Lima, Peru

(a rather quick visit, unfortunately...)

Was in Lima for a few days this week, and had a couple of hours Friday to grab what photos that time, light and weather would allow.  July is mid-winter in Lima, and because of the very cold Humboldt Current that runs just off the coast, it's apparently always overcast, with slight drizzle.  Constant white sky, never sunny, never actual rain...

The Miraflores area has a very nice cliff-side mall / restaurant area.
 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A few restaurants are down at the water level...
...with several others, coffee places, etc. up on the cliff's edge.



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

A bit chilly, but what get's you is the constant, penetrating humidity.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

There is one thing that is weird for people who are used to sandy beaches...these beaches are composed of rounded pebbles and stones, like river rocks.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

But the weird thing is...the wave-sound is pretty normal as the waves crash, and roll up the slope of the beach.  But as they roll back, the rocks roll too, knocking and clacking together in a surprising racket that you hear clearly, even way up on top of the cliff.  It's quite strange.

From there, we zipped over to try and catch the dwindling light at Huaca Pucllana, still there in the Miraflores District.  A Huaca is an Inca ruin, there are several in and around Lima, but I believe this is the largest. 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

See: www.huacapucllanamiraflores.pe/

My poor night pictures cannot capture the huge size of the huaca, it covers more than a few city blocks, and is quite high.  The "stones" are actually (millions of) clay "tiles" about 1 ft x 1.5 ft x 3 inches thick (300 x 450 x 75 mm).  But the unusual thing is, they are set on edge, like millions of books, side by side, not lying flat.  They also seem to have a mud layer between them, instead of mortar.  The idea is, in this very active seismic region, the tiles just rattle and settle a bit when the earth shakes, and do not fall.  It must have been a good idea, because after many, many years...the huaca is still standing !

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

To promote tourism and support the archeological work,
there is a nice restaurant right there on the edge of the huaca...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

...where you can sit and view the area, and the tourists on guided tours through and on the ruin.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

La entrada de la Restaurante Huaca Pucllana...(it wasn't open, so we didn't try it, but it looks quite nice).

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Another really nice thing about Lima is the food !  All sorts of fusions of the various cultural influences, but modern and native.  A wide variety of great restaurants.  Fantastic !

Y'all take care.

- Mark W. Laughlin



Circus !!

 

Sorry for all the cell-phone photos but we had fun yesterday and I wanted to show you.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

The Circus came to town and we took the family, including of course our grand-daughter, to see.  It was a great success, she (still not quite 2 years old) loved it.  Actively watching, pointing, clapping, she really got into it. 

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Of course right at the start, I was a bit worried.  Her mom and dad went for popcorn as we first headed to the seats.  So as I carried the little one in, the lights were already low and the music already quite loud.  The little one had a tight grip around my upper arm.  It took several minutes for her to loosen up and get turned around, so she was sitting squarely in my lap. 

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

I could tell she was finally enjoying it when she took one of my thumbs in each of her hands and made my hands clap.  As soon as my hands were clapping, she clapped too and it was clear she was a circus fan !

 

Y'all  take care.

-Mark

 

 

 

Live Music !

 

 

 

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 

Well, going to small venues and listening to live music is not something I usually do.  I like music, but staying out late, hanging out in smoky bars and getting pounded by ear-splitting noise is, well, not my thing.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

But, while traveling in Philadelphia this week, my friend invited me to go with him to see "Heartless Bastards", an Austin, Texas-based band playing there locally, so I said "sure, why not".

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Well, it was fun ! 

I enjoyed the music, the venue was quite pleasant, small and intimate (and it wasn't smoke-filled).

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

So, I expect I will likely try it again.  A friend of mine plays music in Austin, and so maybe it's time that I get up there and check her out.

The place:

Union Transfer

1026 Spring Garden Street

Philadelphia, PA

 

Y'all hang in,

- Mark

 

 

 

The 4th of July !!...Galveston, Texas

 

 

To get to Galveston Island from Houston, you drive South about an hour, to the Gulf of Mexico.  It's a coastal barrier island, connected to the mainland by a ferry and two bridges, close enough to Houston for day-trips to the beach, or weekends away from home.

 

Arriving the afternoon of July 4th, our Independence Day, our goal was to see the beach-front fireworks.  So, we took up a position on the upper deck of the 61st Street Fishing Pier, with a nice unobstructed view of the island, and a steady cool breeze.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 

Off to our left was the western end of the island...

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 

 

And far to the right was the Pleasure Pier, with it's high Ferris wheel, roller coaster and other rides, restaurants and attractions.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 

 

The fireworks were based on the beach, not far west of the pleasure pier.  We were a bit far away for optimum viewing, but we wanted to make sure we were far enough that the loud booms wouldn't scare our little grand-daughter.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 

As it turned out, it was a pretty nice viewing point,

with the fireworks reflecting off the waters of the Gulf.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 

 

The next day we headed over to Moody Gardens, a complex with several attractions, including a very nice aquarium, with penguins...

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 

 

...and a paddle-wheel boat...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 

...and a tropical rainforest enclosure with butterflies...

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 

...and interesting looking birds, bats, and other small animals.

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Then in the later afternoon, we boarded the paddle wheel boat to cruise around before another round of fireworks.  Of course, as I'm looking at the pyrotechnic set-up, on the dock, right next to the boat, I'm wondering about the wisdom of the arrangement (just the night before, somewhere in the US, fireworks had shot off horizontally into a crown, injuring 2 or 3 dozen...).

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 The pyramids are the aquarium, the rainforest and the other main components of Moody Gardens.  Several local private boats came and anchored in front, also waiting on the fireworks show.

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 Unfortunately, the situation was not exactly as advertised.  Instead of completing the trip in time for us to watch fireworks from the beach, we found (after we had already sailed) that the boat intended to be on the bay when the fireworks would be going off.  This made perfect sense, given that the fireworks were right on the dock...but they had not communicated to us that we would be staying out on the boat until all was over...

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

Then, there was a technical problem which delayed the start of the fireworks for about an hour and twenty minutes...while we were gently cruising around on the bay (...trying to make "dinner" out of the snack foods available on the boat...).  So even though we finally saw them, we were at that point, fairly far away.  Oh well, we'll know better next year.

 

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin

 But, all in all, a very pleasant weekend. 

The weather cooperated, and I think we all had a good time. 

 

 

I hope everyone had a Happy July 4th !!

 

 

Take care,

 

-Mark W. Laughlin

 

 

 

Reader for PC and Mac

Hello,

 

Some of you may have had trouble downloading copies of The Trail of the Fox.

 

Amazon has it for Kindle, Barnes & Noble has it for Nook, but you can also download a "reader" that lets you read the book on a PC or a Mac,  This web site has links for multiple reader devices, and what looks like good instructions for downloading.

https://ebookstore.sony.com/download/

http://ebooks.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/288/

 
If you have trouble, just let me know.

Thanks again !!

- Mark 

 

http://writtenpost.blogspot.com/p/the-trail-of-fox.html

 

 

 

 

Photo by Mark W. Laughlin