Last Stop - Lima

Saturday, 4 May, 2013

Another early start this morning and another brilliantly sunny day in the Andes.  After breakfast we loaded up the bus (well the porters loaded up the bus) and we made a short journey to the San Pedro Markets which are in another part of Cusco but not too far from the airport.

Plaza and church in front of the San Pedro Markets

   Luiz escorted us on a fast paced tour through the markets which sell local produce - meat,cheese, fruit, vegetable, grains, bread, fish - and are quite extensive.

A vast variety of grains on sale at the market

 The market was busy with Saturday morning shoppers and locals having breakfast.  The dish of preference seemed to be a hearty vegetable soup which was being cooked on site.  There were also plenty of people patronising the numerous juice bars for a freshly blended drink.  Luiz told us that this Andean version of "Boost Juice" is very popular with students from the nearby university.

Breakfast juice anyone?

The juice did look pretty good and we did sample some of the local cheese which was also pretty tasty.   Not one scrap of an animal is wasted when it is slaughtered so the meat department was a bit gruesome and smelly.  Outside, while waiting for our bus, we were enchanted by two little tots playing with a button - they were having heaps of fun, laughing and giggling, while their mum's chatted.

So much fun with a button!

From the market it was a short drive to the airport with some interesting sights along the way:

Local construction techniques

Health warnings on advertisements for alcohol - "drinking alcohol in excess is dangerous"

At around midday we were up into the clouds and en route to Lima.   It was a bit of a surprise to see a couple of snowy mountain tops appear above the clouds as we flew past.  We were certainly not very much higher up and it was cool to get this last glimpse of the magnificent Peruvian Andes.

Flying alongside some mighty mountain peaks en route to Lima

We arrived in Lima to a grey, overcast but warm day and the drive from the airport to our hotel did not fill us with joy.  The city seemed to be flat, dingy and overwhelmed with traffic.  Franz, our guide for the last days of our journey cheerfully admitted that Lima is cloudy and grey for nine months of the year.  It's that old Antarctic cold water current again!  Apparently the sunny season has finished.  Things improved a bit when we arrived in the financial/embassy district where our hotel is located.  Lovely old colonial houses and tall, shiny ultra modern tower blocks side by side in pretty tree lined streets.  We were assured that this is a very safe area and were given strict instructions about travelling to other areas of the city  ("use the hotel cars, and beware of local taxis - you can't tell which are legit.").  Although we had a whole afternoon and evening to ourselves, most of us crashed in our rooms, still feeling the effects of long days and high altitudes.  In the evening we walked a couple of blocks to a recommended restaurant, Tanta, and enjoyed a delicious meal.  I had chicken with three different sauces in little pots, roasted potatoes, green vegies and absolutely scrumptious local corn in a creamy sauce.  The corn kernels are large and pale yellow but so sweet and tasty.  No wonder corn is a big part of the local diet.  I am not sure about the provenance of the sauces but they were all yummy too.  A pleasant and balmy evening to stroll back to the hotel which fortunately is lovely as I have two extra days here after the tour officially ends on Monday morning.  Graham from Australia will also be here as we are on the same flight back to Sydney so I will have a chum.

Graham, Leighton, Phyllis, Arlene and Joe - dinner at Tanta