Our first day in Lima, the capital of Peru, was a full one!  After seeing the parade, Parque Kennedy, the Inka Market, and Indian Market (all covered here), we walked the Malecon, Lima’s clifftop walkway.  It was located just two blocks from our hotel, so we enjoyed walking different parts of it each day while we were in Lima. 

Larcomar, a shopping center built into the cliff, was right at the foot of the boulevard where our hotel was located, so we couldn’t help but to see it.  Shopping malls aren’t our thing, but this one was worth a stroll around just to see how it was situated on the steep cliff.  There were amazing views from the top level and restaurants!

(For all photos, click on the image for a full screen view.)

The sky wasn’t the prettiest while we were there, but we fully expected that.  Lima is known for its often foggy and always humid weather, but it was winter, so the temperature was in the 60’s.  I loved every minute of it!  The poor photography conditions was worth the trade-off to be out of the Georgia heat.

The cliff-top walk was beautiful with many small parks and bougainvillea growing everywhere.  Our destination for our first walk was Parque del Amour (Love Park), inaugurated on Valentine’s Day, 1993.  The centerpiece of the park is a huge sculpture called, “The Kiss” but we were there to see the Gaudi-inspired mosaics that included phrases and poems about love.  We loved it!

We had also hoped to see the paragliders that usually fly along the cliffs, but we didn’t see any.  Stay tuned, because they will appear in an upcoming post!

This is the Peru Sole, their currency.

Around our hotel:

Since the included meals with Overseas Adventure Travel are always multi-course, we usually opt for something lighter and more casual when we are on our own.  Bruce wanted our first dinner in Lima to be a treat, though, so we made reservations for Huaca Pucllana.  Located adjacent to the Huaca Pucllana ruins that we were planning to see, it worked out nicely to enjoy dinner first and then tour take the evening tour of the ruins.

What a memorable and fascinating evening!  The beautiful terrace of the restaurant overlooked the ruins, so we dined enjoying a very unique view!

Following dinner, we went next door to see the museum and take our evening tour.  There were just four other people, making the experience intimate and enjoyable.

These ruins were amazing, once we understood the history and construction of the site.  Built as a ceremonial center between 450-650 A.D., they were abandoned for at least a century until the Wari society’s elite converted the top of the pyramid into a sacred space where their deceased were interred.  Later, the Ychsma people (1100 to 1450 A.D.) used it to bury their dead as well.  They also used it as a repository of offerings associated with ancestor worship.

The most amazing thing about these ruins was learning that what we saw was just a fraction of the size of the original site.  It was only by accident these ruins were discovered in the 1980’s during excavation work; the remainder has been built over during the past centuries.

Here’s a fun fact:  People think Maccu Picchu is ancient  at 574 years old, but Huaca Pucllana is 1,100 years old!

Coming up next: PERU #3: LIKABLE LIMA (PART 3)– BARRANCO DISTRICT