Lima and heading home

Lima was our last stop before heading home. We stayed in this hostel in Miraflores, a suburb of the old capital city. The owner of the hostel had two Peruvian hairless dogs. They were bred by the Incas to serve as bed warmers for the king. Since they can't keep any of their heat in without fur, they like to sleep under the covers in your bed with you and serve as a personal space heater. They are some of the ugliest but sweetest dogs I've ever encountered.

Meet Fidel

They love to cuddle

View of the beach from Miraflores. Lima is blanketed by a strange, eerie fog for most of their winter months. We didn't see the sun for the entire time we were there. Herman Melville wrote about Lima describing it as like being inside the belly of a whale.

This park reminded me of Barcelona's Parque Guell with it's wraparound, mosaic park bench

Lima has rocky beaches and really great waves for surfing

Pre-Incan ruins still remain in the center of Lima alongside modern residential neighborhoods

Lima is known for its amazing food. There is a huge Japanese influence here and this sushi, ceviche, and the dish in the background, tiraditos, were the best seafood dishes I've ever had anywhere.

Ceviche. This is amazing!!!

The Governmental Palace, originally built by Pizarro in 1535. It has been burned down several times and the current building was rebuilt in 1937.

More eerie fog pictures

Leaving South America ended up being an adventure of its own. Our flight was cancelled due to mechanical failure so we rerouted through Panama City where we chilled at the airport (see example above) for about 12 hours while we waited for a flight to New York. We finally got home about 36 hours later. An exhausting end to a whirlwind tour! Thanks for following our adventures.

Arequipa and the Colca Canyon

Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, located in the southwest. We stayed there a few nights and then headed out to see the Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world. The deepest canyon is located a few hours away. The main tourist attraction is out to a peak where condors have their nests. Check out the photos below and don't forget to click if you want a closer view.

The condors fly around at noon each day

Women come from the nearby villages to sell their goods in conjunction with the noon time flight of the condors.

Our bus passed through this narrow tunnel chiseled out of the mountainside

Baby alpaca!

Baby llamas

We drove by a mountain pass and were snowed on as we made our way back to the hot desert town of Arequipa

Main plaza in Arequipa

Puerto Maldonado

Puerto Maldonado, a gateway to the Amazon rainforest in Peru. This was another amazing experience. Don't always trust your guidebook, we found out about this and figured out our own way to get there but talking with locals and I'm so glad we did.

Mototaxi ride from the bus station into the center

We rented a scooter to go check out some of the locally owned jungle reserves outside of the city

Taken shortly before we crashed the scooter. Oops.

Rather than sign up for an overpriced guided rainforest tour, we walked down to the dock and asked a local fisherman if he could take us in his fishing boat. What a good deal!

Notice the bandaged wound from the scooter accident

Eddie, our fisherman guide, brought us the cutest little bananas ever from the local market

The muddy banks of the Madre Rios, a branch of the Amazon

These pink tree roots are used for medicinal purposes when boiled in tea

Canopy Bridge up into the trees

Up above the canopy

The highest treehouse I've ever been in

Huge beetle on our guide's arm

A tapir in captivity

A cayman (alligator) with SEVEN babies! Our guide said he'd never seen this in all of his years on the river.