We
were awake by 7:00 am and went down to the restaurant
for a buffet breakfast and some excellent coffee.
We set off to the local store, called Bodega Central,
and bought some water and sandwiches to take with
us. They were very friendly despite having as much
English as we had Spanish. At 9:30 we were back
in the hotel bar for a briefing by Margarita. She
was very thorough and it took 1½ hours!
We then left for our first tour – to the archaeological
museum. It was not far away, and was set in a pleasant
tree-lined square with a fountain in the middle.
A father and son were cycling around the fountain
– Margarita shouted something in Spanish at them
– clearly on the lines of "No cycling in the
square" - but she was ignored and she stomped
off muttering something about "these people
are cockroaches…"
The museum was
very interesting and there was in particular
a good collection of Peruvian pottery.
Margarita began
the first of our many Peruvian history
lessons. She had a wide and deep love
and knowledge of her country - if only
she had imparted it in smaller chunks!
We all began to glaze over after a while.
She explained that although they were
the most famous people, the Incas in
fact only appeared between 1400 and
1550 and had conquered a number of other
pre-existing peoples.
Left: Margarita in full
flow; Les is looking interested!
Then back on the coach and on to
the Temple of Pachacamac, some 40km
south-east of Lima. The site is dedicated
to Pacha Kamaq, the creator god of
a pre-Inca tribe.
When they conquered the tribe, the
Incas built their own Temple of the
Sun on top. The whole huge complex
is made from adobe (mud brick), preserved
today because it never rains in Lima.
Afterwards, we drove back though
some shanty towns and into Lima proper.
At 7:30, our friend
Xanico picked us up. He drove us to the Portuguese
Embassy residence (he is the ambassador). We drove
through a door in a blank wall and were met with
wonderful gardens, swimming pool and tropical plants.
The residence was enormous, with three huge reception
rooms on the ground floor. We had a large G&T
and Xanico's cook served a very nice Portuguese
meal – asparagus soufflé, a cod dish and apple tart.
Xanico drove us back to the hotel at 10:30.
