Francisco, the destination coordinator, had a somewhat different story - it's the port area (Callao) that's dangerous. Lima itself is fine. The taxis in Lima are fine. The problem is the traffice - all gridlock all the time.
Originally we thought we'd go back into the city after the morning excursion and then take a cab down to an Incan Artesan Market in the Miraflores neighborhood. The more Francisco ranted on about the traffic, the less feasible this plan became.
So off we went on our morning excursion, leaving the ship at about 8:00. Traffic was indeed hideous. We creeped through the Very Bad Area of Callao - and indeed, it did not look appetizing. There were very nice houses:
And then this:
As we continued to snail our way along, our tour guide spoke of the 12 years of terror under a dictator, which resulted in an exodus of people from the city center. Huge buildings were left empty and/or damaged. Some are still empty, even 20 years later.
We got off the bus at the Plaza de Armas or the main square. Here's my attempt at a panoramic shot:
After 20 minutes of photo shots, we walked over to the Santo Domingo monestary. Yey, bathroom break!
Here's the courtyard, with its Moorish-influenced wall tiles:
A close up of the tiles:
We heard Gregorian chanting in the background as we walked around the courtyard, and then into a chapel and library. This is a hand written and hand illustrated book of music:
And then the church itself:
After we got on the bus, the rest of the tour was spent dragging us through the city to see the various neighborhoods. The nicest, most modern is Miraflores. Below Miraflores, at the bottom of the cliffs is the beautiful beach of Costa Verde:
Though the excursion was billed as 3 hours, it ended up closer to 4 hours - all because of the traffic. Lima has some city buses, but no metro/subway, and little regard for traffic lights. Pedestrians play a game of frogger every time they cross the street.
We once again did a quick turn around - got on a shuttle that took us to the San Miguel shopping center. Because it almost never rains in Lima, the mall had no roof. There is no need for heating or air conditioning. It had been overcast and chilly in the morning, but by the afternoon the sun was out with temperatures in the mid-70s. Just beautiful.
We picked a restuarant in the mall (Tanta) - I must say, the wait staff was very patient and helpful, locating the couple of people who could sort of speak English. They got us an English menu, which helped tremendously. Andy had a Pisco Sour (the "national drink" of Peru) and ceviche - raw white fish in a lemon sause, rice, and corn (the hugest corn kernals you've ever seen).
I had Aji de Gallino - chicken, potatoes, and eggs in a curry-like sause. Everything was delicious. We hung out at the restaurant leveraging the free wifi for quite some time. No rush; our only limitation being the 4:30 last shuttle back to the ship.
In the park in front of the shuttle stop was a little craft fair - a lot of Christmas stuff, what a shock. But we still did well. We had taken out some Peruvian currency (sol), but we only used up a little bit of it - most of the vendors were happy with U.S. dollars.
Oh yes, before I forget, apparently Christmas in Peru still involves reindeer:
As I type this the ship should be pulling away from the dock. It's not. This is not the first time the ship has been late leaving port.
A very successful day. I like Lima and all its weirdness. Hopefully we'll be back in 2017 for a longer stay in Peru.
Tomorrow - another (single) day at sea. One more stop (Arica, Chile) before we disembark on Sunday.
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