South Of The Border : A Few Days Journey

We departed the Tilles Center early Sunday evening following a wonderful NMEA concert, and headed south toward Florida. The drive was boring but otherwise uneventful. I have to say that I'm impressed with the condition of I95, especially through NJ. They have really upgraded and modernized this busy east coast artery, and traffic conditions allowed us a safe and rapid journey.

Bye, bye, Fort Lauderdale...

From Fort Lauderdale, we flew 5 hours south to Lima, Peru. A benefit of this trip is that there is no time change, so no jet lag! Yes, Lima is directly south of New York!

A legitimate complaint

Flying has become a patently unpleasant horror. Legroom is non-existent and the seats are narrow and uncomfortable. The tray table rests on my lap making for dangerously unsteady drinks and sliding snacks. Speaking of snacks, pretzels and chips? Really, that's it? Five hour trip?

Hello, Lima!

The featured movie was The Martian, so there's that. But you better have brought headphones or else you're going to pay for the airline to provide them. The TV selections existed only while in the US, which, when flying south from Fort Lauderdale, is a brief period of time.

But, I complain too much. The bottom line was that takeoff and landing were right on time, and we arrived safely. So, good news!

Lima

South of the equator! My first time. We're only 12 degrees south, but still, it feels different. The sun and moon move right to left across the sky and the phases of the moon are totally backward! It was interesting watching the crescent moon as we journeyed south to Florida and then, the next night, see that same crescent facing the other way! Weird. I can't comment on stars yet as it's been too cloudy and citified to observe them.

Lima airport is busy! And things look a bit funky on the drive into town from the airport, but the heart of the city is quite nice with a beautiful park on the cliffs high up over the Pacific Ocean.

Ted's diggin' the view

Lot's of banks and ATM machines. Weirdly, too many ATM's. And they're all protected by an armed guard standing outside. That took a bit of getting used to.

The food was fantastic and prices are very reasonable. We can easily afford to dine at the city's nicest restaurants.

While it never rained during our two day stay, the sun made rare appearances keeping temperatures very pleasant. I don't think it hit 80 degrees. The humidity was world class, NY in August style.