The trip to Bolivia - Peru - Downtown Lima, San Martin de Porres

Right across Saint Rose of Lima church you will find another interesting religious venue to visit. Its a colonial house at which live another famous Peruvian Saint.

Saint Martin de Porres was a humble Dominica order lay brother of mix African, Spanish descent, he is the patron Saint of barbers, innkeepers and public health workers, since he was basically the doorman,cook, and cleaner of the convent he lived in.

This house is also a great example of the colonial houses of old in Lima and houses the San Martin de Porres museum.

"La ciudad nos regala sabores" Picking fruit from the city´s trees.

As I mentioned before, there are plenty of free cultural activities to be done in Buenos Aires.
Some are hosted by the city, or associations or even private initiatives like " La ciudad nos regala sabores"( the city gifts us with flavours)

Started by Ludmila Medina who grew amazed at how many fruit trees that populate Buenos Aire´s sidewalks, many planted by the neighbours, she decided to create an association to help people find, identify and even harvest fruit from them.

Yesterday I went on a walk on the Versailles neighbourhood here in Buenos Aires, this hood sits at the west border of the city and is not very visited even by the locals, but it still has the charm of Buenos Aires of old and reflects the typical neighbourhood that has disappeared in other parts of the city.

Basically we walked the streets reviewing the fruit trees and even eatable weeds that just grow on the curbs, all of this with detailed explanations by Ludmila.
I highly recommend these walks, for more info I include their facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/LaCiudadNosRegalaSabores/

The trip to Bolivia - Peru - Downtown Lima, Saint Rose of Lima church

Now, if you ever wondered who Rose of Lima was, this is the place where she was was born.


Saint Rose of Lima was a member of the third order Dominicans in Lima in the late 1500s. She was declared a Saint by the Catholic church because of hes mysticism and charity towards the needy of her time.

The Church that stands today in her honer was built adjacent to her house, since she belonged to one of the most wealthy families of Lma at that time.
This church is among the churches that you will probably encounter while in downtown Lima.

The trip to Bolivia - Peru - From Lima to San Bartolo

Arriving in Lima in mid January I was quickly ushered to San Bartolo a nearby beach resort ( 1hr away from Lima), Where well off Limeños migrate during the summer heat.

I have to say that the general layout of the town is very Mediterranean at least around the beach, into town you´ll find a mix of Peruvian and Californian style.

Weekend Getaways - Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

As mentioned in previous posts one of the weekend getaways in Buenos Aires is to visit Colonia del Sacramento in neighbouring Uruguay.

The quickest way is to grab the Ferry in Downtown BA and do the hour trip, you have several ferry lines but the best one in Buquebus that has modern and spacious boats.

I went there recently for a weekend in early fall and it was great

Besides visiting the city there are nearby beaches to go for a dip and of course good food.

Actually the Argentine peso is depreciated towards the Uruguayan peso so there are much less people visiting an therefore it is less crowded.

The Rosario Open House 2019

The Open house is an International architecture festival which started in London U.K in 1992 that has spread to 45 cities worldwide. The idea is to grant acces to emblematic buildings in each city that normally are not open to the public.

Two main cities host this event in Argentina, One being its faustuous capital city Buenos Aires and the other Rosario which sits 400 clics from Buenos Aires.

Rosario being an important river port that managed to export and import directly to Europe has a rich architectural heritage.

Its downtown area is crowded with beautiful buildings with rich cuppolas mainly of european influence that can visited from inside on the days of the anual Open House.

El día de los monumentos in Buenos aires

Buenos Aires has definitely one of the best cultural offers in the world, and many for free. On the first weekend of May, we had the "Día de los Monumentos" which featured visits to many of the monumental buildings that populate this city.

It ran during the whole weekend but I only managed to visit on Sunday, that was a gloomy rainy day ideal for indoor visits.

Here we see some pics of The Government house museum, the National bank of Argentina and the Casa Calise.

happy 500 posts

So we hit 500 posts, who would imagine. Many things happened since that first post in 2007.
A big thank you to all those who follow this blog and have helped me continue with this small but important narrative of my trips and assignments.
Some people say I travel a lot, but I think I travel as much as anyone, but the key is to take advantage of everything you see around you, not only when you travel but in your day to day.
thanks again for your feedback and support and I hope that this blog will contribute and help you on your travels and your life journey.

The trip to Bolivia - Peru - Off to Lima

Copacabana lends itself for a few days stay, but since I only had the day in all I think I managed to get a good glimpse.

after a 6 hour stay I hopped on the Bus that would bring me on a 24 hr ride all the way to Lima, Peru´s capital. Many people travelled to Cuzco first, but since I had already been there I pressed on to Lima.

before leaving I had a taste of a local beer called huari, name taken after an Andean native culture.
It is supposed to taste like coffee, (with some imagination) but I still recommend it.

In Passing snapshot - Ready for bussines

In Bolivia you will find all types of restos, but do not despise the pa and ma version where you will eat well and cheap. This grocery in San Pedro de Tiquina offered their daily deal while their toddler watched the passerbyers.

The trip to Bolivia - Peru - Eating fish

If you wonder what to eat in Bolivia, I suggest you stick to poultry, rice and potatoes dishes. In Copacabana i had this Quinoa soup and of couse Titicaca Lake trout, all for under 5 bucks.