In the Footsteps of the Incas: From Mountains to Jungle to Ancient Ruins - Page 18 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Your crowds remind me of a trip I made into Zurich, Switzerland a long time back. We found ourselves in the old town in the middle of a festival. Do not remember the name but it had started at 11:11 am on November 11. Everyone in the crowds were in various costumes and were very very friendly. It seems that they had been drinking since the start of the festival (or before) and it was dinner time when we got there. It was very loud, very crowded but a lot of fun. Looking forward to the rest of this update.
Glad you had a great experience in Zurich. If I ever get to Switzerland I will definitely need to do some research about that festival.
Ever since I’ve had lunch I’m constantly ducking into public restrooms. My traveler’s diarrhea has not abandoned me. I think it is a jealous lover and is in competition for my affections with Craig. After having done battle with The Horde, I want to get a pick-me-up. We walk over to a little Plaza San Martín. On its west side, we enter the Gran Hotel Bolívar. It is like stepping back in time. We have entered the 1920’s. The domed lobby is beautiful. Love the stained glass! We both needed a rest. I enjoyed a quintessential Peruvian alcoholic beverage, the pisco sour. This hotel is known for their pisco sours. A pisco sour has as its main ingredient a form of fermented grape. I was happy to discover that my beverage was suitably potent. The hotel has an extra large version called a Catedral. Under ordinary circumstances I would have ordered that; but money is tight and I wanted to make sure I could get home to Philadelphia. Craig had a cup of coffee and a small sandwich. I definitely would recommend experiencing a pisco sour should you ever visit Peru.
Gran Hotel Bolivar
Stained Glass Dome
Walking into the hotel
After we enjoyed our leisurely break, we wandered around the Plaza San Martín and its neighborhood. Plaza San Martín is a very inviting area of the city. Why not explore a little bit more? We hadn’t gotten too far when things began to seem rather dodgy. In fact, we both spied an unsavory character not too far behind us. We started to pick up the pace and walk back towards Gran Hotel Bolívar. We wandered a little bit more through central Lima. Pretty soon we decided that it was time to head back to the hotel.
Plaza San Martin
We hailed a cab and had it drop us off near a major landmark in Miraflores. From there we walked back to our hotel. Miraflores has a really nice residential neighborhood. Craig and I kept on chuckling to ourselves about the remarks that our cab driver from the airport made about it being unsafe. I truly believe he was hoping to get us to book a room in a hotel from which he gets a kickback. The neighborhood in which we were staying was truly nice. In fact, there were little kiosks manned by policemen on many corners. Seemed far safer to me than the neighborhood I live in at home. I don’t have police officers so readily available.
This is our neighborhood in Miraflores. Does this seem sketchy to you? Does it make you want to clutch your pearls?
Craig outside of our hotel
Craig was plum tired out at this point. He crashed on the bed and I figured I could do with a nap as well. It was a little after 5 pm and off to slumberland we went.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Craig totally slept through the night. I had woken up but decided that his body was trying to tell him something. I just went back to sleep. I’m sure our bodies were grateful for the well deserved rest.
I woke up in the morning and it was definitely time for us to be starting our day. We indulged in a bit of luxury that our room afforded us. I filled the hot tub with piping hot water. We took a leisurely bath scrubbing, soaking, and relaxing. The water was so hot it really sapped a lot out of both of us. In fact, we were both rather dizzy when we got back to being vertical again. It definitely was a treat.
I'm enjoying my bath
Next on our agenda was to have breakfast in the dining room of the hotel. It was nothing special food wise. The dining room was very nicely decorated and we had it all to ourselves. We definitely took our time and did not rush.
If only it was warmer we would have taken advantage of the hotel pool
The hotel dining room
We ventured out and hailed a cab to visit the Museo Rafael Larco Herrera. The museum is housed in an 18th century vice-royal mansion. It showcases chronological galleries that provide an overview of 4,000 years of Peruvian pre-Columbian history through ceramic, metal and textile art. It boasts one of the world's largest collections of pre-Columbian art including Moche, Nazca, Chimú, and Inca pieces. The wonderful part of the museum is that explanations of what you see are provided in English. The artwork with precious metals was truly astounding. The museum is renowned for possessing the world's only collection of ancient erotic pottery, in the form of ceramic artifacts. The erotic ceramics are stored in a separate facility from the main museum. Craig and I were aware that this exhibition is housed at this museum so we went on the hunt for it. If you didn’t know about it you might very well miss it entirely. I saw things in this exhibition that truly surprised and shocked me. That isn’t easy. It was well worth the s/. 20 admission. I am one of those people who read every little plaque. Craig does the same thing. Touring a museum is not something that is always compatible for me to do with other people. I’m happy that Craig and I tour museums at a similar pace.
Museo Rafael Larco Herrera
NEXT: The trouble with taxis and another birthday surprise for Craig
I'm sorry, but I don't see any problem at all with the neighbourhood where your hotel was. I'm with you - I think the taxi driver was on some form of commission as well for recommending other hotels. Another great update - sorry your stomach's still all over the place.
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Definitely think that cab driver was up to something trying to steer you away from the hotel you chose. It looks like a nice neighborhood to me! Sorry to hear your tummy troubles are still around. I have to tell you that pic of you in the bath cracked me up! Looks like you're really enjoying it!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
I'm sorry, but I don't see any problem at all with the neighbourhood where your hotel was. I'm with you - I think the taxi driver was on some form of commission as well for recommending other hotels. Another great update - sorry your stomach's still all over the place.
Yeah, I think a healthy dose of common sense helps with travel. The whole traveler's diarrhea thing didn't go away until I was back home for a few days. I took some generic version of Imodium and gradually things got back to normal with my usual bacteria living inside me.
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Definitely think that cab driver was up to something trying to steer you away from the hotel you chose. It looks like a nice neighborhood to me! Sorry to hear your tummy troubles are still around. I have to tell you that pic of you in the bath cracked me up! Looks like you're really enjoying it!
We both really enjoyed the hot tub. That was a definite treat during the trip. We both were not prepared for how soaking in that hot water for an extended amount of time effects your body. It was like we both were a bit woozy afterward. That feeling made me laugh.
The neighborhood looked safe to me. Glad you had a good time and were able to find the rest rooms when needed.
You're glad!?! I was ecstatic! It was a godsend finding these little hole in the wall free toilets. Granted, their cleanliness leaved much to be desired but when you are desperate any port in the storm will do!
Neighborhood looks good to me. Sorry about the continued bathroom troubles, looking forward to more......
Miraflores is definitely a neighborhood worth exploring. I wish we had more time there. That seems to be a theme with me and travel..."if only we had more time".
Neighborhood looks perfectly safe to me too! Sounds like an interesting pottery collection !
I highly recommend that museum. You'll get to see things there that you probably won't be able to see anywhere else in the world. It was a great collection and would recommend a visit even if you wanted to skip the erotic ceramics. They are in their own separate building anyway.
It is time to head back to our hotel in Miraflores. We exit the museum finding a number of taxis waiting to provide a ride. One man offers to give us a ride in a very nice car. Far more fancy than anything we have taken to date. I inform him where we needed to go and he quotes me a price that was almost triple what it cost to get out to the museum. I thanked him very much but declined his offer. I really believed that it was a case of trying to take advantage of the gringos. After that failed attempt, I suggest to Craig that we walk down the street away from the museum. Perhaps, we could get a better rate if we were just away from the tourist destination. We walk for a bit down the street and flag down a taxi cab. While this cab driver didn’t ask for the same amount it still was way higher than what we had originally paid. We continued to walk down the street and we ask a third cab. This was also an unsuccessful attempt. We turn around and walk in the direction back towards the museum. As we approach, a cab driver who was waiting at the museum had crossed the multi-lane street to stop to talk to us. We have a conversation and he explains that the difference in rates has to do with the time of day. It is later in the day and there is now greater traffic as opposed to earlier this morning. Since there is the potential to be on the road for a longer period of time due to traffic, the cabs will be charging more money. That made sense to me. He said while he wouldn’t take us back to Miraflores for the amount we originally had planned, he was willing to take us for substantially less than the very first price we were quoted. Craig and I agreed and we were whisked back to our hotel. Our cab driver was incredibly friendly and was asking us about our trip. Between his English and our Spanish we were able to carry on a decent conversation with lots of laughs. He asked us about our itinerary. At that point he discovered we would be leaving for the airport this evening. He asked if we had made arrangements. I hadn’t because taxi cabs are constantly buzzing around our neighborhood and it is always cheaper just to flag one down as opposed to having the hotel or some other agent arrange for transportation in Lima. When I told him how much I was planning on spending for a ride to the airport, he happily told us he would gladly pick us up at our hotel for that amount. He was such a nice and friendly man. We set a time for him to pick us up at the hotel. When we arrived in Miraflores, he even offered to knock off a few Nuevo soles off of our fare since he had a guaranteed big fare later that night. We just paid him what we had agreed upon and considered it money well spent. I thought of it as a tip. I always try to show my appreciation for good service.
When we were planning this trip I would float ideas by Craig. Some things we decided against. For example, we could have gone kayaking around Lake Titicaca and visited more islands than we did. However, I was a bit worried about adjusting to the altitude so we nixed that idea. Turns out that was a smart move! Another idea that I had floated by Craig was a bike tour of three Pacific coast neighborhoods of Lima. He was very receptive to the idea but originally we had eliminated it due to money concerns. Unknown to him, I put it back on our itinerary and made a reservation. This was another birthday surprise for him.
Wow Moment! Our tour departed at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. There were a total of four of us plus our guide. The bikes were very easy to operate and the terrain was flat the entire way. Our bilingual guide was a local college student who spoke fluent English. We traveled around the neighborhoods of Barranco, Chorrillos, and Miraflores. They each had a ton of character and were quite picturesque. Our guide was fantastic. He was very friendly and informative. He was quite patient and was interested in us. He asked me numerous questions about my experiences while in Peru since he discovered this was our last day. We talked a lot about El Señor de los Milagros. He totally understood where I was coming from. He said his mother and sister were out in that craziness. Another of our tour members was going to be leaving on the same flight as me. The last person of our tour was going on a tour of Peru with GAP adventures. He would be meeting his tour group on the following day. He wanted a day to acclimate himself to Peru before he started his big adventure. This was a great way to see the city of Lima. The bike tour was suitable for people of all biking skill levels. Craig had not been on a bicycle in years. He had very little problems. It also was accessible for people of all ages. You just have to bring a great attitude and a little bit of patience. Occasionally when crossing streets our group got separated and we had to wait for the rest of the group. As much as I did not care for central Lima, I absolutely loved these neighborhoods. So now I revise my advice about Lima. Absolutely explore Lima, but avoid central Lima and stick to the coastal neighborhoods of Barranco, Chorrillos and Miraflores. The company we used was “Bike Tours of Lima” and you can find them on the web at www.biketoursoflima.com. I highly recommend them.
Craig is about to start his bike tour of Lima
We started with Barranco. It is known for its bohemian residents, mansions, bars and parks. In Chorrillos we learned about the impact of war, fishing piers, seafood restaurants, beaches, and the historic Morro Solar hill. We saw where restauranteur Anthony Bourdain had some incredible ceviche. While in Chorrillos, we stopped into this little shop that sells everything under the sun. I had the best ham sandwich in ages. It just proved to me that quality ingredients makes all the world of a difference. My sandwich only consisted of ham, onion, and a roll and it was incredible. Our snack was included in our tour. In Miraflores we explored wonderful public parks and an incredible shopping mall on the edge of a cliff looking out towards the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish colonial architecture provided great character for all three neighborhoods. As we entered our final destination of Parque Central and Parque Kennedy in Miraflores the sun quickly set.
The Pacific Coast of Lima
A fellow traveler, our guide, and Craig discuss Barranco
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Another great update - sorry your stomach's still all over the place. 
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