The trip back: Part II

We woke up late in Miami, which was great! I am so glad we decided to stay overnight- we were beat.  We stayed at the same weird hotel because I already had reservations, but we were prepared this time. We had Mylar blankets to stay warm  (They really work!) and did not go to the complementary breakfast.

Our only snafu was getting a cab to the airport. We had the concierge call us one, and she said it would be 10-15 minutes. 30 minutes later she called again, and the dispatch said they'd send one high priority and it would be there almost right away. 20 minutes after that, she called a cab from another company and Cathy requested a Lyft. 5 minutes later, two cabs and the Lyft pulled up. Agh. Good thing we are early birds- we still made it to the airport on time! 

We are enjoying a treat for the first time ever- first class seats! Our Wichita to Miami flights are on Cathy's frequent flier miles, and for some reason it cost less miles to fly back first class instead of coach. We'll take it!  It's not as snazzy as international first class, but it's been enjoyable just the same.

We were seated in the first row on our first flight which had lots and lots of leg room.

Go first row!

On our next flight, we were given dinner. Real dishes, silverware, glasses, and cloth napkins. Hot nuts were served as a snack before the meal service. We were also given hot towels, which I've only seen on foreign carriers. 

Ravioli with spinach and artichoke hearts.

They were warm!

Chicken Piccatta.

After the meal service, they brought out warm chocolate chip cookies. Cathy is a freak who hates chocolate chip cookies, but she still thought it was a nice touch.

The seats were comfortable, large, and you could recline them without bothering the person behind you. There were also arm rests for both people- no sharing the one in the center with the person beside you!  Nice!

I sent the following text to my sister.

First class is a luxury we could easily get used to!   I'm already plotting how to get international first class for our next Asia trip.  Flying to Sri Lanka in coach was not fun.

We got into Wichita around 11:40 PM.  It was after midnight before we got home since we checked our bags on the way back. Now all that's left is laundry and returning to real life. (Boooo!)  It was really nice to sleep in our own bed again, and we picked up Bessie the Happy Hound, our beloved greyhound.

She's currently torn between "OMG I LOVE YOU!" and "Forget it, you losers are dead to me!"

Great vacation all around.  We highly recommend Peru.

Someone is tuckered out from her adventures.

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My new favorite passport stamp

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The trip back

Our  wake up call was at 4:30 AM.

The hotel provided coffee, tea, and toast.  Gate 1 had a representative to help us get settled at the Lima airport. 

I have not done many tours, so I don't have much to compare to, but I have to say that Gate 1 was fantastic.  We bought the tour on Groupon for a steal, and we got more than our money's worth with the Gate 1 tour. There was someone there every step of the way. They dealt with everything in the background (our bags, our tickets, our transportation, supplying bottled water- they even got a doctor to make a hotel call on someone who had severe altitude sickness!) so we could focus on enjoying our trip.  I never really thought much about tours before, but I will absolutely book another Gate 1 trip.  It didn't hurt that we had a great group. Everyone was so nice, and we all compared notes on other trips we've taken. It felt nice to be with my people. 

Anyway, the airport was ok. You don't have to take your shoes off in the security line! Customs was easy and efficient. Our gate did change, and we had to mill around waiting for them to unlock the new gate, but otherwise it went fine.

We waited here forever.  In fact, we're still in this line.  Send food.

I was seated in an exit row, so I had first class quality leg room! Poor Kirk was in the row behind me- poor guy!  We even got food and wine on the flight. The flight was uneventful otherwise. LAN airlines, you're all right!

So. Awesome.

We are going to stay in Miami overnight, but don't have plans. We will not have a car this time around, so we are limited in what we can do. A good dinner and early bedtime sounds good to me!

Lima in an evening

We had such a short time in Lima.  We flew in from Cuzco, ran to our hotel, had a quick lunch, then hopped on a bus tour of Lima.  I really wish we'd had more time, as it looked like such an interesting city!

Our hotel was pretty nice, in beautiful Miraflores,  and even had decent wifi, with one drawback- no air conditioning!  There was a fan provided in our room, and our sliding glass door was wide open.  That was the only window in the room.  It did not even lock, so we assumed that it was how it was there.  It was really hot and humid, so that was a bit unfun. However, the lobby was nice, the room was nice, and the staff was friendly and helpful.  We found out later on our tour that 90% of Lima does not have air conditioning or heating of any sort, so be prepared if you head out there!

We did not have very long for lunch, so Kirk and I went to the first place that was not fast food that we ran in to. It turned out to be an Italian place- pretty decent, too!  Cathy had gnocchi, and Kirk had a chicken thing.  The menu was in Spanish, but we recognized a lot of the words.  Kirk's was a chicken fried chicken with cheese and prosciutto served with pasta.  Mmmm. 

Cathy is so hungry here, and it smelled so, so good.

Kirk's delicious dish.  

We had to race back to be at the bus in time for our tour.   Peru is another culture that does not rush you through restaurant meals.  It's very relaxing and we love it, but it can be a bit stressful when we have a bus to catch. 

We made it.

The tour was quick, and we only got out of the bus twice.  It was a shame really- Lima seems like the kind of city that deserves a lot of attention!  We will have to come back and explore it more thoroughly someday.  It was beautiful.  You could *really* see the colonial influence in the buildings- many of them were very European.  

Our great tour guide Mila! She was great!

We passed a park unofficially known as "Cat Park."  Once upon a time, there was a huge rat and mouse problem, and somebody had the brilliant idea of releasing several cats in the park.  It took care of the rat and mouse problem, but now there's a cat problem!  Cats are everywhere!  They have volunteers who feed them, and they try to trap and spay as many cats as they can, but it is still a huge issue.

Cat!

More cat!

We stopped to take a look at the Governmental Palace where the President of Peru lives.  You can really see the colonial influence in the architecture.  It was beautiful.  I wish that we had been able to go inside, but it was not to be!  The current president is Ollanta Humala.

The Palace

We had some time to explore the Plaza Mayor.  Kirk and I ran off to get some water, but we got back in time to take some good pictures!  

The fountain.

The wooden balconies are the originals- from the 1600's! They are made of mahogany.

Cathy, Carlos (our main tour guide) and Kirk.

Yellow buildings=government buildings according to tour guide Mila.

Once we were back on the bus, Mila talked a little bit about society.  We passed a hospital, and she talked about their health care system.  Like Canada, it has a single payer health care system, and every citizen is insured.  Overall, she said the system worked out well.  There's a 4-5 day wait for doctor's appointments unless it's an emergency.  

She also talked a bit about maternity care.  (Shout out to my preggo sister Melanie!) Unless you live in the larger cities, your baby will likely be delivered at home by a midwife.  The trained midwives are a fairly new thing set up by the government.  It was not so long ago when women were assisted by lay people, or their mother or sister.  Since going to the trained midwives, the survival rate of both the woman and the baby has increased.  In the cities, women have their babies at hospitals.  They have an extremely low C-section rate, and unless you are getting a C-section, there is no pain relief.  No epidural.  Not even an aspirin, according to Mila.

Cathy processes that information. 

Here's a few details Kirk photographed that I just like. :) 

One of our tour mates bought colorful bracelets- aren't they beautiful? 

Fun Fact: Cathy likes graffiti of any sort. She thinks it tells an interesting story.

We also had a stop at Parque Del Amor!  It was really beautiful.  It's right off the ocean, and it features the statue "The Kiss" by Victor Delfin.  The walls are colorful, and it had a wonderful view on the ocean. 

The Kiss. (or El Beso)

We were so there.

Hanging out in front of the wall with a great view of the ocean.

Kirk- and a nice view of the wall.

We were not in the park very long- we had to attend what our tour guide Rene called The Last Supper.  It was the last time our group would be eating together, and it was really bittersweet!  We really enjoyed the company of our tour mates- we had such a great time with them!  The last supper was at a beautiful restaurant with a view of the ocean, and we got there right at sunset.  Margaret, Kirk and I bolted from the bus and RAN to get pictures of the sunset!

So pretty!

Really stunning!

The last night, the perfect sunset.

Cathy and our new friend Margaret!

Our meal for the last supper was delicious, but the company was even better.

Margaret and her parents, Christine and (Uhhhhh....Margaret, e-mail me!)

Ziggy told Kirk that he had to try Chicha.  It's a corn based beer that was sacred to the Incas. Kirk tried, Ziggy, he really did!  Our tour guide laughed (like, long and loud) when asked about it.  He was told that it is a religious drink and is not generally avaliable.  However, the last night we were able to try Chicha Morello.  It's made of purple corn and tastes like juice. (Dangerous!)  Margaret was brave and tried it too.  Cathy took a few sips, but left most of it to Kirk!

Unflattering shot- but it really captures the mood of the evening!  Margaret and I are toasting with the Chicha now.

Cathy's dinner- beef with onions and rice, topped with fries.

Kirk and the Chicha.

That's all we had in Lima!  We ran back to the hotel to get ready for our 4:30 wake up time so we could get to the airport.  We will be flying back to Miami, then staying overnight.  Back to Wichita on Friday- it's hard to believe that it is almost over!

Saqsaywaman

Today was our favorite optional tour by far!  We went to the Saqsaywaman (pronounced "Sexy Woman") ruins for the morning.  It was the perfect day for the trip.  The weather was mild, and it only rained a little bit. 

Welcome to Sexy Woman! 

The walls were build without mortar, and they were all carefully fit together like legos.  Rene (our tour guide) explained that each Inca person was given a job at a very young age, and they were never allowed to change jobs.  Each person became an absolute master of their craft.  The walls at Saqsaywaman took several generations to build, and they used increasingly large ramps for each level of stone.  They were also very strong!

Modeling the wall.  See how huge those stones are? I'm 5 ft 9.5 for scale...

Kirk chilling in front of one of the walls. 

The Inca/Cuzco flag.

There was a great view of Cuzco from here as well. Rene pointed out how many of the rocks were missing, and said that most of those were broken up and carted down to Cuzco by the Spanish.  Some of the buildings still standing today are made of the walls from Saqsaywaman.

It did rain a little bit.  Be sure to bring decent rain gear with you when you go!

So chic.  So sexy. 

The tour guides took a great picture of the group in front of the wall.  Check out all these awesome people!

The best tour group buddies in all of Peru.

Don't forget about the alpacas.  They were simply everywhere.  These ones came over to check us out .

They like grass.

I wanted to take this alpaca home.  Kirk said no.

Water was important for all sorts of reasons.  We also stopped by to see one of their water areas. It is STILL running today.  The Spanish did not destroy it because it supplied water and, if they had ripped it apart, it would have flooded Cuzco.  This trickle of water is the same all year, during both the dry and rainy season.  This is one of the places that the Inca depended on for water.  They also considered it sacred- the chief would bathe in it to cure the diseases in the city because it flowed into the valley below.

Kirk really liked the walls.  He was impressed with the manufacturing of the walls.  He said that this level of precision is difficult on a small scale, let alone a big scale!

It's also really pretty and soothing.

Check it.

Cathy liked this railing decoration.

Pretty.

Next, we went to one of the sacred caves where sacrifices were made.   They did not sacrifice humans here.  They did sacrifice alpacas here, and they mummified their dead in this cave.

Headed in to the cave.  It was not very big.

This was the table where they sacrificed things and where mummification took place.

See that window in the back?  It used to be lined with gold.  The reflection helped provide light for the cave.

Closer picture of the window- picture the gold!

We also finally started getting a few pictures of the tour group friends!

Randy and Ofer. They are awesome.

There was also a good view of the city.  There's a soccer field.  Rene said that their soccer team is not really that great, but they almost always win their home games because most other teams cannot handle the altitude! 

Behold!

We also stopped to see Cristo Blanco, or "White Christ."  It's a much smaller version of the one in Brazil.  We did not stop for very long, but it was neat.

White Christ was behind a fence.

I love this shot.

On the way back, we stopped at a textile factory.  They had many fine alpaca products.  Fun Fact: Baby Alpaca products do not come from baby alpacas.  It's considered "baby" the first time the alpaca is sheered.  It's a softer wool because there is more lanolin in it.  You really could feel the difference!  (And there's a difference in price!)  We all took a look and had show 'n tell on the bus afterwards.  The blankets were well out of our price range, so I took some pictures.  

Pretty!

These were more modern.

The dogs in Peru are really mellow.  We rarely heard dogs bark, and although they were everywhere, they never really approached you.  This dog was a little different.  He was hamming it up, and was belly up just before this shot was taken.  Look at that smile!

Such a ham.

We were warned not to pet or feed the dogs, but this one was so sweet that Cathy could not resist. He was literally the only dog that ever approached her though, and he seemed to be the home dog of the textile factory, so she decided it was worth the risk. He was really sweet.

Could. Not. Resist.

After that long day, we decided that coffee and ice cream was in order.  It was pretty good!

I love the wine bottles in the background.

Bonus picture of Cathy and Kirk with Cuzco in the background.

Tomorrow we explore Lima!