Two days in Lima

After a morning of shopping in Ollaynta, a 2 hour drive to/through Cusco, we picked up my GoPro, dropped off Mat in Cusco, and got to the airport in plenty of time for our flight back to Lima. We arrived back at our Lima hotel around dinnertime. As I mentioned, we took the Executive upgrade which gave us free food for the remainder of our stay in Lima. What I didn't mention is that we got a decent room upgrade as well: 10th floor with a view.

I don't think there was much we did that night (Sat) but rest from our recent adventures.

On Sunday, we got up and walked toward the beach. There, we saw many walkers, joggers, cyclists, and surfers. Our wandering took us to Laramar Shopping Plaza which is right at the ocean. It was around 10AM, and most stores didn't open until 11AM. We wandered North toward Kennedy Park, which was very busy. It was full of people, cats, regular art, humourous Global Warming art, and peaceful Global Warming activists. They were giving out free t-shirts for a group walk around Lima.

Possibly because of all the hubbub, we couldn't locate the Peru FWT (Free Walking Tour) ... so we went shopping in a department store. Jeff picked up a pair of dress shoes for about $22, but otherwise we just browsed.

We wandered back to the hotel, via the waterfront mall again. The stores were all open now, so we browsed. We also picked up some foodie gifts from a grocery store. Some of the prices there were quite inflated: $80 for a pair of glove liners, $700 for a suitcase, and $220 for small backpacks.

We still were not feeling well, so after dinner, we took another rest night.

On Monday, we walked up to the LAN office and got our US$45/person credit processed. It took half an hour, copies our passports, our Visa credit cards, our phone numbers, and our email addresses ... and the credits should show up in 2 weeks. Guess I'll write a letter to LAN.

That made us nearly 25 minutes late for the FWT, but we caught a glimpse of them and fell into step as they walked up to the busses. We all hopped on a bus that took us downtown. There, we caught the (daily) changing of the guard, and the tour launched into the history of Lima. After our "beginner's lesson on buying Peruvian gifts", we thanked the tour operators, left the group, and shopped for a sweater (or two) for Kate.

We hopped a bus back toward the hotel and quickly ate, repacked, and checked out. Now, what do we do for the next 9 hours?

(To be continued...)