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Published: November 10th 2013
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MIRAFLORES PARK HOTEL
VIEW OF THE PARK AND THE PACIFIC OCEAN FROM ROOM 508 Actually, I missed day 1 because my flight got in at 12:20 am of day 2 - day 1 was supposed to be a leisure check in day with no scheduled activities, so I didn’t miss any touring events. I did have an adventure, however. I was supposed to be met at the airport by a Tauck representative for transfer to my hotel. I cleared immigration and customs without problems, but saw nobody holding a Tauck welcome sign. A few people waiting for other visitors saw my dilemma and, fortunately, their English was better than my Spanish. After two phone calls, I received a message to “go with the person that handed me the phone”, so I did. I found that one of the few English words he spoke was “mister”. The ride from the airport to the hotel was about 50 minutes as the book predicted, but I must confess to a little anxiety as I was going through a few tough areas and being alone. I was very happy when I arrived at the beautiful Miraflores Park Hotel about 1:30 am. I am very happy with my room and the view of the Pacific Ocean and a pretty park
from my fifth floor room.
I met my 30 travel mates at breakfast, a nice buffet, and had a brief tour orientation from my tour guide, Joeri Happel, a Dutchman with a Russian first name and a German last name who reside in Czechoslovakia and now maintains a residence in Belgium, and is leading tours in Peru and Bolivia. He has found that many people travel to find out about other cultures, etc., but end up finding out more about themselves. Pretty profound thought. Of the 31 on the tour, two Canadians, one German and the rest are Americans. One key piece of info - after this hotel, DON’T FLUSH THE TOILET PAPER! The plumbing diameter is too small to handle flushed paper. Therefore, fold the used paper and deposit it in the basket provided.
We took a short bus tour of the city founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro. We divided our group to a 16 person “Alpaca” group led by Miguel and a 15 person “Llama” group led by Julia for more comfortable discussions with our guides. I was an Alpaca. The historic center of Lima was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988, due
to its large number of historical buildings dating from the Spanish colonial era. We saw the church at the Convent of San Pedro, and the Monastery of San Francisco with it’s catacombs. We walked in the Plaza Mayor and saw the Archbishop’s residence and the Government Palace. We walked in the courtyard of the Prime Minister’s residence and visited the Cathedral of Lima and the beautiful St. Peter’s Church.
We went to lunch at a typical Peruvian restaurant and divided into three groups for short cooking classes before the meal; kitchen group, salad group, and bar group. I don’t know why, but I was assigned to the bar group. Too bad, but someone had to do it. We prepared cocktails with Pisco, a Peruvian brandy. The lunch had a first course of avocado with crab meat salad and an entrée of shrimp and an excellent corn dish and salad. Some people went shopping, but I headed back to the hotel for a short nap.
A short bus ride took us to Casa Luna for dinner. Casa Luna is a private residence in an upscale part of the city, but the main attraction was the large, impressive collection of
Nativity scenes from around the world. Some claim that this is the largest such collection in the world; I believe it. The wife led us through the collection and served as hostess for the very good catered meal served buffet style. No hunger or thirst so far. Good discussions at dinner and then to the hotel to write this and select my pictures to publish before I retire for the night.
A quick note, especially to those who regularly follow my travel blogs, I have no idea as to internet speeds going forward and I’ve been warned not to operate my computer above 10,000 feet elevation, lest my hard drive crash and I risk losing everything. So, I may be “dark” while at the higher elevations, but I’ll catch up when I can. (remember, DON’T FLUSH THE TOILET PAPER)! ILYS
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