Well, I guess it had to happen sooner or later, but your intrepid travelers were robbed last night. No one was hurt, except our pride and sense of trust. We were walking down a busy street, a street we had walked many times before over the last 6 days, when a taxi (that’s right, a clearly marked taxi) pulled over behind us. Two men in ski masks jumped out and grabbed Laura’s purse, sending her careening into me. We both ended up sprawled on the ground. The pendajos jumped back into their cab and sped away, leaving us a bit bruised and bewildered. Ten years of traveling together and this is the first time anything like this has happened.

We made it back to the apartment, with some help from neighbors, and assessed the situation. We lost about $20 in cash, credit cards (which were quickly canceled), and Laura’s Iphone, which was also quickly disabled. They didn’t get much for their effort.

To prove to ourselves we were OK, the next day we got back out and toddled around as normal. Bought Laura a new purse, and generally moved on. Lima is a good place, with many good honest people. What happened could have happend in any large city in the US. Sometimes bad shit happens, it’s what you do with it that matters. I for one am not going to let it stop me in an manner.

“No podemos estar seguros de tener algo por lo que vivir si no estamos dispuestos a morir por ello.” ~Che Guevara

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Beginning a more ambitious day by going to the main square, the Plaza Mayor.
We arrived during the Changing of the Guard at the presidential palace, an elaborate affair. The weather was pleasant, with the typical Lima Garua, a light fog covering everything in the morning changing to hazy sun in the afternoon. Afterwards we headed to the Cathedral, for a walk through that included the Archbiship’s residence. We stopped for lunch off the plaza. Later in the evening had dinner at Amoramar, a well known cevicheria. Late night listening to Afroperuvian music at La Noche.

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The first thing we did was to go to the Larco Museum  which is the premier archeological museum of Andian cultures. We had a lovely lunch in the excellent cafe on the grounds. Afterwards we went to the Larcomar shopping mall, an exercise in sublime excess, with high end shops and expensive coffee and juice bars. There are guards at all entrances to keep out the riff raff. Back home for a siesta before venturing out again in the evening for dinner at Juanito Barranco, by far the coolest place I’ve been to so far, with lots of locals and lots of atmosphere. Much better than the high end toursita places we seemed to find before.

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