We have been off on our travels again. This time to South America.

Diane and her friend Helen like the occasional exotic holiday. They have been to Costa Rica and Namibia in the past. About this time last year they started plotting planning again. The Galapagos Islands were suggested. Various options were explored, but they eventually settled on this trip with HX Expeditions. This time, however, they generously allowed me and Helen’s partner Tony to tag along.

For my part, I left the planning to Diane. I did have a problem finding suitable clothing for a tropical expedition, in January, in Kingston. If I had been going skiing, or ice climbing, no problem, but lightweight quick drying clothes, not so easy. I eventually found some trousers, but couldn’t find the type of shirts that I wanted.

We were told that the ship would supply all the snorkeling gear we needed. So I didn’t need to worry about that. They do supply all the required gear. I decided to get a couple of SPF50 rash vests from Decathlon. You don’t normally need to worry about getting sunburn swimming at the Malden Centre.

Friday 30th January: Getting There

Our car turned up at 03:15 to take us to Heathrow. There are no direct flights from London to Lima, so we flew with Air France via Paris.

Diane unfortunately managed to damage her knee during our Pilates class the Sunday before. It had improved, she was still having trouble walking, so we asked for assistance at the airport. Having assistance made getting through security easier. But it also meant some hanging around waiting for a person with a wheelchair to show up.

The flights were fine, if long, at twelve hours. Diane decided to upgrade us to business class, which was worth it.

We landed in Lima (Peru) about 17:00 local time. We retrieved our bags and then fought our way through Lima’s traffic. It was about 20:30 when we arrived at our hotel, the AC Hotel Miraflores. We ordered a sandwich and a beer from room service, then went to bed.

Saturday 31st January: Exploring Lima

This would be the last morning for a while that we would have breakfast at a semi-sensible time. After breakfast, we met at about 09:30 for a walking tour of Lima. The hotel is situated a fair way from the centre of the Lima, so a bus was laid on to take us to the centre

We commenced our tour in the Plaza José de San Martin. It is named after the liberator of Peru, General José de San Martin, who proclaimed Peru’s independence in 1841. It is an attractive square, but had rather a lot of police hanging around. Not sure what for. Our guide did mention that the plaza was often the focus point for demonstrations and protests. I don’t know if they were expecting one later in the day.

We walked along Jiron de La Union, the main street. We passed the impressive Basilica de La Merced on the way. We didn’t go in, we didn’t have time.

I hadn’t realised it initially, but we had started on an American in Europe style tour of Peru and Ecuador.

We carried on down Jiron de La Union until we reached the Plaza Mayor (Main Square). It has the Presidential Palace on one side. The Town Hall takes up the second side. On the third side, we have the Archbishop’s palace and the Basilica Cathedral de Lima. The fourth side is shops and restaurants.

We had a look round the Cathedral. It looks very much like any other Catholic cathedral. However, because Lima suffers frequent earthquakes, the cathedral has been destroyed several times. It is now largely constructed from wood and adobe bricks. The Cathedral also holds the bones of Francisco Pizarro, the Conquistador. (The bones on show are replicas)

We left the cathedral, and the wedding that was in progress. We gave our regards to President Balcázar then headed back to the bus. Our next stop was the Museo Larco. On the way there, we passed a pre-Inca pyramid.

The Museo Larco is an impressive collection of pre-Colombian art. Their website tells how the collection came about, and explains the museum’s purpose today. The museum is situated in a private house and is privately owned. On display are pre-Colombian textiles, pottery and metal work. It was all impressive, but as with the conquistadors, it was the gold that caught the eye.

Part of the museum houses a collection of Inca and pre-Inca erotic art. The collection is mainly pottery and were quite graphic in some cases. This being a family friendly blog, I have not included any photographs. For those of you interested, this link takes you to the Erotic Gallery website.

We had lunch at the restaurant attached to the museum, which I would recommend. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel. Diane decided to have a nap. I couldn’t sleep, so I went for a wander. I found a statue of Peru’s most famous character.

We thought about going out for dinner, but I didn’t see anywhere that caught my eye on my wander. We were going to start early the next day. So, we decided to have dinner at the hotel. Then we went to bed.