Lima

Lima is always chaotic. The traffic is a nightmare, especially during rush hour. But it is much worse now because they are doing road construction everywhere in Lima for a major economic summit coming up in November. Ironically, it doesn't appear that they will be ready on time, so the summit traffic will be much more chaotic than usual, defeating the purpose. It took us 45 minutes to make it to the hotel. Nevertheless, we had a good time. We arrived into the El Olivar Hotel, checked in, and then went to dinner to one of the most fabulous restaurants in the world, called Fusion. They specialize on fusion of Peruvian cuisine with other parts of the world (Italy, Japan, etc.). The food was simply out of this world. We ate lots of seafood. The tuna tartare there is simply the best.

Next day Mark and Cindy split because it was their last day in Lima and they wanted to tour the archeological museus, downtown Lima, the Catacoumbs and other places of interest. The rest of us went to visit the town, beaches and Barranco. Did a little shopping in Barranco. Barranco is suppose to be "the place" for local music and fun, but it is all run down because of so much road construction all over the place. We then had lunch with Michael's client and his wife at "Pescados Capitales", which is one of the best seafood restaurant in Lima. Our pretty savvy waiter suggested a variete of specialty dishes and we went along with that. Had some tiradito, octopus, jalea, etc. We had a great time and ate like kings.

Again, we toured the city, then came back to say farewell to Super Mark and Cindy. We learned about their Lima city adventures. For example, Cindy went to buy some jewelry at one of the silver stores, but Mark was wearing his shorts and unshaved face. Most people thought he was a thug because nobody wears shorts in the winter in Lima, but given that he was accompanied by a very sophisticated looking lady, he was allowed into the jewelry stores, not without a dirty look, though. Mark and Cindy finally left for the airport. The resto of us went back to Barranco for a show of music and dances of Peru that started at 9 pm and went until 3 am. We left around 2 am and went back to the Hotel in a beat up taxi. With no traffic at nigh, we made it to the hotel in about 10 minutes. What a difference!!

The next day was Mike and Lynn's last day. We went to downtown Lima. The traffic going there was horrendous and we went through pretty bad neigborghoods, which you can't avoid with all the road construction going on. Once we got there it was nice. The plaza is painted in its original colors and they have done a great job of keeping the Plaza nice and clean (except for the pollution glued to the buildings).

The Town Hall has some pictures of what the plaza used to look back when informal street vendors were allowed and, boy, what a difference!! We visited the San Francisco Catacoumbs where they had bones from some 10,000 people that were buried. It is a very interesting but creepy tour and the church is in bad need for renovation because of earthquakes. Nevertheless, the San Francisco convent is very historic, interesting and beautiful.

To give Mike and Lynn some idea of how the Limenios live, we went to Miraflores, by the water. We saw peopla paragliding from a cliff by the water and the infamous (some think is tacky) "Love Park".

We then went to Jose Antonio, which is a typical Peruvian restaurant that serves some of the best Pisco Sours in town. We had a great late lunch with tiradito (raw fish in lime juice), octopus and other local dishes.

At night we went to Larco Mar, which is an amazing complex of shops, theaters, restaurants and bars by the water with fantastic views. We had some ice cream, did some shopping, Alberto and Mike smoked Cuban Cohibas, and then went back to the Hotel. Mike and Lynn departed shortly after, bringing to an end our fantastic Peruvian journey. Alberto and Delphine stayed another week to visit with the family. Attendend Luis's son's baptism (Alberto was the godfather), his sister Zambi's birthday, and even managed to do some work at Pacifico University, where he gave a talk to an audience of 100 business people.