We walk up to the Patrick's hotel and once together we are off to the bike meeting place. We are to meet at the Pucllana Temple archeological site. The site is a temple of mud brick built by one of the early Lima cultures, sometime around 600 AD, (if I remember correctly pre Inca). The site is quite large with approximately 40% reconstructed the rest of it being left in it's eroded state. Our guide tells us that prior to 1983 the site was open to the public where it was used for various activities until someone decided it was an important part of Peruvian culture. We got a little bit of the history of the site from outside the fence, then it was back into an H1 van and off to the starting location of the bike tour.
We went south again, same direction as the day before, but this time on the lower coast road affording us a different view. Turns out our starting point was at the base of newest Jesus Christ statue that we have been looking at from the bluffs of Mira Flora. This statue was a gift from the previous president of Peru to the people of Lima. According to our guide their is a lot of questions as to whether another JC statue was wanted let alone needed, with the money being better spent on the shanty town on the slopes of the hill it was erected on. Either way the view was excellent from the hill. It was a foggy day with the mist rolling in from the ocean, a neat phenomena to see.
From the JC statue it was over to the Unknown Solider Monument and a statue to one of Peru's hero from the War of the Pacific in the 1870's. The war was fought with Peru and Bolivia on one side and Chile on the other. The main cause of the war was resources within the coastal desert. Peru and Bolivia lost with Bolivia being the biggest loser, losing their access to the Pacific. A very bad out come as they had started the war. From here it was a down hill ride with a stop to look at the hill side shanty town. Our guide described the homes as $100 homes with a million dollar view. From here it was down to the bike path following the bluffs. The trail along the bluff run from Chorillo, through Barannco to Mira Flora. If it was not for the fog the ocean views would have been excellent.
Barannco is the old rich section of Lima with lots of architectural influence. The homes date from the colonial period (pre Peru's independence in 1821), republic period to modern. At one stop you could see French, Italian and English influences. By the end of the 4 hour tour we were back at Lover's Park just south of our hotel. Not a bad way to spend 1/2 a day.
It was now 2 o'clock and time for lunch, so off we went, walking yet again in search of a restaurant. After lunch it was off for our surfing lessons. We had checked out the operations the day before so it was a simple walk down to the hill and we were in our 1/2 hour lesson. Our land instructor was an older fellow (61) who was a retired psychologist who went by the name Doc. Anyway the lesson consisted of laying on a park bench pretending the parked cars were waves and learning the process of standing up on a board. From here it was into our wet suits and into the water. Now for all you people out there who want to be surfers please be aware that it is a very physically demanding sport, at least while you are learning. We spent the next hour attempting to ride the waves. One of the lines Doc used the day before was that 99.5% of all beginners get up on the 1st day. Well in our case it was 25% with Julie being the only one to stand (all be if for a brief period of time). The rest of us had to be content with the thrill of riding the waves on our bellies or knees. All in all a good but exhausting time. Dawson could barely pick up the surf board after getting out of the ocean to return it.
We headed back to our respective hotels with plans to meet for dinner prior to the Patricks heading for the airport. We went to a resturant close to the Patrick's hotel and had our first and we hope our last bad restaurant experience. At 8:30 pm we saw Doug and Ruth off to the airport in the cab and were sad to see them go. It has been an excellent holiday. They had a 22 hour travel day in front of them.
Photo Notes:
Note for Day 14 photos, I have to thank Doug Patrick for his photo of the diving Frier.
1) Puclllana temple site
2) View from Jesus Christ statue
3) The bike riders prior to take off
4) A sign that we would have "whale of a time" on the ride
5) Dawson in front of the H1
6) Ruth and Doug doing some final helmut adjustments
7) Julie and Ruth warming up
8) Guide, Doug, Ruth and Julie at the unknown solider memorial
9) Jesus in coming out of mist
10 and 11) A million dollar view from a $100 house
12) Biking in Barannco
13) Julie at an old church in Barannco, note the black vultures
14) The team at the end of the ride
15) Dawson getting surfing lesson from Doc
16) Julie during dry land training
17) Doug with his namesake Doc
18) Ruth sharing a laugh with our instructor
19) After our "surfing" you can tell by the number of us required to hold up the board
20) Doug and Ruth leaving us
Cheers
Dawson and Julie
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