Alas, our travels around Peru were almost complete, and it was time to head back to Lima. We chose to fly back to Lima (rather than take a bus) to save some time, and took a relatively cheap Latam fight from Cusco to Lima.
This reminded me of our travels in Europe - we often had to board the plane from a set of stairs rather than a jetway. Todd is ready to go!
Blogspot makes your cover photo whatever the first photo is, so this picture is out of order because I didn't really want this as the cover photo! But we saw this car on our way to the Cusco airport and of course, he had a roll of toilet paper on his very furry dashboard! TP - don't leave home without it when you're in Peru!
Back in the Cusco airport, we found a lounge not far from our gate, hooray! I also did not want this as the cover photo, ha! Priority Pass gets you into the one lounge they have, so that was nice!
Somehow we scored the exit row - sweet!
Back on firm ground in Lima (and no, we didn't feel any earthquakes during our time in Peru!), we went back to the Dörcher Tap Room in Miraflores for lunch, which was the German restaurant we had visited more than a week before.
And then we headed down to the Barranco neighborhood for a free walking tour! We got a big kick out of this... ¿Dónde está la biblioteca?
The Barranco neighborhood already feels different from the rest of Lima because you'll notice all of the buildings are no higher than 2-4 stories high.
This neighborhood is also known for it's street art - this one by Jade Rivera was the first one we saw on the tour, and it was my favorite. Notice the keyhole in the back of the artists back...
Down the street, you'll see the girl who holds the key!
Our guide also pointed out a large mural of Chabuca, (real name: Maria Isabel Granda Larco). She is largely considered one of the first singers to put Peruvian Creole music on the worldwide stage.
Barranco means "ravine" or a narrow river gorge, and they actually have two of these in this neighborhood. If you go upstream on this ravine, you'll see the Bridge of Sighs, which we visited shortly after this.
Todd with a mural of Pedro Suárez-Vértiz, a very popular Peruvian singer who died in 2023 of progressive bulbar palsy (a disease similar to ALS) that took my aunt back in 2002. Billboard magazine called him an "icon of Peruvian rock."
We followed the free walking tour crew past some more art... and some graffiti.
And eventually, we made it to the Bridge of Sighs! Legend tells that if you can cross the bridge holding your breath the entire time (it's about 100 feet long), then your wish for long lasting love will come true.
The Church of the Hermitage suffered major damage in the 1974 earthquake and has been closed ever since, but they are finally getting around to restoring it. First they just restored the facade, but eventually they will get to the rest of the church that was originally built in the mid 1700s.
So colorful and cool!
This was my favorite one ha ha. A little baddie.
Ni tu puente suspira tanto como yo por ti... Not even your bridge sighs as much as I do for you.
We made our way down the coastline after our tour of the street art of Barranco was finished, taking some sunset pictures at the Malecón de los Ingleses.
As the sun was setting, the Cross of the Pope (Cruz del Papa) was lit up. This cross is made of the remnants of electrical towers that a terrorist organization brought down in the 1980s. It was originally set up to welcome Pope John Paul II on his second visit to Peru.
Goodbye, sun! It reminded me that only a little over a week ago, we were watching the sunset in the Paracas National Reserve. It already felt like a lifetime ago.
After the tour was over, we decided to get some drinks at the Garrison Bar, which oddly had a U.S. military theme. Todd took this picture of an Abrams tank for Grant so he could guess the tank type (for the record, he got it wrong!)
This storage box on the bar used to store M80s, M62s and M13s, eeek! I hope they're not serving that with my drink!
There were also a bunch of US Army propaganda posters on the walls, which we thought were super amusing.
We opted for a pisco sour, since this was our last full night in Peru, but this place had a really decent bourbon selection, so I moved on to that!
And after dinner and drinks, we went back to the hotel and watched music videos in another country, which is one of our favorite things to do. I also finally tried a Sublime (at my brother's request, who visited Peru 20+ years before I did). It was yummy!
The following day was the day we were to fly home. Our flight, originally scheduled for 11:45pm, but it got delayed even later so it was a really long day. We started by walking down to the Larcomar mall area which is an outdoor mall with a bunch of American stores in it!
Larcomar is just a shopping center, but you really come here for the views. And on this particular day, we saw the paragliders flying overhead!
After tooling around Larcomar, we decided to head down to the actual beach to pay a visit to the pier.
It's not super easy to get to, obviously, and while we were walking down the (what felt like) thousands of steps, we reminded ourselves that - hey - we have to get back UP these steps later!
Todd really wanted to touch the ocean but it was a bit angry and he didn't want to get his pants wet before our flight later that night!
Down on the shoreline, there is a statue of Gordo Barreda, a local surfer who was a 4 time national champion, and 2 time international champion. He died in 2002 at the age of 50, and was also known for opening the first surf shop in the country.
Land, ho! Actually, he's pointing up to Miraflores, look at that building up there!
We stopped into Taberna del Chaus for some appetizers and a drink, which was hilariously, the MOST expensive apps and drinks we had on the entire trip - although not really surprising, because you come here for the view!
And we watched the surfers and enjoyed the waves, which were at times, a bit fierce, but at other times, they looked like this - not much for the surfers here.
After our snack break, we walked back to the stairs back up to Miraflores but we had to stop and check out some crabs first.
And we had to say goodbye to this pretty pavilion!
Back up on higher ground, we went to the Parque del Amor to see the El Beso statue. Mwah!
This park is dedicated to lovers, and you can leave a lock on this fence - although be prepared for someone to rip off a chunk of locks someday, much like Todd did by accident here!
I heart u. 💓
We continued walking north on the boardwalk in Miraflores and stopped briefly to watch these guys take off. Better them than me! But it's really exhilarating to watch them!
There is a 72-foot La Marina Navy lighthouse that stands on the coastline in Miraflores that ships can see from 18 nautical miles away! It's not just for show- it really works!
Hey, I remember you! I just watched you take off! Please don't land on me!
We pretty much saw almost everything we wanted to see in this part of the city, so we decided to go hunt for an Irish pub for a drink and some dinner. I LOVE this sign! I am a huge lover of cookies, and this sign is spot on. Cookies are the best!
Eventually, we found Molly's Irish Pub which, hilariously, is the sister bar to the Molly's we went to in Cusco! Here, we spent several hours drinking beers, having some food and watching POWER SLAP! If you're not familiar with Power Slap, you must familiarize yourself with this ridiculous game. People just basically slap each other until one falls over. LOL.
After a delightful time at Molly's, we walked back through the JFK Park to say goodbye to all of the cute little kitties.
And we had to say goodbye to JFK, of course.
Todd was just questioning whether we should leave, or stay here in Miraflores for a few more days.
Hey, I see my first name! I don't see that very often! I also laughed at "caja" - which means box in Spanish. But in Korean, it means "let's go!" That's how you pronounce it, anyway!
We walked back to the hotel with it's magnificent mural to pick up our stuff and meet our driver to head out to the airport for our very delayed flight. We wound up not leaving until 1-something in the morning, but were able to spend a bit of time in the airport lounge, at least!
Our delayed overnight flight to Miami caused us to miss our original connection back to Boston. But we made it home eventually. Ahhh Boston, it's good to be home!
Until next time, Peru! What a fantastic trip - definitely one of the best we have ever taken! (Many thanks to my sweet husband for doing all of the planning and many thanks to my Mom, aka the best Nana, for keeping an eye on Grant while we were gone!) 💖
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