Our 20th wedding anniversary is coming up in November so we (ahem... Todd!) planned a big trip all around central and southern Peru to celebrate!
Before I dive into these series of posts, I just want to say how awesome this trip was. It was definitely out of our comfort zone! We had never been south of the equator before, but thankfully Todd spoke enough Spanish to get us around. We also used Peru Hop buses, which I highly recommend if you want to see some of the less touristy parts of Peru. Also: the biggest advice I can give is just bring all of the medications. Altitude meds, Imodium, headache medication... just bring it all! And tissues. Bring lots of tissues. Much of the Peru we visited was desert and there was lots of dust and sand!
Our trip began in Lima, went south to Paracas (Par-AH-cus), on to Huacachina (Hwock-uh-chee-nah), down to Arequipa (Air-uh-key-pah), over to Puno and Lake Titicaca, up to Cuzco and the amazing Machu Picchu, and then back to Lima for a total of about 12 days.
First, we were off to Miami!
No expense was spared... we even got the extra leg room! We so fancy!
We arrived in Miami with a FIVE HOUR layover, so we hit up the lounge for some food and drinks.
Finally, it was time to board our flight to Lima!
Let's go to Lima!
We flew directly over Cuba - we could see the Playa Ancon here. This might be as close as I ever get to Cuba! And now I've seen it from the sea, and the air!
It was a really long trek down to Lima, but we were met by a driver who took us to our hotel in Miraflores - this was the view from our room! And yes, even on the 6th floor, the windows would push wide open.
We had one full day in Lima before heading south with Peru Hop, and we started with a good breakfast at the hotel.
Nothin' says breakfast like hot dogs and rice!
We wanted to do the Hop On Hop Off bus because Lima is a VERY large city, geographically and we always feel these buses are the best way to see a lot in a limited amount of time. The bus picked us up at Parque JFK, where they have a whole commune of cats that live there (and are taken care of!)
Life is better in Miraflores. We strolled around the area while we waited for our bus to arrive.
Not too far from Parque JFK is the Parroquia La Virgen Milagrosa. In just about every Catholic church we visited, there were pictures of the new Pope Leo. While he was born and raised in Chicago, he spent many years in Peru, was Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, and even holds dual citizenship!
The church was built in 1930 and has really beautiful stained glass windows.
Of course, sometimes the cats from the JFK Park stroll over for a bit of prayer during the day.
These cats were so funny - did this one have too much catnip? He just plopped down right here! This doesn't even look comfortable!
Finally, we hopped on the bus and headed south toward southern Miraflores and Barranco.
Miraflores (and much of the Lima coastline) sits up high with the highway down by the ocean. Most of the day, the city sits in a deck of low clouds off of the Pacific. Usually by the end of the day, you do get a little sunshine. At least for this time of year!
The Larcomar area is a big shopping mall area with all of America's greatest hits, including a TGI Friday's lol.
I absolutely LOVE Paddington Bear, and I had totally forgotten that he was from "darkest Peru." We found a statue of him in Parque Salazar! Although the books and the films differ in their origin stories, it's thought that Paddington's parents died in an earthquake and he was raised by his Aunt Lucy and Uncle Pastuzo. The movie suggests his uncle was killed by a falling tree in an earthquake (which is why Paddington wears his uncle's hat). Paddington was shipped off to London before his aunt moved to the Home for Retired Bears in Lima. Note: We did not find the Home for Retired Bears in Lima!
Heading north on the bus, we stopped at the Pucllana Site Museum, which was closed on this particular day (such a bummer!) This archaeological site was a pyramid built by the Lima civilization likely somewhere around 200-700 AD (before the Wari Culture took over, with the Ychma following after that).
These huaca or wak'a, as they are known in the Quechuan language are a sort of sacred place or temple and were centers for religious rituals. Part of this site was used for administrative purposes, and part was used for religious purposes.
We took this picture because we were like, "Oh, we'll come back when we are at the end of our trip and have another day and a half in Lima." Whoops. We totally forgot to come back!
Here is what Huaca Pucllano looks like from above - so impressive!
Our bus around town continued, and we drove by the Supreme Court of Peru!
Our last stop was the Plaza Jose de San Martin, where we got off the bus and walked toward the Plaza Mayor (or the Plaza de Armas). We walked down the pedestrian only portion of Jirón de la Unión with it's many shops and restaurants.
Crammed between other buildings along Jirón de la Unión is the Basilica de La Merced. LOOK at this beauty!
And the inside is just as spectacular. It was built in 1535 (!) but numerous earthquakes delayed the re-construction process. It seems like it was a constant work in progress!
Old churches are great and all but WHAT about BTS and Tiny Tan at McDonalds in Lima? LOL!
We made it down to the Plaza Mayor (also known as the Plaza de Armas) which is an INCREDBILE square that definitely feels like you're in a Plaza in Spain!
Behind Todd is the famous Cathedral of Lima.
This fountain sits on the spot where the former gallows were. The first fountain was completed in 1578, but this particular fountain is from 1651.
We decided we wanted to visit the Cathedral, but we were a bit hungry so we stopped for some lunch and my FIRST Pisco Sour of the trip. First of many! I did not take a picture of my Lomo Saltado, which I also ordered many times on this trip!
Todd ordered the cuy, or the guinea pig, which is a popular dish in Peru. I read that it was a low fat meat, but this one definitely was not. It was fatty, but the meat was pretty good. When in Rome!
After lunch, we went back to the Plaza Mayor and did a quick look around the Cathedral.
The Cathedral of Lima was first built in 1535 under the direction of the famous Francisco Pizarro. Pizarro was the Spanish conquistador that conquered the Incas, and he's known for "founding" the city of Lima (even though people had already been in this area for thousands of years).
The church of course, had been destroyed several times by numerous earthquakes, the last one damaging the facility in 1940. But it's been rebuilt every time - and the current version is very colorful!
And of course, the famous Francisco Pizarro himself is buried here in the Cathedral of Lima.
It's always so funny to watch poor tall Todd climb down into a crypt!
I mentioned this before, but we found a dedication to Pope Leo in almost every Catholic church in Peru.
Hey, I don't fit in a doorway for once!
You can see the mountains in the distance behind the Government Palace of Peru. Little did we know that the President of Peru (Dina Boluarte) would be impeached three days later!
There were a lot of police standing around - which from other travel vlogs/blogs, we knew was something we might see. Periodically, there are protests and stuff (hence the fencing you can see across the street) and sometimes the Plaza Mayor is closed. I didn't want to take a picture of the police so I took a picture of one of their motorbikes!
We walked back to the Plaza José de San Martín, who liberated Peru from the royalists and declared Peru's independence in 1821.
From there, we hopped back on the Hop On Hop Off bus and went back to our hotel in Miraflores, which had this painting on the side of the building.
And of course, we had to stop at the German bar that was about a block away from our hotel for happy hour!
Todd's tradition of putting a drink in front of my face and snapping a selfie continues!
Ahhh, much better. Salud!
For dinner, we had reservations at THIS super cute restaurant, Amankaya!
We almost couldn't find the restaurant, which sat in a little patio like parking lot, surrounded by other really cute buildings.
Europe couldn't figure out the bourbon and Coke, and neither could Peru! Europe would have brought me a glass of ice too, but you can't drink beverages with ice in Peru (or you'll pay for it later!). You can also see on the right a small bowl of dried corn, which we were given at almost every bar or restaurant we went to. In America, you might get a bowl of nuts, but here you got dried corn.
We started out with some amazing and beautifully presented scallops!
I had the ramen pad Thai in a peanut sauce that was out of this world!
Todd got the Cevigrill, which was medium rare smoked tuna ceviche with tigers
milk and yellow chili paste.
Was the delicious bourbon drink the best part of our evening at Amankaya? No. How about the beautiful night and view from the balcony we sat on? Nope. Was the incredible meal the best part? You might think so, but no. Was it finding R.E.M. on the wall of the bathroom? Absolutely!
And we're on to Paracas!
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