When we arrived in Lima our flight was delayed once again getting in but Chelsey's family friends Juan and Denise were waiting for us when we left baggage claim. They took us straight to a wonderful restaurant owned by a top 30 chef for a belated birthday celebration lunch for Chels. I still wasn't feeling well so food wasn't super appealing unfortunately, but I had some pork chops with apples honey and a side of mashed potatoes that were delicious. I ate as much as I could and we all appreciated such a treat from Juan and Denise.
We went back to their apartment and got the lay of the land, met their lovely dogs Larry and Lola, and settled in to chat and watch a movie. I went to bed pretty early hoping to feel a bit better since we wanted to go to the Museo de Oro (Gold Museum) the next day. I woke up nearly the next day still feeling under the weather but showered, got ready and laid low until we left. Since it was close we walked to the Museum and it was really interesting. There's everything from weapons to jewelry to textiles and it was amazing to take all of it in. The craziest is that the entire collection belongs to one man since it was so extensive.
After we finished walking through the museum, we took a taxi down to Laco Mar, a really cute outdoor shopping mall with lots of cute cafes overlooking the water. We enjoyed a nice lunch together and walked around a few of the stores before catching another cab back to Juan and Denise's. We were pretty tired and I was still under the weather so we spent a lazy evening watching movies once again and enjoying dinner that Denise was kind enough to prepare for us. I headed to bed once again hopeful that I would feel better for our bike ride the next day.
I awoke on our second morning finally having broken my fever and feeling well enough to take our bike tour of Lima thank goodness. We rode for a few hours along the water in Barrancas and enjoyed a nice lunch at a cute little green cafe along the way. After our ride we walked into Mira Flores to shop around in the Incan Market for some more souvenirs. It was about 6:30 when we hopped in a cab to get back to the apartment where Denise had cooked Peruvian for us for dinner. It was delicious, and I was happy to have my appetite back a bit after having been sick. We enjoyed another nice movie night and and went to bed excited for the 4th the next day.
We decided to head to the Pariwana Lima for our last couple days and night to see some of our friends from Cusco and celebrate the 4th. We said our goodbyes to Juan and Denise, thanked them for their marvelous hospitality, and cabbed it to Mira Flores for Pariwana.