Latitude 10º 16´ S: Lima, Peru to the Chilean border

8 de febrero de 2010
Buenos Aires, Argentina

It was so good to be back in Lima. This is not one of my favorite cities, but Miraflores, the suburb I stay in, is close to the sea. The weather´s a bit like San Diego´s--foggy but warm. It was the first week in January, the second week of summer, and I was a happy man.

I´d arrived in Lima after dark and the hotel had sent a driver to pick me up--a really nice thing after a long flight. We cut through San Isidro, one of Lima´s more exclusive suburbs, and their parks were nicely decorated with Christmas lights. All the iconography of Christmas was lit up in neon, setting on the green grass of urban parks--angels and santas, candles and Christmas trees. What a great way to enter the city. At home these neon atrocities look cheap and tawdry. Perhaps they were originally designed for warmer climates and designed to sit on snow free lawns. They certainly looked a lot better here than on trailers on Route 22 out of Plattsburgh.

After two days in Lima I wanted some sun. This is an El Niño summer and the city was warm and pleasant, but wrapped in a shroud of fog from the sea. I headed for Ica, three hours away, splurged on a hotel with a pool, and spent two nights in the city. Ica is famous for a large national park of towering sand dunes. I joined another group and hired a driver and his sand buggy for a tour up and down the dunes. The highlight was sand boarding from the top of three dune to the bottom. Of course, because I can´t snow board, I did this on my stomach--a much safer descent.

Th next day I hired a taxi for a few hours and he brought be to the oldest vineyard in South America dating to 1536. The guide said that Ica has 363 days of sun a year.

It was cloudy for the two days I was there!

But, it was also Janaury 6th--the feast of the Epìphany--often a big occasion in some Latin American countries. I was a bit disappointed that Peruvians don´t embrace this holiday the way other Latin Americans do, but there were small celebrations. A group of kids, along with their teachers, dressed in native Indian clothing, saw me and perfomed a great dance. An obvious tourist. Surrounding them were their mothers, many of whom carried small Baby Jesus dolls. This would be the official end of Navideña--the Christmas season. I was happy to be part of it in a small way.

Back to Lima for another day. I was not sorry to leave. I´d arranged to fly to the Chilean border--a 90 minute flight or a 28 hour bus ride. There wasn´t much of a choice. I wasn´t too concerned about seeing much of Peru. I knew that I´d return in March on my way back. From the north of Chile to Santiago would be a long, long journey, and January was all about Chile.