Lima Rocks (at least more than expected)!

We arrived in Lima, Peru after about 24 hours of flying on October 6, 2005. Gay knew she was having fun when asked to dance by a very young guy in the park last night. We went out to eat, almost fashionably late for old folks and found a large group of people gathered in the Kennedy Park, an urban meeting ground. Was it a political demonstration? Did we need to hide? Nada. It was a weekly gathering of people aged 50 to 80 plus who enjoy listening to live dramatic poetry reading, torch singers, and dancing to tango, salsa and waltz music. It was wonderful to hear poetry read so dramatically. I could understand only a few words: butterfly, fire, love, life, but the meaning was clear. We ended up joining this tribal event watching people have a genuinely wholesome evening.

We then went to eat on a tourist street lined with outdoor restraints, much like Paris, but there were hookers plying their trade nearby. The food is wonderful: cebecia, conch, trout (trucks) etc. It is all fresh and I feel as if I am growing fins. A regular dose of Pisco Sour which seems like a combination of grappa and a White Russian has helped with digestion.

We intended to hide from the criminals in Lima and generally just recuperate from a very long flight. Alas, this has turned out to be a good transit point. Our boutique hotel, antique Milafores, was a mansion in an upscale district called Milafores. It has beautiful antique, colonial era furnishings and costs $89 USD per night. We consider this a splurge.

We took a bus tour of Lima. It is a huge city with lots of traffic and over 200,000 taxi cabs. A ride across town costs about $2. We visited catacombs in the Franciscan monastery. There are lots of skulls, tibias, a fibuals of the previously rich. The convent is full of 17th Century art. Those brothers knew how to suppress people. We also spent a morning at a wonderful anthropology museum. There is a rich history long before the Inca´s spent their 100 plus years as an imperial people.

Near our place is a long walk above the Pacific, the Malarone. It is Saturday and people are enjoying parasailing, walking, skateboarding, rollerblading and hanging out. The weather is perpetually gloomy and foggy, but it almost never rains (just likAutsen stadiummmm).

I was really afraid of this city after spending the night in the airport last December en route to Cusco. The travel books and movies all seem to paint it as a dirty place; alas, it is remarkably clean, the people seem very friendly and we are having a good time.....so far.

Tomorrow we head for Tumbes, which is along the Ecuadorian border. It is described as a mosquito ridden, hot border town. Well, if we are lucky it will only be a border town. Adios, Chuck