Last day in Lima, goodbye to Peru

Lovely lagoon in Parque el Olivar 

After leaving Cusco, we had one night back in Lima before departing for Chile.  We returned to the cute Casa de Baraybar hotel, where we had spent two nights before, in between our Yanamarca Valley trip and Cusco.  We explored the area a bit more, this time walking north of Miraflores to the upscale San Isidro district.  There the Olive Grove Park (Parque el Olivar) is a lovely spot for walking, among many families.  The park was started in 1560 with olive plants brought from Sevilla, Spain, and survived the Spanish chopping down most of the trees prior to leaving after the 1821 independence.

Strolling among the olive trees

We enjoyed some more Chifa food for dinner (Peruvian-style Chinese), and had leftovers for lunch the next day.

Leftover lunch in one of Miraflores' oceanside parks

For our last day in Lima, we decided to catch a movie, as we had not yet seen one in Peru.  We walked along the Pacific through the excellent string of parks of the Miraflores district, to the fancy Larcomar mall that sits on a cliff, just below street level and overlooks the ocean.  On the way we watched some skateboarder action at the impressive skate park, with a bike track next door.

Skateboard lessons in progress

Lovely Miraflores

We all enjoyed the movie Grandes Heroes (Big Hero 6) in Spanish and were happy that we could understand most of it.  On the walk back we happened upon a marriage proposal spectacle at the lighthouse that sits in one of the parks.  A heart-costumed woman was interviewing the newly engaged couple  on-camera.  Nik could not resist this sweet photo op.  She must have said yes!

Our heroes!

Newly engaged, with an audience.

We had dinner at a cafe overlooking the Pacific before returning to the hotel to collect our backpacks and take a taxi to the airport for our late night flight to Santiago.  It was a lovely evening to say goodbye to Peru, and we were a bit sad to go.

Adios, Peru!

We had such a wonderful time in Peru.  It was three weeks filled with history, culture, sightseeing, geocaching and fun.  I had been reading two books about the Inca and Machu Picchu that both enriched my experience, and gave me lots of historical tidbits to pass on to the kids, like it or not.  One was The Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie, a detailed recount of the conquest of the Incas by the Spanish.  The other is Turn Right at Machu Picchu, in which the author, Mark Adams, in 2011 treks in the footsteps of Hiram Bingham, who made the "scientific discovery" of Machu Picchu in 1911.  It has lots of information about the theories of what Machu Picchu was:  sacred ultimate destination for a pilgrimage along the Inca Trial?   I would not have been disappointed!

We found traveling in Peru to be pretty easy and very pleasant.  We mostly stuck to the tourist destinations, with the exception of the geotour in the Yanamarca Valley which was a priceless experience.  The people we met and encountered in the various parts of Peru we visited were very pleasant and pretty easy to understand, thanks to the clearly-spoken Spanish for which we were grateful.  We found traveling and eating out to be super affordable, with the exception of the tourist PeruRail train to Machu Picchu!  Apparently there is a cheaper back way in by car and on foot, but we were glad to have had the lovely train experience this time.   We can highly recommend Peru as an incredible travel destination, and I am hopeful that we can return one day.  Perhaps we can make a proper pilgrimage to Machu Picchu along the Inca Trail.