Interruption ... April 18th, 2018

Into each trip a little misadventure may fall.  This is happened to us:

A glitch at Lima's airport cost us two days.  On Wednesday, April 18th, we checked out of our hotel 10:50ish for Cusco's airport and our 12:50 Latam Airlines flight to Lima.  At the airport, we sat and waited and waited and waited, along with a passel of others, for our gate to open.  It remained dark, and we were left in the dark about why.  Eventually, we learned our flight to Lima had been canceled.  No reason given.  Our group of 16 (below) had to retrieve our checked bags and skedaddle downstairs to join the LONG rebooking line, recheck our bags, and go through security again.  Road Scholar jumped into action and box lunches were delivered to us by their rep, which is what we were delving into about the time the pic was taken. 

Flights came and went, but not ours, people moved around us and disappeared and we sat ... waiting in the stuffy little airport, our connecting flight to Quito long gone.  We wondered what would happen to us.  Around 7:10pm, we finally boarded the flight to Lima and were in the air at 7:50.  The story we heard was a runway emergency occurred at Lima's airport which shut down the runways for 3-4 hours, and messed up all sorts of travel plans.  Good sports all, we understood that unexpected things (glitches) happen, but the not knowing what was going on was very frustrating.

Arriving in Lima, we were mighty disappointed to learn from the Road Scholar rep who met us there that we couldn't take the late Quito flight that night (already full), but would have to wait till tomorrow ... and that a bus would take us back to a Miraflores (Lima) hotel, 45 min from the airport.  Another "box lunch" hot off the grill, was handed to us minutes before we boarded the bus, which we ate as soon as we were on the bus (and it was delish).  We were at the hotel by 11 and in bed, sound asleep, by midnight.  Our group spent eight hours in the Cusco airport, wondering, waiting, and wishing.  Tomorrow we'll be split into two groups, a group of six lucky people (inc us) leaving Lima early, the other ten in late afternoon.

It got worse.  Thursday dawned sunny and our group of six left after breakfast for the 45-min drive back to Lima's airport, Road Scholar rep in charge.  At the check-in kiosk, a lady asked for our passports.  I dug in the dedicated passport pocket of my purse for the PP's.  Nothing.  Fool, I said, you must have put them in a different pocket.  Then I froze.  We'd had to hand over our PP's to the front desk of the hotel last night, and didn't collect them in our dazed state this morning.  No passports.  Hotel 45 minutes away.  My heart sank into my shoes.  The RS rep made phone calls (after sorta scowling at me).  A taxi was ordered to bring them STAT from the hotel to us at the Copa Airlines check-in counter.  The others went through and got their boarding passes.  

So ... our flight was to depart at 1:48 ... we hoped there was time.  More waiting.  Waiting-waiting-waiting!  Jimmy stood by the bags.  I walked, or paced.  An hour passed.  More.  After an hour and twenty minutes, I spied the girl from the hotel desk.  She'd seen us and was making a beeline in our direction.  I ran up to her, threw my arms around her, declaring, "I love you!"  We made the flight.  I hate these painful lessons.

Did I mention that the only flight we could get to Quito was by way of Panama?  Look at a map, Panama is completely out of the way. It took all day to fly from Lima to Panama to Quito, where another Road Scholar rep met us.  She'd also been waiting and was grateful we showed up.  This was supposed to be our sightseeing day in Quito and we arrived after dark.  The second group wasn't as lucky; they didn't get to Quito till 11:30pm.  No sightseeing for any of us.  It took us two days for what should have taken maybe half a day.  This is what happens when airports experience an emergency or a blizzard or hurricanes.  Sigh ....

The next morning we had to get up well before sunrise for the 8am flight to Baltra Island in the Galapagos.  Heck fire, we'd need a week cruising around the islands to restore our usual cheery equilibrium!

All is well that ends well.  We made it to Quito.

We even made it to the Galapagos Islands.

HOORAY!

Food 'n stuff. Lima -- Friday, April 13th

Such a variety for an afternoon!  With our guide, Elias, in the lead, we attended a gourmet cooking class at El Señorío de Sulco where we watched and participated un poquito.  Of course the chef made everything look easy!  Elias is at left, translating.

Our first dish to taste was ceviche.  Jimmy and I looked at each other, never wanting to try ceviche before, but brave souls that we are, we tried it and, yes, it was quite good -- with corn and sweet potato garnish.

Above and below, the chef made Peruvian causa (from the Quechen) -- yellow potatoes blended with oil, lime juice and (most importantly), Peru’s ají amarillo.  Ours was layered with a shredded chicken filling, tomatoes and avocado, but other combinations are also used.  "Basically, a causa offers anything you could want of summer rolled into a peppery potato mash."  Yes, we all tasted and it was delicious.  We would have this dish again elsewhere.

The lighting was less than perfect, as you see, all that brightness,

but above is a group photo.

Next up was a Lomo Saltado, using beef tenderloin, cut into long pieces and seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic.  He added onion and tomato to the saute, a splash of vinegar and soy.  The aroma in the room as Chef sauteed the beef made our mouths water.  This was served with fries.

Above, the yummy Lomo Saltado is being portioned onto plates.  Muy delicioso!

As we were leaving, a giant bowl of coca leaves had been placed near the exit.  Jimmy, get your hand out of that bowl ... only take one or two!  We chewed a leaf (they're cut), which tasted like a leaf (duh!), and spit it out.  Supposed to help alleviate or moderate altitude sickness, which was in our very near future, altitude, that is.  This cooking class was great, and everyone received a Gourmet Certificate.  Fun to be adventurous and try new dishes. 

A wall of masks next to the coca leaf bowl.

I don't recall where I saw this mosaic, but isn't it fine? 

Okayyy! We followed this gastronomic delight with a visit to the Church of San Francisco. (We were also supposed to stop at Lima's historic Santo Domingo Church and Convent, but the Americas' heads of state meeting kept us away from the Plaza de Armas, where the church is located.)  With its prominent library and wonderful paintings and frescoes, the Church of San Francisco was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1991.  Today we would be given a tour of the catacombs.

The catacombs were actually part of Lima's original cemeteries, which were built under churches. Tour guides say an estimated 75,000 bodies are buried under San Francisco alone, and many of the remains are exposed, stacked in strange patterns in circular stone pits. A catacomb tour is not for the squeamish or the claustrophobic.  I doubt anyone really knows how many underground passages and catacombs are beneath the church.  I can only say it was bizarre.

Yikes, I kept walking!

Whew, after that, we entered the church.  Opulent and a feast for the eyes, the church is typical Spanish Baroque architecture.  It houses stunning gilded side altars and niches and an impressive lattice dome.  We didn't have much time to explore, but I could have taken a thousand photos.  These few will have to do.

And outside on the plaza, vendors sell souvenirs.

Police are on full alert these two days due to the visiting heads of state.

This guy was also guarding the populace! 😉

Funny how often food crops up on blog posts.  Dinner at Saqra was superb.

Well designed, too!

We finally returned to our hotel in Miraflores and crashed. Tomorrow we'll have a 4:15am wake-up call (yeow, so early!), a very early breakfast, and an 8am flight to Cusco in the Peruvian Andes. See you mañana!

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 gold.  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 worlds 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 was 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 ....