There are 498 blog posts for you to enjoy.
Ica, Perú
March 5, 2023
Ica, Perú: population: about 170,000. The Ica valley is primarily an agricultural area where they grow such crops as cotton, grapes, asparagus, avocado, mango, olives, and other produce. Ica is known by Perúvians as the "Land of Eternal Sun".
The history of Ica dates back a very long time. Scientists have found fossils of penguins dating back 30 million years. They say those penguins were 4 1/2 to 5 feet tall and had a beak about a foot long. No kidding, they have the fossil evidence. As for people, there have been several different indigenous groups in the Ica area for thousands of years, with the Incas being the most recent indigenous group, that is, until the Spaniards arrived and conquered them. The Spaniards founded Ica in 1563. The Regional Museum of Ica has many artifacts from the indigenous people who lived here in the past. In 2007, there was an earthquake of 8.0 that did huge damage to the city and initially killed at least 17 people, then the church collapsed and killed another 70.
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Pisco, Perú
February 26, 2023
Pisco, Perú: population: about 86,000. Pisco is a town on the coast of central Perú. It's generally a nice place, the majority of the city is clean, and they have a new mall, granted it's not big, but it's new. My first impressions are that I like Pisco, but then, just this morning, I walked into the city center looking for a restaurant serving breakfast. I found a few. My first question for each was "What kind of coffee do you have? Instant or filtered?" They all replied, "instant". I turned around and walked out. In one restaurant the waitress said, "filtered" and pointed to the coffee machine so I said, "Great, give me a cup of coffee, black." And she asked, "What? We have cappuccino, frappuccino, crapaccino, etc." I asked for Black Coffee, simple regular black coffee. She had no idea what I was asking for. I couldn't get her to understand that I wanted only regular unadulterated black coffee. I turned around and walked out of there. So, I'm eating mixed nuts for breakfast and drinking water with lemon. I suppose it is healthier. Then this evening, I went to the mall to the big grocery store to buy two bottles of water with pineapple flavor. It's the only store in Pisco I have found this water in. The two bottles came to around 8 soles (Perúvian money) and I gave her a 20 sole bill. She said it was too large for only 8 soles and she couldn't accept it. I said, "Seriously? The difference is only 12 soles, you have that in coins." She said something about the policy for amounts under 10 soles and not accepting bills of 20 or higher. I couldn't believe it and left without buying anything there. What a stupid policy, especially when the store is jam-packed with customers waiting in long lines.
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Cañete, Perú
February 24, 2023
San Vicente de Cañete, Perú: population: about 60,000. San Vicente de Cañete is a small town also known as the "Cradle and Capital of National Black Art." The history dates back to pre-Inca times. The leader of the original inhabitants, Chuqui Manco, resisted the Incas for four years before finally succumbing to the conquerors. Then the Spanish explorer Mendoza arrived and founded the town of Villa de Cañete. During the following years, the rich built haciendas and brought slaves from Africa to work in the fields and orchards. Slavery was abolished in 1854 so the slave owners had to find new slaves. They brought in people from China. And that's the end of the history I can find including two Wikipedia pages. I found a trails website that talks about a path/trail that can be hiked, ridden on a mountain bike, or possibly driven (not sure about that) from Cañete to Huancayo in the Andes. Supposedly it's a beautiful ride. I imagine it probably is.
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Mala, Perú
February 23, 2023
Mala, Perú: population: about 54,000. Mala is a small town a few kilometers away from the beaches of the Pacific Ocean. It is surrounded by hills that are actually very big sand dunes. The history goes back to pre-Inca times with the Huarco people who were eventually conquered by the Incas. In 1537 the Spanish conquistadors arrived and conquered the Incas and took over the area. Now the area has a large banana and platano industry, farming, as well as tourism and commercial services.
Mala has a desert climate. The average daytime high of 24° C (75° F), and the night average low of 15° C (59° F). The city's elevation is 30 meters (98 feet). Mala averages 109mm (4.3 inches) of rain per year.
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Lima, Perú
February 21, 2023
Lima, Perú: population: about 9.8 million for the city and the entire metropolitan area—11.3 million. Lima is a big city, one of the largest in the Americas. Lima was originally founded as "Ciudad de Los Reyes" (City of The Kings).
Lima has a desert climate, also said to be mild with subtropical temperature ranges. The average daytime high of 22° C (72° F), and the night average low of 17° C (63° F). The city's elevation ranges from sea level to more than 1500 meters (5000 feet). Lima averages 6.4mm (.25 inches) of rain per year. Yeah, that's right, a quarter of an inch of rain per year. That equates to an average of only 18 days a year in which a tiny bit of rain is recorded. Humidity is consistently between 80% - 85% throughout the year. Foggy mornings are common, and when I was on the bus entering the city it was quite foggy. Here's an interesting fact: Lima averages 1284 hours of sunshine annually. Compare that to London, England at 1653 hours and Moscow at 1731 hours. Yet, here it is in a desert along the coast near the equator.
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