Heading Toward Home (Lima)

Left Suasi Island in a small speed boat (zodiak) and took the 1 km ride to the nearest shore where we were picked up by a driver. The drive back to Juliaca (an extraordinarily poor city) took 2 hours. Our flight to Lima was delayed by an hour and we got there at 4. We were met by a guide, Marvin who was great! He explained things very well and his English was excellent. He gave us a brief tour of Lima. We saw the very European downtown area with beautifully ornate buildings. The area was hopping, not atypical on a Saturday, we're told. There were entertainers, people selling balloons and stands selling fried donuts. It definitely was not what I expected! We saw their train station that had been turned into a library and their post office that was turned into a thoroughfare of craft sellers.
Next we drove to Miraflores, the upscale suburb that was built in the last 10 years. The buildings are contemporary and clean and, from what we could tell with the sun going down, it looked like a very nice Western US suburb on the ocean. We ate at a very cool restaurant called Huaca Pucllana which is connected to a pre-incan pyramid that is undergoing ongoing restoration via funds from a percentage of restaurant sales. Much of the seating is on a beautiful outside patio next to the pyramid and the Peruvian style food was excellent.
The driver waited for us while we ate and then drove us to the airport. We got to the airport 3 hours early and waited in line to check in for an hour.
We just landed in Atlanta an hour behind schedule. Flight to Detroit leaves in 2 hours! See everyone soon! 💞Read more