Kind of a lazy day. We got going late, and walked around the nearby park, which is sort of a town square. Got some coffe at a local place and caught Uber to a small modern art museum to look at the exhibition. Had brunch at another coffe shop and came back, after walking around that neighborhood. We had dinner at a place we stumbled on to called Isolina and had a lovely dinner of ribs in a stew of cilantro sauce with rice and beans, which was actually one of the less exotic dishes they had (see website and menu).

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We decided to go to a nightclub called La Noche and saw a couple of local bands playing rock music. It was great but too loud for these abused ears. I will pay for it tomorrow.

The area in Lima near the ocean is dominated by a roaring sound that I could not place. It is not exactly the sound of ocean waves crashing, but it coincides with the waves breaking on the shore. It wasn’t until I got close to the edge of the water that a realized what it was…the sound of thousands of rocks being pushed and pulled by the waves. I made this video to try to capture the effect. Imagine it being loud enough to be heard from hundreds of feets away, mixed with the sound of the waves.

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The sun came out around noon, I discovered an island off the coast that had been hidden by the fog. We walked down to the beach and had ceviche next to the ocean. Walked back to a transformed view from the apartment balcony with the advent of sunlight.

After a very long day, and 2 long flights, it was hard to label this day one, so I improvised. Arriving at the apartment at dawn, the view is stunning. I immediately fell asleep and woke at noon, not sure what day, or what contientant it was. Walked to the market and back, and that was enough for the day. The weather is very mild, but uninspiring. Tonight, eat out and retire early, Tomorrow we can get to know Lima in earnest.

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The journey begins in the most mundane of trials.

Tomorrow we head south, and south, and south. Tonight we are in the hotel. At 4AM we go into the belly of the beast. Arriving in Lima at 5AM on Sunday.

Preparations continue, including obsessing about clothes, travel plans, bugs, and security. We are coping!

My intrepid travel companion pointed out that I had made an error on our last day in Lima. We are actually there for 36 hours instead of the 12 I had assumed. Unless we plan to sleep in the park, I will now need to find one more days lodging. I thought I was done. <sigh>

I’ve never been South of the Equator, nor to South America at all. It seemed like it was time.

To show you how naïve I was about the place, I thought – hey as long as I’m in Peru I should go and check out these other places. WRONG. South America is big, like really big. Screen Shot 2017-06-05 at 2.11.40 PM

Less than 2 weeks to go before we leave, which means that it is time to panic. Not enough time to fix the things that need fixing, like passports, but too much time to relax and say “Oh well….”

I THINK I have everything arranged that I need to – places to stay in Lima, Cuszco. Air transport arranged, train tickets purchased. What am I missing? I guess I’ll find out when I get there. You would think that I was going to Mars, gone for years instead of just 2 weeks. Jeez

Too much time spent, time to get going and forget the arrangements.

June 30, 2016

After the day off, we decided to pull out the stops. This part of the world (confluence of Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea) is known for Whale Sharks. We joined a boat tour to “swim with the sharks”. It was awe inspiring and scary. A highlight of the entire trip.

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After the great Whale Shark experience, we deserved a quite dinner on the beach, and a beautiful sunset.

June 30, 2016

Lazy day, hanging out at the beach, riding bicycles into town. It is worth noting that there are no paved streets on the island, also that it is very hot all the time. The temperature was in the 90’s every day and of course being near the ocean, quite humid. One gets use to it, and the solution is just to not move around much, or get into the water at every opportunity. A perfect excuse for vacation life in the islands.

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How we spent most of our time in the Caribbean.