Out for a relatively early excursion (8:30 AM). Traffic was lighter, being Saturday morning, but it picked up later in the day. First stop was the National Museum of Anthropology and Archeology where we learned about some of the many cultures, including several pre-Inca ones. Then it was out to the coast, through a few of the towns and past some of the parks we had seen yesterday. Further south, we went to an Inca archeological site, Pachacamac where they are still uncovering things. They have reconstructed one building, the House of the Virgins, where young girls lived and were trained to become wives of the Emperor.
One of the other sights there, and on the way from town, were all the squatter settlements. The guide said that about 3.5 million of Lima’s 8 million residents are squatters, building homes on land to which they do not have title.
The third stop was at a Los Ficus, a Paso horse farm. The Paso, descendents of horses brought by the Spanish, is known for a very smooth gait that makes for long, easy riding. The owners of the farm also own a very exclusive restaurant built out on a pier on the coast at the edge of Miraflores, the most expensive district in Lima. After showing us their vegetable garden, where they raise the lettuces and other vegetable for both the farm and the restaurant, they served us the famous Peruvian Pisco Sour, a strong drink similar to a whiskey sour. Then we watched a demonstration of a one-, two-, and three-year old Pasos so we could see how their gait is natural but they were trained to obey their rider. Then we got a chance to ride. Both Janice and I took a turn. Our visit ended with a very fine lunch with their fresh-picked vegetables and roasted chicken. One of the ice creams for dessert was Lucuma ice cream. The Lucuma fruit is a Peruvian fruit that is green on the outside and soft and yellow like an egg yolk on the inside. Hence the popular name of Yolk fruit.
(I took some good videos of the horses which I’ll try to post once we are home. You may have noticed that I not doing much with pictures this time. That’s because they are the most time consuming part of the blog, what with selecting, editing, and uploading. I plan to add lots of photos when we get home. That will also help me relive, and remember, the trip.)
Upon our return, we grabbed a quick dinner in the Lido and headed for the Queen’s Lounge for an excellent local folkloric show—really good dancing, music, and costumes.
Diane for a few minutes during her “Music of Nat King Cole” set.