Monday, June 20, 2016

Peru Trip:Lima Layover

I arrived in Lima Peru around 11am after my night in Sao Paulo. I had originally planned a long walking tour of the city but because of my knee, I decided to take a taxi to my first stop: Huaca Puclanna.

SIDE-NOTE: If you are visiting Lima, take the taxis. The area immediately surrounding the airport is sketchy and it takes a while for it to get better. And I saw long stretches without any sidewalks.
So after my lucky good decision, I arrived to Huaca Puclanna just in time for a tour. In English no less.

Huaca Puclanna are pre-Inca ruins. Like a thousand years prior. They call them pyramids and in their time there were six throughout Lima. Unlike the Inca, these people did not worship the sun but rather the moon. And when you see how overcast it is in Lima, it makes sense. In fact, supposedly it is overcast nine months a year but rains less than an inch a year. Thats why this pyramid of clay was able to last so long.

Being made of clay was useful for a few other reasons, maintenance was easy but most importantly they created (especially when the bricks were laid vertically) a natural protection from fairly frequent earthquakes.

On the tour, I started talking with two other solo travelers a recent graduate of University of Oregon on a volunteer trip helping to build chimneys and an Australian who had worked 70 hour weeks for the last year to finance this trip. He had already gone to Macchu Picchu and was headed next for a week in the jungle.

After the tour ended I mentioned I was next heading to Parque del Amor and invited them along. We ended up spending the rest of the day together first walking along the ocean before finding a great little bar where we ended up watching some of thd Euro soccer tournament. I had to be back at the airport at 1am and barely made it. But definitely a fun way to spend a long layover.
I checked in and then slept until my 3am flight to Cusco.

I'll save that for another day.

Until next time,

Danny

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