Lima 4/4: Visiting Isla Palomino

I had the opportunity to find someone (gracias chica!!!) who wanted to take part of cruising around the islands close to Lima, and we were lucky to be joined by a group of Americans, enough with peoples to go out. But none wanted to swim with sea lions...I just had to.... But it was a bit scary with the cold water and hundreds of them around me. I felt really under the power of nature. They were so close, swimming beneath me and watching silently with those big black eyes. The water was around 14 degrees and perhaps 30 metres deep. Waves of half metres were softly swinging our bodies. I was in the water together with a guy who had been going out with people on this cruise for half a year. He was steady and calm. Told me that since the sea lions knew him, it would had been like bringing a friend to a party. He told me to lay still so they might come forth to my feet. He told me to be quiet otherwise I would threaten their space.... but I think I had to do it a couple of times to get used of it and really finding a pleasure in it...still, what a memory...

Gracias Miraflores House en Lima y A. para recorda y upload.

Lima 3/4: Museo de Larco

After many more hours than I was first thinking I would stay at the parque de leyendas, I continued to walk in the direction (with my newly friends) of the archaeological, anthropological and historical museum. After awhile and many new directions, I took a (yellow) cab. Unfortunately nor did he know where it was, so I started to become at unease and told him to ask any policeman or security I could find. No one seemed to know.....But after many more direcctions, we finally arrived at a peaceful and beautiful square. Unfortunately the museum was closed.... But there was a woman working in this districts municipality office, who told me that she knew another great museum, very well-visited. She told me it was the way she was going and I could accompany her (she had this municipality sign on her and was in her 40s). We passed a lot of very calm neighbourhoods. All of a sudden we came to a big park with a very big tree. It was one of the oldest in Lima, 200 years old, grown by a very important person...

We continued some streets more and there it was; museum de Larco. An entrance stunning with flowers of all the imaginable colours. I joined with a group of middle-ages ladies from Canada. The entrance was more than average (30 soles) and I had no idea about this place. But it seemed to have a lot of nice things, collected by this man called Rafael Larco who lived in the beginning of last century. Apparently they had a lot of collections preserved - textiles, ceramics, jewellry...and also a part where they stored ceramics showing different fertility positions. I was told that some visited the museum just to see this. 

But I was happy to see everything; it was a beautiful collection! They also had a reference library and a great short introduction movie. A place well-worth to visit when in Lima.

Lima 2/4; Parque de Leyendas

The following day I used to visit the "parque de leyendas" and some museums. After being shutting my eyes for any dangerous animals in the jungle, safely by the coastal area I wanted to actual get to know all the animals that lived there. I think animals of the wild belongs in nature and not kept captivated to be observed. I felt with the panther who was walking restlessly while the worker were hammering on constructions just besides... schoolkids and olders where knocking on the window to get a better lock and attentions. (When writing this, can't help myself to think of the scene in Harry Potter with the snake on the zoo.:) Animals were trying to hide the best they could.... I was sending love and forgiveness to the poor creatures....and while I was observing (still a bit fascinated) I felt someone observing me, and there were two tigers laying cool up in a tree observing me. 

I got friends with a woman from Lima and her mum from Cusco and we hanged out during the rest of our stay on the zoo.

Lima 1/4; Miraflores

Since I never took any vacation (partly because I never had time for it, partly because I did not had finance for it) and my time in Peru had been very intense, I strongly wished of ending my stay in Peru with some calm days by the coast.

Thanks for my lovely family in the jungle, I was connected with uncle M. who worked as a taxi driver in Lima. He picked me up and drove me to a hotel not far from the coast in Miraflores. It was a great place to stay - calm and very nice.

Since I arrived in the middle of the night, I used my first day to just take care of myself. Accommodating to the new habitat and making a hair cut with colouring as well as making new friends in the area (thanks for all great food).

I went out dancing with a friend in the night. We danced to live salsa and I enjoyed it really much. I returned back at half past 4 in the morning, shining like a star of a bright night out.

My second day I went for a walk. It turned out that my hotel was just minutes away from the coastal line. I enjoyed the brisk wind in my hair and slowly breathed in beautiful and well-maintained parks in Miraflores. By the park of love, I found a great little café with two lovely girls in my age. I drank some gorgeous freshly squeezed juices with strawberries and watched one of them going up and away with parogliding (the blue one). She was so happy when she returned, what a thrill!

Discovering Lima…

Yesterday I met with the organisation I will be working with. It was situated very nicely close to the Agricultural University. After taking part of a morning meeting, I met a woman, originally from Japan, she offered to bring me downtown to see the famous church, catacombs, plaza mayor and china town.

We took a bus and went for an hours ride. Imagine that the whole city of Lima (8 millions) is almost as many people as it is in the whole Sweden (9 millions). So I don’t think I would have seen as much as I did if it were not to be for my great new friend (who by the way is doing research of indigenous people close to Pucallpa). So I am very grateful for that, it was a lovely time together. And I actually felt pretty ok walking around in the city centre and to take the bus. People were very helpful and it was much calmer than what I imagined it to be after reading all the stories in guidebooks….

But it was a bit entertaining to try to find some stamps in the city. Many streets had a theme, like one street had a lot of religious shops, another one was filled with printing offices and then again there where the stamps street. Not for postcards, but for stamping letter in beautiful patterns and figures. But after a few “por aqui…” we ended up in the public post office. One postmark was 5 soles and 5 cents. The postcard was 1 soles. In Swedish crowns I think it is a total of more than 20sek…. And it took around two weeks to get to Europe. So I do not think I will write many postcards. I will try to keep you in the loop from internet.

My friend from Japan and I calculated that a 10 minutes phone call from a land line in Peru to home would equal one postcard. So I do enjoy the existence of Internet.