Just back from our outing. The Belmond Miraflores is a lovely hotel and have a taxi service in very nice cars and you can charge the fare to your room. I wanted to go to certain things to see if they were worth visiting when we come back in January 2018 prior to our Lima to BA Mariner cruise.

I checked the regular taxi fares from the Miraflores Park Hotel to the Huaca Pucllana ruins. It was $12. Then I asked the hotel what the charge would be with their taxi - same price $12 in a nice Mercedes vehicle with an English speaking driver. What a great deal. So off we went to the ruins.

The ruins were a little bit interesting with the mud bricks constructed vertically instead of horizontally. There were a few figures made of the mud clay depicting daily life of the people who lived here. The temple was built around 500 AD. I would not bring a group of people to see this ruin though not up with the impressive ruins we have seen elsewhere. Plus you cannot just walk around you have to go on a tour. I do not like that I like to be able to wander. The guide was good though and talked JUST enough so we knew what we were seeing.

On the way back we had a great driver who lived in Houston for 15 years. We asked for a tour to an area called Barranco. A hot spot at night this is an "old town" area close to Mira Flores. I had heard about this area before, lots of old traditional buildings. We enjoyed our short drive by tour.

Then we went to see a highly rated shopping center called Larcomar just a five minute walk from the Mira Flores Park Hotel. LOTS of restaurants and shops and built on the side of the mountain over the coast road and a stunning view of the ocean. The mall is multi level,mostly outdoor, and very interesting. So close and worth a quick visit for sure.

Hang gliders have been flying all day right in front of our hotel, over the ocean and the Larcomar shopping mall. So they were great to watch from the mall. I was told it was $80 for 50 minutes as a tandem ride.

We enjoyed a very reasonable dinner at the mall with a lovely view of the ocean.

Then while I was doing some work this morning Ken went for a walk. He wanted me to see the Virgen de fantima church just a block from the hotel. He was right this was a beautiful church. Very tastefully done and lots of frescos and stunning stained glass windows. We see many churches this is one I will remember. They were preparing for a funeral and the flowers were absolutely beautiful.

Now back at the hotel and looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow and starting our trip to Machu Picchu.

Unfortunately the weather forecast is NOT good. Lots of rain and this is not normal for this time of the year. Keeping my fingers crossed we get some good weather gods smiling on us during our trip.