It's been awhile...Happy to be out traveling again!

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I've been in Lima for 2 days and this is the first chance I've had to start writing about it. How did that happen? Maybe having 8 traveling companions has something to do with it? And lots of plans for these 2 pretour days has kept me too busy during the day and too tired at night? All good reasons! This trip is off to a great start. I'm on this adventure with my usual traveling buddies, Rochelle,Roberta, Cheryl, Carol, and Naomi, and we've added 3 lovely ladies, Wendy, Sandy, and Terry. For these 2 days we've gotten to explore Miraflores and Barranca on our own via paper street map and free walking tours. And taken a half day tour from Viator to go to the south of Lima to Pucasana.
What I've seen of Lima is much different than I expected, in a very positive way. People have been friendly. Language no problem between my minimal Spanish, Google translate and their English. Getting around this area easy between walking and ubers. Food has been delicious; had no idea this is a big foodie area with great restaurants and a focus on good food. And discovering pisco and pisco sours has added to the fun. It's much more cosmopolitan than I expected. Learning about the recent history through the experiences of those that lived through it has been really interesting. Highlights so far...In no particular order...The street mural art in Barranco, the Fountain park and show, the ceviche, the street snacks, pisco sour making demonstration (I wrote down the recipe to replicate at home) ...to name a few. Oh, and bread fresh out of a clay oven and filled with olives at a road stop...
That's not including the birds we saw on the waters around Pucasana. It's called a little Galapagos...An exaggeration I'm sure but still really special. We saw orange crabs, lots of pelicans, Inca terns, a few penguin, Peruvian boobies, and even a couple a couple of blue footed boobies. The guide was great at pointing them out and the cameras were clicking like mad in our little speed boat.
Pictures will be better than words for that part of the trip so here they are. Stay tuned for an update on day 3, the first one with the OAT tour.

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