Since we had never been to South America before we decided this would be a good time to go since it is summer down there during December and January. So we signed up for a Holland America cruise leaving from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Dec 20 and ending at Valparaiso, Chile on Jan 10. That is 21 days. However, the cruise did not include excursions to 2 places on our "bucket list": Machu Picchu in Peru and Iguazu Falls between Brazil and Argentina borders. So we worked with a travel agent and got the trip all worked out to travel for a couple weeks prior to the cruise, so we could visit several places in Peru and also get to Iguazu Falls.
We left home on Dec 6 and drove to Portland and left our car at Shelly's and flew from Portland to Lima via LAX. Lima is an interesting city. It was warm and is almost always cloudy. We did a lot of walking and also toured the city visiting the main square with government buildings, churches, cathedral, president's palace, etc. We were the oldest in our tour group, but we were the only ones who went to the top of a church bell tower out of the group. Lovely views of the city from there. A large group of volunteer firemen, dressed in red, were in formation getting ready to go into the Cathedral for a special mass. We also visited an ancient pyramid that was used for burials, and they had simulated mummies there, so we could see how it would have been hundreds of years ago. One area of the city blocks off a long section on Sunday mornings for the people to be able to have a place to exercise safely--walkers, runners, cyclists, etc. We got to see part of the Pan American highway that goes all the way from the southern tip of Argentina up to Alaska.
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