Larco Museum, and more -- Lima, 4/13/18

This morning was really the first day of our Road Scholar program.  We met our leader, "Elias," and our fellow participants, (there are 16 of us) at the morning's orientation.  Not wasting any time, as soon as orientation was finished, the group was off to explore the Larco Museum, as well as other Lima sites.  Though it was gray outdoors when we started out, the day turned sunny and fine.

First:  the privately-funded Larco Museum holds one of the world's largest collections of Peruvian pre-Columbian artifacts and showcases lesser known Peruvian cultures such as the Moche, Chimú, and Nazca, plus, of course, the famous Inca.  Located in the Pueblo Libre District of Lima, it's housed in an 18th Century vice-royal mansion, and built over a 7th-Century pre-Columbian pyramid.  It's a vast repository of wonder, with six exhibit halls, 11 storage rooms, a vault for gold and silver exhibits, a gallery of erotic pottery and a truly gorgeous garden, reminding me of the colors and flowers we enjoyed in SoCal.  We had a most excellent guide, and could've spent considerable more time roaming through the halls.

Walls and walls filled with art.  This area was called "storage."  

I wondered about the "handles" on so much of the pottery.  Our guide called them "stirrups," and said they were used as ornamentation rather than function.  They'd be too fragile to pick up by the handle.

All good.  Solid gold.

A rare Moche piece (1 AD - 800 AD), one of only two known to exist.

These next few photos are part of the erotica collection.  I purposefully left the pics small, lest they offend, but you can enlarge them if you choose.  Use your back arrow to return to this post.  Our guide talked freely about these pieces and what they depicted.

The museum's exhibits were some of the best we've ever seen,

and the garden outside was just as good, with walls of bright Bougainvillea.

and cactus of many kinds ....

I thought it would be difficult to follow this gorgeous museum, but lunch would involve a cooking class -- Peruvian style.  Yum!  I'll show you our afternoon in the next post.  But I had just enough time to squeeze this in.  Now, we're off again ....

Lima, Peru, on our own, Thurs, 4/12/18

If I seem a little foggy, it's because I am.  Short of sleep, and long on walking.  It's early evening and Jimmy is already asleep.  I hope to follow him soon.  Lima, Peru is only two hours ahead of Nevada City, but they are world's apart.  

Our flights from Sacramento to Dallas to Lima were smooth, no glitches, and we thank our kind friends, Fran and Anson, for the ride to the Sac airport.  Our Road Scholar travel company booked us with American Airlines, and the flights were good, although the long seven-hour jog from Dallas to Lima was in an old 757, with no screens at each seat, etc., but -- what the heck -- it was nighttime, so who cared?  We boarded at 10:15pm and dinner was served at 11, so we sampled what was offered, and then it was lights out.  I don't sleep well on a plane and this time neither did Jimmy.  "Breakfast" of sorts began at 4am.  Ho-hum, we'll survive.

Immigration in Lima was a breeze and a friendly Road Scholar face was waiting for us at 6am/ish with a waiting SUV to take us to our hotel.  Of course our hotel room wasn't ready at that hour of the morning, so Jimmy and I and another lady on the RS trip took off on foot for a "look-see" of the town ... and a real cuppa coffee.  We ended up walking four miles, after hiking to the Pacific overlook, seeing the beautiful Iglesia Virgen de la Medalla Milagrosa church, and Kennedy Park, the one with cats, lots of cats.  I'll throw in a few random photos.

It was good.

I'm not sure what the tree is that has this flower,

but I hope to find out.

Am I surprised to see so many murals in town?  Yes.

Iglesia Virgen de la Medalla Milagrosa --

Jimmy in front with the white shirt.

A close-up of the lovely stone work.  In Southern California, there is Gray May and June Gloom.  So it was in April here.  But, the marine layer burned off to a warm sunshine.

Loved the inside colors.

As well as the stained glass windows.

Across from the church is Kennedy Park, where we traipsed around.

Kitties all around, most of the snoozing.

As we walked about town, I snapped pics of all kinds of things.

When we arrived back at our hotel, 10am/ish, our room was still unavailable.  That being so and our feet and bodies tired, Jimmy and I parked in two very comfortable chairs and promptly nodded off.  An hour later, our room was ready (above), an attractive ninth floor, modern room.  But, we left again as soon as we checked it out, asked at the lobby for a decent lunch place, and found it without difficulty.  Pretty tasty, too.  Back at the hotel, we inquired if walking to the "pyramid" was doable -- the answer was yes.  Map in hand, we walked on a greenway lined with trees and flowers, between coming and going lanes of traffic, with paved lanes for bikers and walkers.  Very attractive and a smart idea  A note about traffic:  Horns predominate.  With only one small oops, we made it to the pyramid, which actually has a name:  Huaca Pucllana.  A few years ago, we were unsuccessful at a visit here (wrong day of week or too close to closing), and today was the same.  A large contingent of officials were meeting here ... and the park was closed.  The photos below were all we could get.  One of these days, we'll get a real tour!

A lovely restaurant is on the premises, but not for us today.

And a wonderfully landscaped garden area.

It was a fleeting photo, but I think it may be a flycatcher.

Fantastic colors and fanciful murals in Lima.

Jimmy and I ended up with over 20,000 steps (8+ miles) on our feet, which I suppose balances out sitting nearly all day and night yesterday.  It really was a good day.  Tomorrow we meet our Road Scholar group leader and the rest of the group who will travel with us to Machu Picchu and the Galapagos.  But now ... I bid you all a sweet goodnight ....

Leaving on a Jet Plane ... April 10th, 2018

... tomorrow! Our packing’s complete. Believe me, it wasn’t easy to decide what goes and what doesn’t, considering we’ll be climbing up lofty and perhaps chilly mountains, as well as snorkeling in the Galapagos Islands waters for an entire week.  Woo-hoo!  Getting excited!

We fly out in the morning for another “trip of a lifetime.” This one might be the capper to those lifetime trips. We shall see. The first part of our journey will be with Roads Scholar, our fourth trip with them, but our first sans friends, Bernice and Ibby. We’ll surely miss them this go’round. Our first stop is Lima, and though we’ve been there before, I’m sure we’ll enjoy new activities. From there, we fly to Cusco and the Sacred Valley. Located in the Andes Mtns in the south of Peru, it’s nosebleed territory -- elevation between 11,000-12,000 ft.  Next, we’ll board a train to the celebrated UNESCO World Heritage Site: Machu Picchu (8,000') ... a scenic rail journey that follows the meandering Urubamba River, and will provide us (we hope) with spectacular views of the snowcapped Andes. Jimmy and I tried to get in some NorCal high country hikes in the last few months, so we won’t be much afflicted by altitude sickness, but, gee whiz, March was a great SNOW month, meaning we didn’t get up to the 6-7,000’ range to hike as often as we wanted. I hope we’ll do all right.

After all of the above, we fly to Quito, Ecuador for a short visit, and then we'll fly 600 miles to the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador's coast. There we’ll board the TipTop III motor yacht for the week, cruising from island to island. Inspired by Darwin and Beebe, I have waited a lifetime to step foot on these enchanted islands ... imagine hanging out with all those unique island critters … I’ll be in seventh heaven. Plus, daily swimming and snorkeling, oh boy!! In a later post, I’ll reveal the rest of our South American jaunt. As it is, these 17 days with Road Scholar in Peru and the Galapagos will be amazing. I'll post periodically if I can.

Look at this Sweet Pea ... a budding gardener?

Yesterday, Matt, Jen, and Everly (plus their dogs, Sophie and Maggie) drove up our place for a family get together one more time before we depart.

I betcha Everly will be as pretty as her Mom!

Squealing with delight with her Dad.

We had a great time.  Per our usual MO, Matt steered the making of a late lunch -- a large and tasty frittata. I’d made coleslaw and a sour cream coffee cake earlier to go with the main course. We can make a mess in the kitchen, but it’s joy-filled teamwork going on. And the young miss, sweet Everly -- entertaining as always, full of fun and a real charmer. Loved, loved, loved spending the afternoon with them.

See you guys in a month!

Fun times in NorCal -- April 4th, 2018

Jimmy and I missed seeing Sue and Mo of The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales when whey blew north on their way home to Oregon from the desert a few weeks ago.  But, as all travelers know, when we're done, we're done -- when the horse smells the barn, it won't be deterred.  Home calls.  We understood.  So, when Sue called to say she was heading our way for a bit of solo vacation, we were delighted.  It was to be a short visit, but that's better than no visit!

We spent Tuesday afternoon yakking and catching up, always fun.  When our stomachs cried for food, we drove to Lefty's in Nevada City for dinner.  I don't know why we can't remember that Lefty's is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays!  (at least they hadn't flooded in March, though Deer Creek came close to flooding their patio)  As we walked up Broad Street, we discovered Bistro 21 was open and not crowded at our early hour (we were hungry at 5).  Jimmy, Sue and I ordered three different entrees; our jaws dropped when Sue's entree (below) was brought to the table:  the most mammoth meatloaf any of us had ever seen!  Two different sauces, veggies between layers and taters at the bottom ... no way she could finish this baby!  Jimmy and I polished off most of the rest of it for Wednesday's dinner.  

The three of us had already decided to go hiking Wednesday morning ... where we went was up for grabs.  We didn't make the final decision till we parked our cars at Bridgeport, South Yuba River State Park -- the 3-mile Point Defiance loop trail won out over Buttermilk Bend.  Before setting out, since Sue had never been here, we showed her the covered bridge and made a side trip to the VC.

Built in 1862, Bridgeport Bridge, where Sue is posing, is the longest single span covered bridge in existence.  Much to everyone's chagrin, the bridge was declared unsafe and closed to foot traffic in 2011.  However, in 2014, Governor Brown signed legislation that included $1.3 million for the bridge's restoration. The work was slated to be done in two phases -- near-term stabilization followed by restoration beginning in 2018.  Well, we're already IN 2018, so it's unclear when the bridge will reopen for pedestrians.  I believe the dollar number has increased a lot, too.  We are hopeful ....

The trail zigzags up yonder hill, so we'll get a workout!

Near the VC, a Plum tree in full bloom attracted so many fluttering Pipevine Swallowtrail butterflies, I couldn't begin to count them.  You see at least two above, and a close-up of one, below.  Very cool.

These greens are real, honest!  Up we go, Jimmy in front, Sue following, and me with the point-n-shoot in the back, but we kept changing places.  We were still early in the season on this particular trail to see an abundance of wildflowers, but the breathtaking green made up for it.

We spotted clusters of miniature Lupines.

Between last winter's exaggerated rainfalls and March 2018's excesses, trees were toppled, while erosion carried dirt and boulders down hills.  The Yuba River looks placid in the background, only because the water level is very high.  

Serious erosion going on here.  Sue didn't stand there long!

One of several Pink Dogwoods we saw, all abloom.

The Yuba here is green, like the South Yuba, from sheer volume and snow melt. 

Although a bit early, some wildflowers dotted the landscape. 

Clockwise, from top left:  Indian Pink, Lupine, Globe Lily, Pretty Face, and Bowl Iris.

The campground at the confluence (of the Yuba and the South Yuba Rivers) was flooded again.  This campground is available for boaters and hikers only.  Pack it in.  Can you see the picnic tables?

It was peaceful on this trail.  We met very few other hikers Out and About; those we saw started at the opposite end of the loop (the wrong way, haha).  We sat briefly on the bench here at the confluence (and the beginning of Lake Englebright).  The sun felt warm, so we didn't stay long.  Funny, it was cool at our house when we left 9:30/ish, and we dressed for it.  You know we began shedding clothes as we climbed, but the temp had to be in the 70's by the time we parked ourselves on the bench, and the three of us wished we'd worn shorts.

At this point in the loop trail, with Sue in the lead, we're paralleling the South Yuba River, which is VERY HIGH and strangely silent.  Usually water over the rapids is loud, noisy, but today there were no rapids, just high water, deceptively calm-looking, and silent.  We had to scramble up, over, and around small boulders on this part of the trail, which nobody liked.

A yellow broom in full bloom

made a good showing.

See?  Looks like a lake, not raging water, but -- oooh -- the current was swift.

Coming down the trail toward the parking lot and spying the covered bridge (always a welcome sight).  At this spot, the South Yuba seems to be getting feisty with rapids.

The bridge on this side of the river is nestled among purple-blossomed Vinca Periwinkle vines.  To me, the bridge looks longer from this angle.

Sue and Jimmy are getting close to the parking lot.  We were ready to be done, all of us too warm.  Sue drove her car and Jimmy drove Smartie to the So Yuba St Park, because Sue would be driving to Oroville from here to visit another friend.  Well, as I said, her time with us was short, but we sure enjoyed seeing her ... thanks for bringing me a bottle of The Best Olive Oil, too!  Maybe we'll zip up to Oregon later this year to visit you and Mo.