We both slept well until 7:30 am. We are very much impressed with the Hotel Runcu and its ideal location near the ocean. We woke to a cool heavy fog that enshrouded all the nearby buildings, not unlike the early morning mist off Southern California’s beach communities.

Took another “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” to Museo Larco, where a very knowledgeable guide named Milagra walked us through eons of Peruvian history, culture and art. The museum is housed in a lovely old hacienda.

After the interesting tour of the museum, we grabbed cokes in the restaurant and then hailed another cab, driven by Angel (who actually turned out to be our safest/sanest driver,) who took us to the Indian Market for some last-minute shopping. The market was a letdown and way too touristy.

Next we walked a few blocks west to Parque Kennedy where we bought tickets for the three-hour Mirabus tour of Lima. It was nice to sit in the air-conditioned bus and rest for a while. Halfway through, the bus stopped at the Monastery of San Francisco where we spent an hour touring the grand cathedral and its bone-filled catacombs.

Back on the bus for the return to Parque kennedy, we were astounded by the crazy free-for-all of the Lima – in fact all of Peru that we have seen – traffic. There are lanes but no one stays in them. This is NOT defensive driving – this is “every man for himself.” We’ve been in several taxis in different cities, and in nearly each case we were amazed at our survival. We had countless near-misses and actually saw quite a few accidents. The sounds of beeping horns NEVER stops.

We noticed that the Mirabus was nearing our hotel so we asked if we could hop off, and we said muchas gracias and adios to the driver and guide, and found ourselves at Parque de Amor, full of lovers and friends and folks just enjoying the late afternoon by the ocean. Nearby, hang-gliders are lazily circling in the air currents coming off of the sea.

We were hungry so we decided to return to Senorio de Sulco, which was close to the hotel, for the delicious ceviche and again we weren’t disappointed. Highly recommended by the two of us.

After the delicious dinner, we walked the remaining two blocks back to the Hotel Runcu, where we collected our bags and rested until a taxi picked us up at 9 pm. And THIS taxi ride was like no other. We had several near misses and actually kissed the ground when we arrived shockingly in one piece at the airport. It was white-knuckle, hold-on-for-your-life, the entire thirty minute speedboat race to the airport.

Sat in the lounge for a while and then found the gate where there was a people-version of the Peruvian drivers – there were supposed to be lines but again, it was every man for himself. After much confusion, we boarded, found our seats and toasted with white wine to another fabulous chapter of Our Magnificent Journey.

The United 777 left Lima behind at 12:15 am, bound for Houston. On a northwest heading, we climbed up out of Lima, through northern Peru, passed the equator near Quito, Ecuador, across the narrow strip of Panama, barely touching Tequcugalpa, Roatan, Belize, Cozumel and Cancun to the east, crossing the Gulf of Mexico before touching down in Houston at 6:30 am.

After a sleepy two-hour layover in Houston, we were back on another United flight, this one a three-hour westward hop to Los Angeles, where my brother Jim and sister-in-law Betsy picked us up at LAX. Since we have a four-hour layover until our flight home to Tucson, we wanted to spend some time with them. They introduced us to their friend Patti Bellantoni, an accomplished artist and author of a widely used textbook on the subject of color in the movies.

After a pleasant visit, Jim and Betsy returned us to LAX and we caught a fast one-hour flight home to Tucson.

Arrived at 4 pm at Tucson International Airport. We were greeted by our dear friends Marc and Muriel, seasoned travelers who were sweet, as always, to pick us and our luggage up and drive us home.

And so this chapter of Our Magnificent Journey comes to a close. It was exceptional in that everything came off without a hitch. All expectations were met and exceeded, all flights and connections were on time, and we were able to experience the different flavors of several South American cultures. Best of all, I had my bride all to myself for close to three weeks – my favorite part of travel.