On to our next stop ... Lima, Peru

Lima, Peru, our home away from home as we spent two nights at the airport going to and coming back from Easter Island.  We had not enjoyed that and were looking forward to a new type of experience.  We were spending two days here, March 19/20, and were hopeful it would be very different. 

 

These little fishing boats are not very big and remind me of the movie "The African Queen."  Notice how the guy is steering, with his foot. 

 

The first day we were doing Lima on our own.  This was most likely the one we’d been warned about … where we should be removing jewelry, dressing conservatively, knowing our surroundings.  We decided to take the point-and-shoot Canons with us rather than the big cameras, and I removed my diamond earrings as I didn’t want to take a chance of having them ripped out of my ears, leaving me to bleed to death on a sidewalk. 

We landed at Callao which means stone beach.  It appears to be the port for cargo, cruise ships and lots of pelicans.  It was a busy place and we were bussed out of the area as it wouldn’t have been safe for walking and was too far to walk anywhere anyhow. 

Lima was founded by a Spanish conquistador, but was originally called Limaq by the Incan people.  They did not sound the “q”, and so, Lima it was.  It’s the second-largest city in the world (the first being Cairo, Egypt) and is the capital of Peru.  It has grown from a half-million inhabitants in 1940 to five million by 1980 to the current 9-1/2 million. We saw a lot of them … on busses, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, little bicycles with carts or other things attached. 

There are carts of some type used everywhere, for everything it seems.

I like the little fruit carts.

A mobile cement mixer?

An easy way to move things.

It’s dry here, with only about 2 inches of rain a year.  However, in June and July the humidity can reach 98 percent while the normal average is about 85 percent.  It sure was feeling like that already.  There are also 1,400 species of orchids and 3,500 species of butterflies, which draw tourists from all over.  There are lots of birds and we were hopeful of seeing some, even in town.

The water and beaches are beautiful around here.

We were going to Miraflores, a part of Lima where there was a huge shopping center.  We weren’t really interested in that but figured from there we could wander around on our own.  We had also been told to be careful of traffic as the rules are only a suggestion.  We were to look both ways always, even on one-way streets, and if we were in a cross walk, we should run for our lives.  We learned that pretty quickly as we walked around.

Love Park has walls all around that seem to be some type of ceramic.

The main statue ... all about love.

A spectacular park.

I wasn't sure what this was but it made me think of a thunderbird or an eagle.

          

You know it doesn't rain when there are outdoor escalators.

The bus dropped us off at a park that’s above the mall.  We did walk through the mall and found that it was high-end with a lot of familiar, expensive brands.  We didn’t need anything there, but I wanted to try an Incan Kola.  Coca-Cola Company manufactures this cola here.  It’s yellow in color and tasted kind of like a cream soda.  It was good although I still prefer Coke Classic.

Inca Kola.

 

Just another cop bike.

These cops must be warm but they look good.

The church is beautiful but spoiled by the big banner.

Jaz and I lit out from the mall and walked down one of the main streets, 14 blocks to a park we’d been told about.  It was across the street from a church, and had flowers, benches, beautiful old trees and a few other interesting things, one of which was a huge, colorful bull statue.  I don’t know the significance, but it was still cool. 

It made me think of the painted Swedish wooden horses my Mom had.

The other thing of great interest to us were the cats.  There must have been 50 of them in the park, lolling about under the trees, under the benches, under the flowers. 

Not one inch of this kitty is in the sun.

My favorite.

 

They were everywhere and were well-cared for as there were food and water dishes set out for them.  While we’ve seen lots of dogs everywhere else, it was quite apparent that the cats had taken Lima.  Lima, Ciudad del Gatos.  (City of the Cats.) 

I'm eating.  Leave me alone.

Of course, we wandered all over taking pictures of cats … orange ones, black ones, tortoise-shell ones, white ones.  Every color.

Some were very friendly. 

Most just seemed lazy.

There were other interesting things to capture our attention.

We headed back to the mall but stopped to check out a local coffee shop.  Yummy!!! 

The only spoon I've seen even remotely related to an iced tea spoon.

Beautiful flowers are everywhere.

 

A watchdog with a bandana. 

A random shot cuz I liked it.

Love in the park, but not the Love Park.

 Got the bus back to the port and reboarded the ship.  It was fun doing a bit on our own as we’ve done a lot of tours.  Now, back to the usual, as tomorrow is a tour.  And yes, a bus is involved.  Always.