Peruvian Adventure Series 1 of 9 – Day One 5/12/2008 Lima, Peru {Travel}

Every year I get the itch to travel between the months of April and May. As I sit here I think about the trip I took last year around this time. Last year I had the pleasure to travel to Peru. I’ve always wanted to travel below the equator. I also had dreams of seeing and experiencing Machu Picchu which is a forgotten Inca city high up in the cloud forest. To me there is something about ruins. I just love them! Must be some Indiana Jones in me.   So with the help of my friend Matt, I booked my 10 day adventure. A trip I was taking by myself.

A quick overview of what my ten day agenda consist of. I’ll be going over the details as I share each day with you over the next 9 weeks. Here’s the agenda:

Sunday, May 11, 2008 Day 1 - Flying from LAX to Lima, Peru

Monday, May 12 2008 Day 2 – Sightseeing in Lima

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Day 3 - Flying from Lima to Cusco

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Day 4 – Traveling by train to Machu Picchu

Thursday, May 15, 2008 Day 5 – Tour Pisac Market & Ollantaytambo

Friday, May 16, 2008 Day 6 – Tour City & Ruins Tour

Saturday, May 17, 2008 Day 7 -Flying to Puerto Maldonado, boat ride to Posada Amazonas

Sunday, May 18, 2008 Day 8 – Tour Tres Chimbadas Lake

Monday, May 19, 2008 Day 9 – Walking tour to the Clay Lick

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Day 10 – Airfare One Way Puerto Maldonado to Lima then Lima to LAX

One thing you must know about me, I like to fill my traveling days with every second. So when my friend Matt and I were booking, I told him I want to leave LA and get into Peru in the wee hours of the morning. So we booked my flight leaving LAX at 1:30 pm and getting into Lima, Peru at 1:00 am. It’s an 8 hour flight with a 4 hour time difference.

My rational as to why I would do this to myself, I wanted to arrive early morning, sleep for a few hours and get out and about sightseeing. I only had this one day to visit Lima so I had spent as much time as I could sightseeing.

With no more delays, here is the recap of my first day.

Day One – Fly from LAX to Lima, Peru

Day Two – Lima, Peru 5/12/2008

My plane landed around 1:30 am. I got transferred to my hotel “Carmel Hotel” around 2:30 where I slept until 9 am. I rushed to shower, had a quick breakfast downstairs in the hotel and walked out to hit the streets with camera in hand. I planned on waking earlier but the fight had me exhausted.

Lima is located on the central western coast, is large, noisy, polluted and shrouded in a misty coastal fog for much of the year. There is a sunny period, December through April, when many coast and highland people go to the beach. Despite the unimpressive landscape; the friendly people, important historical sites, quality museums, and variety of dining and entertainment establishments make Lima a very interesting place to visit.

You never know what you’re going to find. If I was in Costa Rica, seeing a vulture would be the norm, but in Peru, I thought it was odd. The interesting part of this next photograph was that the vulture was sitting on this old house that had barbwire. I wanted to capture both of these elements.

The business districts of San Isidro and Mirafloresare the main areas for shopping, restaurants, cafes and theatres. At the top end of Av. Larco is the Parque Kennedy, where artists sell paintings during the weekend. Next to the Pacifico Cinima is the Café Haiti, a prime spot for people-watching. Around the corner in Ricardo Palma, is the more up market Vivaldi Café. Walking down Diagonal you will find firstly great imported export-quality Peruvian coffee in the highly trendy Café Café and a little further on is a side street crammed with pizzerias with open-air tables. A cobbled road leads down a gully to the Costa Verde, as the sweep of beaches is called.

I do get a little daring on my trips, as I’ve mentioned I was traveling and walking by myself. I was told not to travel too far out of the city with my camera displayed. So as I’m walking further and further I found some interesting places. Like this bridge. It was high above the street below. I liked how it has this clear plastic to where you’re safe and yet you could out to the ocean.

If I hadn’t crossed the bridge I would have never stumbled onto this beautiful park with the lovers statue. El Parque del amor. Parque del amor is a cute and romantic park overlooking the ocean in Miraflores (located at the end of Av. Diagonal). In the center there is a huge statue of 2 lovers embraced in a kiss. Around the park many couples were kissing and relaxing, while overhead there were many hang gliders flying by. It is definitely a great park to see if you are spending some time in Miraflores.

So I saw a couple kissing in front of the statue and asked if they minded me taking a picture. As you can see below, they didn’t mind!

I couldn’t help but asked that someone take a photograph of me in front of the lover’s statue so I could hopefully find my true love!

The park is surrounded by benches that are covered in colorful broken pieces of tile that spell out romantic sayings.

Anther great find was finding this hawk. I seem to attract all types of animals. This hawk allowed me to get closer and closer. I tried not to get too close as I was a visitor walking into his area.

Anther beautiful part of Miraflores are the homes. Some of them have these beautiful entry gates.

I even stumbled upon two reporters doing a story on the green.

I return to the hotel hungry and tired and asked them for suggestions as to where I should eat. They suggested for me to walk across the street and eat upstairs for a nice chicken dinner. I totally forget the name of the place but will try to come back and post it. I would highly suggest it!

I even had some desert!

That was the end of my Day 1 in Lima, Peru. Now I had to go to bed early because I had to be packed and ready for my flight to Cusco at 7:45 am.

Anthony Lujan Photography
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