Bienvenido a Peru $1 U.S. Dollar = 3.15 Nuevo SolesOur time here in Peru has been wonderful! On our first day we had an excellent tour of the capital, Lima. The Plaza Mayor was very impressive, as well as the San Francisco Monastery where we all ventured into the Catacombs underneath (interesting but a little spooky). We had a nice walk to a little cafe where the adults had to try the Peruvian Pisco Sour, and the kids had to try the famous Inka Cola. We also spent some time in Miraflores, which is a beautiful coastal town where most of the nice hotels, restaurants, and shops are. Brandt got to sit back and relax on his stroller ride...Unfortunately, the ship is docked in Callao which is not a very safe area. On our first day, our bus had police escort...this is not the safest place to be a tourist. We have to pay $5 per person to take a 35 minute shuttle ride to Miraflores. With all of us being such a big family...it’s been very pricey to leave the dock. In fact, one day we did not have a tour, so we hung around the dock the entire day! At least there is an “Inca” shop here with a yummy, inexpensive, restaurant with authentic Peruvian food! I actually tried Ceviche (raw fish) for the first time! It wasn’t bad, but it grossed me out to be eating raw fish..I only had one bite.I think one of my favorite experiences here was the dinner we had at El Señorio de Sulco, an authentic Peruvian restaurant. I ordered a delicious meal (Lomo Soltado) with beef, french fries, onions and peppers all mixed together...I ate every bite of it! We had excellent Peruvian wine (Rubini...Cabernet Sauvignon). I hope we can get this back home! We had a memorable dinner experience! The atmosphere at the restaurant was perfect (even with Brandt having the messiest poop of his life)! On Friday, we went to Pachamacac Ruins which is a Pre-Colombian/Incan ruin that has pyramids and temples that were used 700B.C.E. to worship the Sun God. Although I would have loved to have gone to Cuzco and Machu Pichu, I was happy to have the chance to see an old ruin on the outskirts of Lima.After the ruins, we went to la hacienda “Los Ficus” for lunch, where we had a wonderful meal and where we were able to see beautiful Peruvian Paso Horses. We didn’t think we would be able to, but to our surprise, we were all given the opportunity to ride the famous Paso horses...even the kids! We tried to get Brandt to ride with one of the owners, but he cried. We were very impressed that Emma got to ride such a big horse!Gary left early this morning to fly back to Puerto Rico..he was right, we should have gone back to our favorite restaurant (El Señorino de Sulco) before leaving Peru!Our last evening was spent celebrating el 28 de julio, Peru’s Independence Day. We were invited to Adriana’s uncle’s house for dinner. Adriana used to work in Pittsburgh for the Semester at Sea program, and her family was sweet enough to invite us for the festivities. Dinner was really good, and they had guitar playing, drum playing, and singing..Cory joined in with the spoons...it was a wonderful time!We were a bit nervous about our visit here because we were warned as to how unsafe it can be. I am happy to say that we had a wonderful visit, and every Peruvian we met was more than friendly.
¡Adios Peru!