Three cheers for the Miraflores Park, Lima

We have stayed in some pretty wonderful places in South America, the Explora Lodges in Patagonia and Atacama, Home in BA and the Inkaterra Lodge near Machu Picchu. But of all the standard type hotels (well, 5 star international class!)in which we have stayed, we like the Miraflores Park in Lima best of all. It´s not just the ocean view (someone obscured today by an autumn mist), the enormous bathroom with walk in shower and lots of products or the squishy sofa and armchairs in our living area. What really makes us happy is the quality of service, summed up by our arrival last night. Tired and a bit grubby after our flight from La Paz, we arrived at the hotel at about 11 o clock last night to be met by the smiling duty manager who gave us a seat whilst he checked us in, told us that the cases we had left behind in storage here were already in our room and took us himself up to the fourth floor. To cap it all, they had found the jacket I had left beside the pool on our last stay here and returned it, beautifully folded,lined with tissue paper and with the ribbons at the neck neatly tied. I was sorry it was only a M&S jogging top, as I felt that such devotion deserved a better object. I must remember to lose my better stuff in future!

Today we have been on a tour of colonial Lima, which is stunning and gradually being restored, funded in part by the Spanish government (Do the Spanish know?) and then to the Larco Gallery which is am amazing private collection of pre-Columbian art. Unlike its sister museum in Cusco which displays its objects as works of art with no ethnographic informtion, this is more of a standard ethnographic museum, but beautifully done, funded (as of course was the Tate collection in the UK originally) by a fortune made in the sugar plantations. It left us wanting to find out more of what is truely a remarkable history and one that is till unfolding as more and more archaeological sites are discovered and excavated, now mostly using proper scientific techniques. What was especially amazing, in some ways, was that visitors are given access to the stores,objects that are not on formal display but simply placed in groups on floor to ceiling glass shelves. For every object on display, there must have been a hundred in these cases, emphaising just how rich Peru is in archaeological material.Then we had lunch in the restaurant. That was pretty good too.

Tomorrow we have nearly a full day in Lima and have a reservation for lunch at Astrid and Gaston, meant to be one of the city´s best restaurants. Then,at 4 o clock our car will pick us up and take us to the airport for a flight back to Madrid. It seems hard to believe that this wonderful holiday is coming to an end.....