Lima City Tour

---

I apologize if I stop capitalizing things, but the shift key on this keyboard is in an odd spot and I may get lazy.
in addition, the at symbol is a bit finicky, so i´m posting my e-mail here so i can re-access it if i need to....
[e-mail]

Now on to the fun stuff.

Driving around a city is always disorienting for me, since i have no point of reference to figure out were we are. But, apparently, lima is a pretty narrow strip between the pacific and the foothills of the andean mountains. Our first stop was not on the schedule given us by Globus, it was an archealogical dig right in the middle of the city, called Huaca Pullama. It´s a pre-Incan adobe site found when the city started building on what they thought was just hills. It´s pretty odd to see the ancient site in the middle of the modern architecture with the foothills of the Andes in the distance. We climbed to the top of the site (ramps, not steps, fortunately) and it was a cool view. We also saw some llamas and some really cute guinea pigs (called cuy here, must avoid that when it´s on the menu).

After that we drove east through the city to the older district, passing buildings that were built for a World´s Fair equivalent and are now being used for museums and stuff. As we drove the streets got narrower and narrower and the buildings got older and older until we reached the Spanish stuff. We visited the San Francisco monastery which was a pretty enough church, I guess, and had a really nice cedar vaulted ceiling. I skipped the catacombs as I was feeling a bit claustrophobic. After visiting the monastery, we walked to the Plaza de Armas passing the train station (2 trains per week from the highlands, and no train service to anywhere else) and saw the Government Palace and the Cathedral. Then we met up with the bus again and came back to the hotel.

Random thoughts--- There is no subway service here, so everything is by auto. There are what seem like a gazillion minivans driving around, all looking to pick up passengers. They are colored by company and have their stops painted on the windows.
Lots of policia everywhere. A couple of assault tanks near the monastery and the train station.
Lots of graffitti. Even in what was pointed out as the middle class area. The area near the airport looked really poor, as did the area right not far from the government palace.
No beggars, but lots of street vendors, very persistent street vendors.
There are 8 married couples in our group, a pair of sisters traveling together about a half dozen females traveling alone and the rest males traveling alone.
There´s a 24 hour grocery right on the corner, I´m going to stop off there after dinner.
It appears there are 8 of us going to the Galapagos, 2 couples and the rest singles. The 2 couples are among the nice ones I´ve spoken to, one is a Polish couple from Denver, and the other is from Ottawa.

Well, dinner is at 7:30 and I want to freshen up first, so I´ll say good night. I don´t know if I´ll get to a computer tomorrow, as we´re in Ica, but should have some time Monday afternoon when we´re back here.

---

Comments

[Shannon]

It sounds like another world! I tend to rather enjoy street vendors, but I have a hard time saying no to the persistant one. Hope you continue to enjoy your trip!

[911jason]

Inca Cola
Mindy - you gotta get some Inca Cola when you visit the 24-hour grocery, that's a fond memory of my trip to Peru... then again, I was 15 at the time, so... =)

[Haviva Horvitz]

Happy Simchat Torah!
I'm surprised that there are so many singles. Is this usual? How is the weather? Sounds like you are still getting settled. Having fun yet? Enjoy!

[Ron]

Dallas Layover
Hi Mindy I'm reading your posts here in Dallas (AA stop over from Washington DC) after conference. Sounds like you are busy and having lots fun. Be safe. Sounds like Lima is a bit different from your hometown--New York City!