We got a car from the Hyatt Centric in San Isidro to Lima’s airport. On the drive there we watched Lima out the window and watched the utterly insane things drivers were doing on the roads.
We would not rent a car in Peru. Lots of intersections were chaos with no lights and cars pushing their way along in horrible ways. We’ve driven in Australia, driven on mud roads in the sticks in Costa Rica, driven winding mountain roads in Greece that were usually too narrow for passing, and driven in Italy, Oslo, Mexico, and elsewhere outside the US. Peru – Hell. No. At the intersections without stop signs or lights, the right of way gets sorted out by some kind of hostility/threat signaling. Hard pass.
We talked to the driver on the way back about how much we’d enjoyed the trip, about how interesting Peru was, and about how interesting the indigenous peoples there are and about Aymara, Quechua, and the Manu Road and other things. By that point my Spanish was pretty warmed up, and he was very interesting to talk to.
We got to the airport, got checked in for the flight, and had a person from the airline help with Haley which also made baggage handling and security run fairly smoothly other than my shoes tripping metal detectors, and soon we were flying to Mexico City.
We had another long layover planned in Mexico City, so once we landed in Mexico in the evening we headed out to stay at a hotel. We decided to visit the Museo Nacional de Antropología. We had a lot of trouble getting pesos, and wound up eating at the museum’s cafeteria instead of from the street vendors nearby, but enjoyed the time we had there.
The museum is a very beautiful space, with a really huge and interesting fountain in a large covered courtyard and exhibitions from many different time periods and cultures in Mexico and I learned some things, esp. about early Meso-American cultures – there are some really ancient cave paintings I had no idea existed.
We didn’t have enough time in the museum before we had to get going to catch our flight, but what we saw was really interesting. They do have English maps and some guides but most employees don’t speak English so knowing a little Spanish helps with security, bag checks, and things. We had our luggage with us and checked it at the bag check which worked out fine.
From the museum we took a Lyft to the airport, went through security, and flew to San Antonio easily. Then we got a Lyft to our friend in S.A.’s house, and drove from there to Austin.
The Peru trip was very tiring, but we loved checking out Lima, seeing the flocks of saffron finches hopping around us, checking out the baroque and neoclassical art and architecture in their basilicas and cathedrals, and getting street food. The time hanging out on the Paracas coast at a scallop farm with ten dogs, seeing flamingos right there on the coast and going out to see penguins, seals, and tens of thousands of birds was our favorite. The Andes were full of really cool surprises, seeing the Incan sites and a people who still speak the ancient Incan language was so cool, and there was a ton of natural beauty and interesting wildlife in the Andes.
When we were leaving Haley and I both agreed we really wanted to return one day. There’s a lot we haven’t seen – the Manu Road, the Amazon, Lake Titicaca, and other things. At this point it will surely be a long time before international travel returns, but I am practicing my Spanish hoping there will be some day when we can return.
The Nature Bloggist 