Tuesday

I decided to spend a fairly quiet day today instead of going on another trip outside of Lima. I opted for the Larco Museum in the morning. I visited this when I was here in 1998 but it has really changed since then. Beautiful bouganvillas and orchids line the walkway up to the rooms. I went ahead and got a personal guide for about $10, well worth it. Lots of ceramics, some gold and textiles, and the infamous erotic pottery are the items to view.

After the museum I went to a small artesania coop by women and found a few different and inexpensive items, much better than the typical tourist junk in all the stores around the hotel. After getting back to the hotel I then went to the South American Explorers clubhouse. I helped with the webpages back in the late 1990s and actually attended a meeting in 1998 with the then three clubhouse managers in Huaraz plus el jefe Don. I had a nice chat with the guy doing the website now and may go back there tomorrow evening for a free lecture on Lima.

Next was the walk down to the beach and the shopping center. There is an annex of the gold museum in the shopping center and I got the audio tour for that. Not much else to see except for all the American chains, TGIFridays, Tony Romas, KFC, Pizza Hut, etc. It was overcast most of the day and I did get to see some sunset color there at the center, between the cloud layer and the ocean. Most of the other travelers arrive today and tomorrow starts the official tour at 2:30 pm with a Lima city tour. Did some yoga after the walk but there is not really enough floor space to do all the poses I wanted to do. Hope the other hotels have more floor space.