Sunday in Lima

We started the day early. Perhaps it was excitement, but more likely it was the noise generated by our neighbors. We had breakfast in and forged out around 9 am.

First stop was to get local currency. We’ve had great luck using ATMs to withdraw from our checking account in local funds. The conversion rate is great and the only fees are those associated with the ATM itself (~$6 USD). On withdrawal, we thankfully received a fraud alert on our Capital One Card. When we tried to respond to the automated text, it would not send, apparently due to it being sent from a short code number. We trudged back to our room to get in WiFi range to make a call and verify our transaction. Though we attempted to setup a travel alert with them, they said it was unnecessary because we had a chip. I’d love to have avoided this on the transaction.

We saw a street exercise session. There was probably 300 people doing what looked like Zumba but with a lot more Latin feel. Our path took us through Kennedy Park and the Miraflores Municipal Building. This area of Miraflores was really nice and we could tell that both tourists and locals spend time here.

The next stop was Surquillo Market. There was a main building with many established vendors and stores, primarily selling produce and meats. Outside there were a lot of street vendors, and it looked an awful lot like a farmer’s market. There were so many handmade goods, which are interesting until you see the same stuff again and again… that’s typically the experience we have with the street markets.

In Lima city, there are a couple of sites where you can see the old Incan ruins. The first that we saw was Huaca Pucllana; we visited that from the outside only. At Huaca Huallamarca, we took the tour inside. It was a temple built around the time of Christ’s birth. On display were various areas that depicted housing, funerary tombs and temple worship. Most interesting was how they buried their dead – seated and knees folded, then wrapped in a bundle. The big ruins we came to see are in Manchu Picchu later in the week, but both of these sites were active archaeological digs.

We stopped for a quick lunch at a place called Bembos, the Peruvian equivalent of Burger King. Needless to say, it was underwhelming but it fit the bill. The beef was a little different but all in all it was OK. We traveled to Larco Museum and walked through the beautiful gardens outside. We came across the “galeria erotica” outside the gardens… and decided that the ancient Incans were quite enamored with all matters of the bedroom. Anyway, it gave us a good laugh and we moved on. We didn’t go inside Larco because (a) it was pretty pricey and (b) Kami allots me one museum per destination.

We then hiked to the National Museum of Anthropology, Archaeology and History. This was a pretty nice museum but most of the language was Spanish. We just aren’t fluent so we could pick out words here and there but there was definitely a gap.

From there we found a nice dinner at Polleria Miki in Jesus Maria district. Some blackened chicken with papas fritas (fried potatoes) and a salad… definitely yum!

And to cap off our day, we went to the Magic Water Circuit in Lima district. For the low price of 4 Soles (about $1.25), we were treated to their fountain park. There were eleven fountains each with its own theme. Our price of admission included the evening light and sound show set against the Fountain of Fantasy. Definitely something to see when visiting Lima. We grabbed an Uber and headed back to our AirBNB.

All told, we trekked about 22,000 steps according to the FitBit. We were tired but pleased with the day. More to come about our next day in Lima during the next post.