Today began our journey home. We had half the day in Cusco and then flew back to Lima.
We had a casual morning enjoying the plaza, and wandering around for the last few gifts.
Then we were touristo stupido. We let our airport taxi driver give us a counterfeit 10 soles. Greg could tell immediately it felt different and I noticed it was missing the usual picture of Machu Picchu - but we were focused on checking in to our flight. We didn't actually realize it was a counterfeit until we tried to pay the Lima taxi with it! Greg is more upset with the fact that we fell for the scam than for the amount we lost -$4. We also tipped that asshole (it is uncommon to tip taxis in Peru)!
We never take taxis, anywhere, and today we took 3 more. Our B&B had already taught us how to get the best rate on a taxi. If you get one in the airport, you have to pay a fixed price. So instead you catch one of the taxis leaving the airport - the ones who just dropped someone off. We paid almost 1/3 this way - not that they didn't try to get the higher fare first!
We tried to make the best out of our Lima layover - most of it we would be sleeping. We took a taxi to Kennedy Park in Miraflores. I had read it is full of live entertainment - but it wasn't today. Half of it was blocked off. The other part had a tiny artisan market, a playground, and scattered snack vendors. It also had at least 20 very tame cats laying around... The dogs here are on leashes.
We couldn't get our bearings on the tiny map we had. The street names on the map didn't match the actual street names - not sure why?
We enjoyed a malto Cusquino at a cafe along the park, grabbed some sandwiches to go, and took them to the malecon - an easy walk from Kennedy Park. It was the usual cloud layer in Lima so there was no sunset. We walked through Lover's Park, then called it a day. We'd be leaving for the airport again at 2:15am.
I have to admit we still haven't nailed down the best way to get currency when we travel, but this trip was particularly bad. One of the ATM limits was 400 soles ($160) which doesn't go far! And then NO ONE would take big bills and we didn't know how to get change. Even Starbucks wanted exact change. We tried to pay the taxi 50 soles ($20) and he wouldn't take it!
Anyway, it is all behind us now. We had a truly unforgettable trip, and can't wait to get back to our kids and the comforts of home!
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