I'd like to say that our transfer to Peru went smoothly, but that would be boring. We had three flights scheduled that day. Our first flight to Quito went smoothly. It was just an hour and we arrived early. Then we sat and sat and sat. Our flight to Bogata, Colombia (with connection to Lima) was delayed about 2 hours. They wouldn't post a specific departure time and said that they would have more information in 15 minutes. Well, 15 minutes came and went. They had information for some people with earlier connections. They moved our gate, but still didn't have specific information for us. This drama was cutting our connection very close. I felt bad for the ladies behind the counter. People were bombarding them with questions. Passengers were going behind the counter and crowding the poor women. I knew there were others in worse situations, so we just sat and waited for the plane to arrive.

Liam making the most of the delay in Quito

Once we were on the plane and we finally took off, I did the math on the transfer. When we landed, we'd have about 30 minutes to get to the next gate before the plane took off. I let the flight attendent know...I even asked in Spanish. Well, I must have done a good job because she rattled a detailed answer in Spanish. Of course, I didn't get all of it, so I asked again and they assured me we were fine. I told them we had no idea what gate we were going to and that it was boarding as we spoke. She finally registered some level of concern and made a call from the plane. We exited the plane and found an Avianca staff person waiting for us. She went through security with us and escorted us to our gate. We literally ran into the plane, got settled and took off for Lima. Phew.

We arrived in Lima during the evening rush hour. There was also construction on the waterfront road which caused more delay on our way to our rented apartment in the Miraflores neighborhood. It took about an hour to get there. We met our host. He let us in and showed us around. After three flights and an hour taxi ride, we were wiped out. Not too much later there was a knock at our door. It was our host with a bag of snacks for the family. He said he felt badly and knew we didn't have food in the apartment. He had provided us with water, soda, chips, pastries and other snacks. It was incredibly kind. He owns the apartment building, so he told us he was always available for questions.

Chillin in the kitchen. Glass doors separate it from the one bedroom

We difinitely took it easy on our first day. We walked around the neighborhood and went toward the ocean. It was the last week of their winter. For Lima this meant about 62 degrees and fog.

View at the waterfront, just two blocks from our apartment

The coastline, we even saw some brave surfers

Just a little further down the coast was the famous Larcomar, or the mall. Maeve referred to it as OakBrook on the water. What an amazing location for a mall. It is all outdoors on the cliff above the coast.

This is the point where everyone began getting colds. I started it off in Baños, then Liam got the sniffles, then Maeve became completely stuffed up in Lima. We didn't have too many plans for the city, so we pretty much got some rest.

Our host called us that night and asked if we were interested in seeing the city. He offered to take us in his own car the next morning. This was such a lovely offer and we definitely took him up on it. He drove us through many of the districts of Lima and told us about his life here. We would have never done this on our own. He even drove us to a grocery store where we could get some supplies while he waited for us. After that, he dropped us off in a market area where we could see some work of local artisans. We then walked to Kennedy Park. This park had an exhibit of posters feature the theme of global warming. The artists featured were from all over the world. We found some of them very interesting.

The park was also filled with stray cats. I've never seen anything like it. They were everywhere and they seemed to own the place, lounging everywhere with the typical cat-attitude. Maeve and Liam loved running through the gardens and checking them out. I made sure they didn't touch them.

We walked back to the apartment after a delicious lunch. The next day we walked along the coastline through the district of Barranco. This is a more bohemian part of town. We explored the architecture and the paths.

We had covered a fair amount in car and by foot. We wanted to go to the Parque de la Reserva at night. This is a public park that was refurbished in 2007. It has 13 interactive water fountains and they do a light/laser show set to music at night. It is the largest water fountain complex within a public park. This is a very popular place for locals and tourists. People love to run in and out of some of the fountains. The kids weren't feeling well so we didn't go. It was one little regret since we had heard about it from so many others. Fortunately, we were able to visit on our return trip to Lima at the end of our Peru stay. The kids were prepared with their rain jackets and pants. I'll include those pictures here.

Well, this didn't turn out too well. The images are projected in the water. See video below

One of Maeve's pictures. I can't take credit, but will add to her Peru pics.