Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Lima (warning.... Erotic Pictures)

I flew a couple of Lima trips at the beginning of the month.  My friend Leatha traded onto my first trip, which was a real treat, because she really only likes to fly turns and short two day trips.  This was her first time to Perú, so we booked a tour of the city with two of our other coworkers, Jemma and Sherry.


We got to see some of the main sights downtown, including the archeological museum which highlighted that the ancient Incas were quite skilled at erotic pottery.  Could this be my first R rated blog entry?



We also got to spend some time in the Plaza de Armas, which is the main square, and surrounded by important government buildings and architecture typical of the colonial era when the Spanish came and began to "impose" their culture on the native population.  The original fountain of the plaza, long since gone, dates back to the 1530's.  We also passed Morris' Bar, where the American Vincent Morris invented the Pisco Sour, the national drink of Perú.






Our next stop was the Monastery San Francisco and the adjoining catacombs.  It's still an active monastery and was consecrated in 1673 with construction finished in 1774. We weren't allowed to take pictures once inside, but we got to tour the grounds and see their impressive library, which has over 25,000 texts going back to the 1500's.  

We also got to visit the catacombs, which were kind of creepy.  Lima's first cemetery was the catacombs below the monastery and were used until 1808.  People were buried for a period of five years outside the city and covered in limestone.  Then they were dug up and their remains were placed in the catacombs.  It is estimated they contain the remains of over 70,000 people. 



After we finished up our tour of the catacombs, we made our way via bus to Miraflores, a suburb of Lima located along the coast.  The sun came out and it ended up being a beautiful day.  We also passed by the Park of Love, which was one of the places I remembered from my visit here in college in 1997.





It must have been too much for poor Jemma.  She fell asleep on the bus.


We made our way back to the hotel for our evening nap before our pick up and our long all nighter home.  Thankfully we are catered with Inca Kola for the return flight, which is a super caffeinated Peruvian mega soda.  It can keep you going and going for hours.


For my trip the next week, my friends Julie and Cari came along.  We had flown together to Madrid at the end of September and they mentioned they were going to vacation in Perú and go to Machu Picchu.  I persuaded  them to fly down a day early on my flight and book a room at our hotel and hang with me in Lima for the day.

Our first stop was the Inca Markets, for shopping.  Lots of wonderful bargains and touristy souvenirs. 


The whole buying process can be a little intense because you have to haggle for everything.  Here, Cari, seems to be a little frustrated over some blankets made from baby alpaca wool.


Inca fashions know no limits, and I tried to persuade the girls to buy these shoes, but I could not convince them.


And again, we return to the Peruvian love of all things erotic.  This is actually an elaborate cup.  I will let you use your imagination to figure out how you drink from it.


Guinea Pigs, or cuy (pronounced "koo ee") are a delicacy here, but the closest I came was posing with a stuffed cuy toy.


Speaking of lunch, we were getting hungry, so we made our way down to Miraflores, and the trendy Larcomar shopping center.  It's built into the side of a cliff and we enjoyed a phenomenal all you can eat buffet at a restaurant called Mangos.  We stuffed ourselves silly.