Peru Trip Part 1

12 April 24, 2010 Lima Peru

What an incredible city, founded by Pizarro in the 1500’s to become his port and Spanish capital in Peru, it was like stepping back into colonial times only with tons of traffic, smog, and honking horns. On the city tour we saw a famous San Francisco church with catacombs. There were brick bins filled with bones and skulls with this one spot where they were organized into this circle pattern. I love the plazas with the Spanish buildings all around the square. Most of the buildings were built in 1800’s because the previous structures had been ruined by earthquakes. There was a 1970 earthquake that killed 70K people. For lunch we went to a Peruvian Greasy Spoon and had the “Monumental Platter” which included fried egg, cheese, ham, hamburger patty, chicken and huge fries. We tried the INCA COLA which tasted like Bubble Gum. We went down to the beach. The place is famous the world over for surfing and it was a blast to watch the surfers. It wasn’t a gentle beach – no sand just rocks. It hurt like crazy to go on the beach because it was like walking on big marbles. The sun sets at 6 and the Peruvians love colored lights in fountains. We went to a dinner show. There were giant avocados stuffed with yummy seafood and they have elevated the potato to new heights. (300 varieties) We got to sit right in the front for this really fun show of dance from the different regions. Instead of just the mountain region where they just spin, we saw really sexy African/Spanish dances and an unbelievable scissors dance. For the scissor dance they throw in a little French ballet, Russian Cossack dancing, Chinese acrobatics, New York break dancing, and a painful form of “frying bacon” all while clicking these large scissors to the beat with their hands. They give a whole new definition to “don’t run with scissors.” Or “Watch out Edward Scissorhands, here comes the Peruvians.”