And finally for Peru, Lima – Days 51 to 54

Sunset over Paracas bay

We had a couple of lazy days after the boat trip, walking along the beach, accompanied by big dog, sitting by the pool (well the wifi was better there) though in the shade and in the breeze it was actually quite cold and eating lots of fish. 

We went to a restaurant from trip advisor and had a beautiful lenguado cooked just for us, next night a cheaper restaurant right down the end where we picked from a set menu and a third similar option just before we left. All this accompanied by Donna and Phil which was very sociable. I had good kitten experiences, so all in all would highly recommend Paracas. 

One little kitten

Also pleased to discover there are people worse than me, as we ate lunch on Friday, I saw the Peruvian American lady walk past carrying a puppy, what is going on there? Bumped into her later and she had decided she was adopting it, taking it back to the States on Wednesday with her. She'd booked a vets appointment in Lima for the following morning...... Only to discover the Peruhop bus wouldn't take the puppy, her hotel in Lima wouldn't take the puppy and perhaps four days wasn't long enough for the jabs to work! Poor puppy ended up being left in Paracas, given to a boy who claimed his uncle was a vet, or something! Probably for the best!

A busy final day gave us a bus trip to the Paracas nature reserve, which was pleasant but nothing special, an hour to grab a bite to eat then back on the small bus to go to a hotel, on our way to Lima, where in the 2007 earthquake, damage caused led to the discovery of old tunnels where slaves were kept, housed, hidden to avoid taxes, no one quite knows, but we had a very interesting tour round them! We were then caught up by and transferred onto a big bus for the final leg of the journey to Lima. They said they would drop off at hostels etc in Miraflores and Barranco, the two popular tourist destinations in Lima, we however were staying in an Airbnb as a cheaper option, so had found the nearest hotel to our apartment building and told them we were staying there. Worked like a dream and Luigi let us in, good as gold, just after midnight!

So three nights, but really only two days in Lima which have been good, but probably enough. Yesterday, Sunday was very chilled, we went to the Peruhop office to fill out the questionnaire and claim our free t shirt, bumping into Sarah and Vaughan, two early 50 somethings from the UK (though he is a Kiwi) who we'd spent quite a long time chatting to the previous day, to find we are on the same flight to Santiago tomorrow. We then went to Kennedy Park, a must, as it's full of cats, no one is quite sure why, but they just live there, fed by some of the locals, but quite keen for a fuss and a cuddle, we ended up back there after a walk along the coastal path and back along the beach where I was adopted by 'Foxy'. It's like a cat cafe, only free. We did take a sachet of food with us, only seemed fair, but that was long gone before Foxy appeared. 

A flamingo. By the way, that's the Pacific Ocean, no big waves here!

Found there were a number of restaurants offering a litre of beer for £2.50 so thought we'd better check one out before dinner, where we had another, this was after free pisco sours at lunch (very small)! We seemed to spend all day eating and drinking!

Free walking tour today, starting with a free sample in the pub with 20 odd taps of mostly very strong beer! Seems to be a 'free' pattern developing here.  Interesting tour, starting with "how to get the bus to downtown!" Arrived just in time for changing the guard at the presidential palace before an interesting two hours culminating with free pisco tasting! Said there was a pattern developing! 

Nice hotel, except it's still being built - see scaffolding on the left

Back on the bus, unaccompanied, so had to accost an unsuspecting person, and offer them the money to load on their travel card to flash us through the turnstile! Back to Kennedy Park for a cat and ice cream fix. Average ice cream but we were joined by two Peruvian sisters, one of whom lives in Australia, the other who didn't have much English. We came away having had a lovely chat and really feeling quite chuffed.

Back to pack, pizza and bed, well the daddy of the house is taking us to the airport at 04.30 in the morning!

A beachside bar. Jackie was more impressed with the Old Speckled Hen umbrella and beer mats!

 

Pisco Sour, the National drink (or is it Chiles National drink!)

 

Paracas National Park. Not much in the way of vegetation! Sand, yes, plenty of sand, oh and sea - Ocean, Pacific Ocean!

 

The sand is a darker red colour due to something about a volcanic eruption. Didn't quite work out why the lighter sand hadn't eroded and covered the darker sand, but I probably missed something

 

Interesting museum at the end. They had found remains of extinct penguins that were 1.5m tall (Sarah please note) and birds with a 6m wingspan and teeth! Possibly related to pelicans

 

In Kennedy Park ( named after John F Kennedy, USA President) in Lima. It's full of cats and there's Jackie with a sachet of Whiskas cat food!

 

Jackie with 'Foxy' cat who wouldn't let her go

 

A statue of entwined lovers in Park de Amor

 

Costa Verde, Lima. There's surfers in those distant waves

 

The Presidential Palace, Lima. Francisco Pizarro, the original Conquistadore apparently once stood on this spot and decided to build his palace there, the original long since having been destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami

 

This is to the right of the Presidential Palace and is the catherdral, ordered to be built there by Pizarro with a wave to the right with his sword

 

Lovely buildings in the main square, the Plaza de Armas

 

The bed of the river Rimac (it's been diverted over to the left while they build an underground road).

 

A statue of General San Martin, liberator of Peru, Argentina and Chile from the Spanish in 1820

 

More fabulous architecture. Just a pity we couldn't go in anything, it was Monday and they were all shut!