Wanderings in Peru - 1 - Lima & Arequipa

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An overnight flight via Bogota sees us arrive in Peru - the land of the Incas, Alpacas & Pisco sours! Our hotel is situated in Miraflores which is a wealthy district and also the main tourist area of Lima. We walked along a busy shopping street down to LarcoMar - a new waterfront development - overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Very much as we have recently been experiencing at home - the clouds rolled in from the sea and we were shrouded in a cool swirling mist. We had pre-booked a Peruvian tasting meal at one of the up and coming 'new wave' gastronomic restaurants. What an experience it turned out to be - small tasting courses of Peruvian influenced food using ingredients from the Pacific, Amazon & desert with paired wines and drinks!! A night to remember!

A city tour followed the next afternoon where we visited the old colonial centre - large tree-lined squares with statues surrounded by wonderful Spanish-style buildings, small museums & ornate churches. Just a taster of an interesting city. We immediately head back to the Airport for a short domestic flight to Arequipa - Peru's second city - situated in the foothills of the Andes at 8000ft - where we started our acclimatisation for the higher altitudes to come over the next couple of weeks.

The next day we visited Santa Catalina Monastery - a Convent founded in 1580 - which proved to be an interesting place with many stories of the Nuns in a closed Convent - but who had servants to look after them! After walking around the main square with the imposing Cathedral we visited the Juanita Museum which turned out to be the highlight of the day! Juanita, also known as the "Ice Maiden" was a young girl sacrificed 500 years ago by the Incas as an offering to the Gods. Her body was frozen in the snow until being found in 1995 and was remarkably well preserved along with her clothes, blankets & othe ritual objects.



Accommodation - Lima - Casa Andina Private Collection

- Arequipa - Libertador Hotel



Weather - Lima - Cool & cloudy with mist 14c

- Arequipa - Sunny with blue skies 24c

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Photos

Tree of sweets
Spot the sweets - 6 in total

Comments

[Helen and Bob]

Peru
Sounds like your trip is off to a great start. Loving the descriptions and photos! X