Nothing like a leisurely morning to get your attitude right. Today started slowly, and our only requirement was to have breakfast in our bellies before the 10:30 meeting time with our group. It was the ten of us from the river adventure shuffling in, joined by the eight new folks and the dynamic duo of the tour director and the cultural expert.
Efrain, the tour director was there, mild mannered and steady, to explain how things would go for the next day and a half. Reggie (Or Dr. Harrison, if you’re fancy) was there to tell us about her role in our adventure. They will be with us until the last day of this trip. We got the low-down and were dismissed after Reggie and Efrain answered our questions. We had to reconvene at 1pm for a tour of Lima and a visit to a pretty great museum.
We saw the important buildings- city hall, the Peruvian equivalents of the White House and Supreme Court- and the Museo de Arte de Lima, abbreviated to MALI for those in the know. Because our time in Lima is so limited, we had to hit the highest of highlights, and I think this day tripping did a good job.
Behold some Peruvian art- a tapestry of warriors holding the heads of their enemies (which they subsequently shrunk):
We got back to the hotel in time to rest for a few moments before Dr. Reggie’s lecture entitled “The Poetry of Potatoes.” In all my days, I have never met anyone as excited as her about potatoes. We have an Irish-born woman in our group who became a US citizen, as well as a mother-and-son pairing from Idaho, and still, I think everyone learned a few potato facts today. Fun fact, though, the Irish woman professed to hate potatoes at the very outset of the lecture, so while it went on, I penned for her the following haiku:
Potatoes have eyes / I can feel them watching me / I glare back at them
It was on the fly, but I think it captured something, don’t you?
But Reggie was really into potatoes, potato knowledge and books about- you guessed it- potatoes. Apparently, you’d be a fool if you dodn’t have a copy of “The History of the Socail Influence of the Potato” on your shelf. And if you have kids, be sure to scoop up a copy of “The Great Potato Book.”
Also, please be aware that there are anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 types of potato in Peru, and you can learn more about them all at the International Center for the Potato right her in Lima. It’s a shame we don’t have more time.
I kid, but Reggie is a really interesting woman. She can read and communicate in Quechua, the language of Peruvian tribes, she has lived in Peru and Ecuador after her youthful Peace Corps stint in the Galapagos, and she knows all of the things about Machu Picchu. She will definitely be an asset. And she knows good ‘taters.
After that, we had our official welcome dinner. The pre-tour extension crew all knows one another, but the welcome dinner gave us a chance to meet the new couples and chat up the tour director folk a little more. I sat across a couple where the woman was a retired school teacher and administrator.. We had plenty to discuss.
For now, the whole of Peru is watching the last match of the America’s Cup soccer tournament, and even though Peru isn’t in the final match, they’ve clearly all got firm opinions on who should win. We have to get up really early tomorrow, though. We head to Cusco in the morning, which is the highest altitude place we’ll visit. Take a deep breath, folks. We’re going to where the air is thin. See you there!
As always, please check out Our Photo Album.
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