain, although he remembered it raining once 20 years ago. He said that Lima is 300 feet above sea level and primarily desert --- not at all what we expected. Nor did we realize that Peru, the third largest country in South America, is geographically about the same size as Alaska. There are more than 42 sections in the huge city of Lima, the home of approximately 8 million residents (about 1/3 the population of the entire country), spread out over a 42 mile by 20 mile area. We traveled through various sections during the half hour drive to the hotel, with Roberto pointing each of them out to us. We must admit that we couldn't keep it all straight. Despite its population, it didn't feel nearly as congested as other large cities we have visited.
We learned that the largest minority population in Peru is Chinese with the migration beginning in 1849. The second largest minority is Japanese with the migration dating from 1899. We knew that the Japanese community is among the largest outside of Japan, second only to that in Brazil, and the past President was of Japanese descent. He was particularly unpopular and had gone back to live in Japan when he was ousted from office. The current, Harvard-educated, President of Peru also is not very well thought of and appears to be ineffective in dealing with the economic problems of the country, if the people we talked to reflected the majority opinion.
As we drove we noticed that most houses had walls around them and were told, in response to our inquiry, that most people have their own security guards. Because of the poverty and high unemployment rate in the country, many people who are educated and highly trained, even as doctors and lawyers, end up getting jobs as drivers. It was obvious that tourism is an important industry in Peru.
Arriving at our hotel, we discovered that Jose Antonio Lima is a four star hotel that is in a great location in the Miraflores section of Lima. Miraflores is an area that is middle to upper middle class and where about 60% of all tourists stay. It is a safe and interesting location for exploring on foot, our favorite way to discover our surroundings.
We crashed for the night in comfort. We knew that we would be on our own to explore the city until the next afternoon when we would have a prearranged city tour.
In the daylight, our first impression was a city of brightly colored buildings, lush foliage and magnificent churches.
On our short walk of a few blocks to the Pacific Ocean there were photo ops every few feet.
With all the lush foliage it seemed difficult to believe that Lima is a city that receives no rain.
We were thrilled to be able to walk to the ocean and view its magnificent expanse. It seemed odd that while we were in the same time zone as Pennsylvania, where the Pacific ocean is 3,000 miles away, while here it was only blocks away.
Along the way we saw many policemen and policewomen, security guards, and other evidence of heightened security. However, rather than making us feel wary, it gave us a sense of security and safety. We found everyone to be very helpful and friendly.
We were warned not to walk down the long steps to the beach, due to risks of being accosted. In fact, prior to and throughout our stay in Peru we were warned about pickpockets, muggings, and purse snatchings. We took appropriate precautions. However, in retrospect, we felt much more vulnerable in Rome and Spain, where we had closer encounters.
From the ocean we walked a few more blocks to see a large Catholic church in the area.
This was only the first of many spectacular churches in this country which is 80% Catholic.
Very soon it was time for our Lima city tour...
Our guide, John, met us at the hotel right on time and we were pleased to learn that our only tour companions were a delightful mother and daughter, Anna and Julie, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Thus the tour would be given in English, and a mix of Spanish and Portuguese, the official language of Brazil, the only South American country for which Spanish is not the official language. We were delighted that Julie spoke excellent English and could educate us about her country. She warmly invited us to visit it, even as we were learning about Peru. She had traveled extensively in the US and asked us many questions about our current political climate. We had some spirited discussions among all of us and didn't have to break our promise to ourselves that we would not discuss politics with other folks from the USA as we traveled. We were, as always, saddened by the view of the world of our country, but were assured that many people in the world can differentiate US travelers and everyday citizens from the current administration.
Our tour would be four hours long and we would explore many sections of the city, rich and poor, see museums and historical treasures and get a close-up view of the culture.
Our first stop was the site of a massive archeological wonder that is 1,000 years older than the Inca empire.
Huaca Pucllana dates back to 400 AD. It is blocks long and right in the city section of Miraflores. We watched the excavations in progress and were amazed by the scope of this site, which is in the process of being restored even as excavations continue. We also were told that there are other similar sites within the city. Lima is an ancient city in an ancient country with one civilization building on top of the ruins of another for more than a 1,000 years.
Next we toured various sections of the city, including an old colonial section; a section where we saw million dollar homes; and other interesting areas, each with its own rich history, and with names that we just couldn't keep straight in our minds with all the information we were trying to take in.
In one area where the very wealthy live we saw very old olive trees that are still producing and a huge olive oil press. Unfortunately, we were not able to get good pictures from the moving bus, but found it quite intriguing. This continues to be the olive oil production center in the city.
In this same section we saw mansions that were built in the English Tudor style when that was considered to be the fashion of the day. Since there is no rain, most homes in Lima have flat roofs and no guttering. Thus, these home's peaked roofs are purely decorative. This is certainly unlike back home, where we need peaked roofs and guttering and downspouts(!) for practical purposes.
Various other styles of architecture were plentiful, including imposing French buildings that were modeled after palaces in France.
John kept reminding us that ,with the varied architecture, we could have been in various other parts of the world.
In the Plaza de Armas, we saw the bronze fountain that is the oldest structure in this square, which was once the heart of Lima. Also in the square we saw the cathedral, the Government Palace, the Archbishop's Palace, and City Hall.
Earthquakes are common in Peru and we were told by more than one guide that major ones occur about once every 20 years. As a result, people are nervous because the last one was in 1971. Apparently they feel they are well overdue. One of the most severe earthquakes struck in 1650 and damaged much of the city of Lima. The fountain was the only structure in the square to survive that earthquake. The cathedral in the square (not on the photo) was reconstructed after the earthquake of 1746.
At Plaza San Martin, which has much French-influenced architecture. The centerpiece is the equestrian statue of General Jose de San Martin, the liberator of Peru, who brought independence in 1821.
In many places we saw influences of Moorish architecture, especially with its intricately carved wooden balconies.
The scenes from the squares will stay in our memories for a long time. Bustling affectionate families and couples, parents with their arms draped around their children, and warm interchanges between friends, it felt like a welcoming environment.
Our next stop on the city tour was the San Francisco monastery and church. Here we saw some especially interesting sights. This site houses a fine museum of religious art, a library that contains books going back to the time of the conquistadors, and eerie catacombs. All worth seeing.
How we wanted to touch these ancient books. But of course we couldn't. The two large books in the forefront are hand printed on vellum paper. The book to the right is Gregorian chants. The size of these books made it possible for a whole group of singers to read the music from one book.
On the walls in the monastery we saw Moorish inspired mosaics that were unlike any we have seen outside of Spain.
Inside the catacombs, where there were an estimated 70,000 burials, the bones have been separated in sections of femurs, skulls, tibia, etc. Each one of the sections to the right has a different group of bones. It was an eerie experience but not as weird as we supposed it would be. And John, in his own way, suggested that it would be no problem to take pictures as we couldn't bother anyone!
It had been a long afternoon, the day was warm, and the catacombs had been dry and dusty. Back on the bus John offered us some refreshments, including a choice of soft drinks. It was our first chance to sample Inka Cola, the popular Peruvian soda that is made with a "secret ingredient". It is yellow and very sweet. We were told that some people think it tastes like cream soda. We found it interesting and decided to try it again when we had the opportunity. Throughout our trip there would be many opportunities. We were not tempted to bring back bottles of it like one traveler we met but we are glad we tried it.
On our way back to our hotel we made a final stop at Love Park, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This park was built in honor of love among all people. There were many couples who came there to be together and we had to have our picture taken there also, even though dusk was upon us. We had had a beautiful day with perfect weather and Pennsylvania, with its mounds of snow and ice, seemed to be a world away.
Before leaving home we had no idea how magnificent and varied a city Lima is. Had we known ahead of time that Lima has so much to offer we would have planned to stay at least another day or two. We knew we would have another day here after our trip to Cuzco, the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu, but we realized that would not be nearly enough time to see and do all that we would like to.
Meanwhile we needed to find someplace to eat dinner and get ready for our trip the following day. What an adventure that was...
We had passed many restaurants of all sorts in our walk earlier in the day. At one restaurant a particularly friendly proprietor had invited us in with a wide smile and welcoming hand sweep. We decided to go back there to try the food. When we arrived we were warmly welcomed by the man we had seen earlier and by a young woman with a small baby she brought to meet us. Things seemed promising. When we looked at the menu in Spanish that was on the table we realized that we were in a Chinese Peruvian restaurant and we began to look at our choices. The proprietor quickly replaced the menu with one in English, and as we looked at it, he took it from us and dramatically gestured and helped us decide what we would have to eat. He would choose for us! We had papaya juice and another kind of exotic fruit juice to drink (we think it was maracuya) and we ordered dumplings for an appetizer and a chicken noodle dish for the main course -- one order of each to share. The food was delicious and we were quite pleased -- until we got the bill. It was for 79 soles, much higher than we thought it would be. Then we realized that the prices in English were quite a bit higher than the prices that had been on the Spanish menu. When we asked for the price in US $ we were told it would be $30.00. At an exchange rate of 3.4 soles per dollar we knew that wasn't right and asked for a pen to figure it out. At that point the man said he would settle for $25 dollars -- still too much but we paid it (without adding the generous tip we usually include) and left -- disappointed that we had been ripped off not once but twice -- in the original price and with the exchange rate. We were frustrated with ourselves that we had been so dumb not to check the prices ahead of time and had not insisted on using the Spanish menu. From our previous travel experience we knew that many places have two prices, one for locals and one for tourists. So we beat ourselves up a little bit and then decided to chalk it up to experience and move on. We did find that throughout the rest of the trip everyone was very honest in counting out our change and giving us the correct exchange rate. So that one experience was the exception and not the rule...
Back at our hotel in the lounge we enjoyed a complimentary pisco sour, the traditional Peruvian cocktail, made with pisco, a regional grape liquor. Then we called it a night. We needed some sleep after a long and busy day. The next morning we would have a flight to Cuzco, the center of Inca culture, and heart of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
On to Cuzco
