Peru 2017: May 14, 2017-LIMAVISION tour of Pachacamac ruins and Mamacona Paso horse show with lunch, Parque de la Reserva/Magic Water Circuit, Alma Restaurant

Breakfast was again a good way to start the day. I really love all the varieties of fresh fruit. I had wanted to attend a Paso horse show and had researched 2 options before leaving home for our trip. Option 1 was Mamacona which had lots of positive reviews on Trip Advisor. Option 2 was the lesser reviewed Casa Los Ficus. I e-mailed Mamacona to see if transport could be provided for a cost as their website only had information on the show. From the e-mails I received which were all in Spanish and translated painstakingly by me that there was no transportation offered by the venue directly. The cost for just the show with lunch would be 135 soles per person. If I chose Los Ficus I could get the show with lunch and transportation for $85.00 per person. I e-mailed the concierge at our Lima hotel to see if they would be able to help with transportation to Mamacona. I got a response that there was a tour with LimaVision for the Pachacamac ruins and the Mamacona horse show/lunch with all transportation provided for $95.00 per person. Or a driver could be arranged to take us to Mamacona for 117 soles each way and then 55 soles per hour waiting. The date of 5/14 was recommended. I had watched videos done by both venues and they looked similar. I only decided to do Mamacona as it had more reviews on TA so it seemed like that venue was more popular. I e-mailed the hotel concierge and told him to reserve this tour for us. We would pay by cash or credit card the day of the tour. We reconfirmed this with the concierge when we first checked in to Casa Andina and he gave us an envelope with details such as pick up time, etc. The pictures I've posted here were mostly taken from Mamacona and Casa Los Ficus websites that I logged on to 9/5/17 so you can see how I made my decision about this tour. A few pictures are from current reviews posted on Trip Advisor. As you can see the website pictures show similar experience whether you go to Mamacona or Los Ficus.

Pictures from reviews of Mamacona on TA

TA review picture

This picture is from the Mamacona website from today 9/5/17

Mamacona web site from 9/5/17

Mamacona website 9/5/17

TA review picture

All of these pictures below are from Casa Los Ficus website logged on to 9/5/17

Tour pick up from our hotel was set for 9:45 AM. We were in the lobby waiting before 9:30 AM. Quite some time passed and no one showed up. I had also asked the staff that stands outside by the hotel entrance to be on the look out for LimaVision for us. I had one of the reception staff call LimaVision. He then tells us that he was told that LimaVision was at our hotel at 9:40 AM and when our name called 1 person boarded the tour bus instead of the 2 they were expecting. What!! Is Filipski a common name?? It appears that the wrong guy got on the bus. OMG! Now they are sending a car to pick us up. Of course by the time the car arrives and drives us to Barranco where the bus is waiting it's now around 11:00 AM. This is a large bus filled with lots of people. The guide takes our credit card information and relays that to the office. We eventually get a receipt for $190.00 for the 2 of us for this tour. Pretty soon we are in a traffic nightmare. It's Mother's Day and everyone in Lima is heading out to the cemetery to pay their respects. On the side of the road there are stands selling flowers, balloons... What should have been around 30 minutes takes us 1 1/2 hours before we finally arrive at Pachacamac ruins.

We are driven to Barranco to board the LIMAVISION tour bus

On our way to Pachacamac ruins

People selling flowers on Mother's Day

Traffic jam

All that traffic heading to the cemetery per our tour guide

Pachacamac was probably the most important pilgrimage site in Peru. Dedicated to the god Pachacamac-god of fire, child of the sun, rejuvenator of the world. Mud/adobe brick stepped pyramids with ramps and plazas. Excavation still continuing. There is a museum at the entrance which contains relics found during excavations-ceramics, textiles, etc. We walk to the Temple of the Sun but we cannot enter the building. We view the Mamacona/House of Women from the parking area. You can also see the Pacific Ocean and the Lurin Valley from here. We spent 2 hours here.

Map of site

Model

Mamacona/House of Women

Walking to the Temple of the Sun

Main entrance to the Temple of the Sun

Adobe brick walls

Lurin Valley

Can see the Pacific Ocean

LIMAVISION tour bus

Now we are back on the bus and on our way to Mamacona or so I thought. The guide is moving around in the bus talking to people about postponing the second part of their tour until tomorrow!!?? I hear the words city tour but wait-aren't we all going to Mamacona? The guide tells us that we are the only 2 going to Mamacona for the Paso horse show. We arrived there at 2:48 PM and get off the bus. The guide walks us to a large building where he tells us this is where we will get our lunch and the show will be after. He says we are to meet our driver back at this spot at 4:30 PM. Then he leaves and we are ALONE at this venue. I am pissed/very angry. We have less than 2 hours here. Per the brochure/internet web site we are supposed to tour Pachacamac which we did. Then we were to have the lunch buffet with drink, see traditional dances performed, see the exhibition of the Paso horses, and have the option to ride one of the horses in the picador. We head up to the 3rd floor of this building by a server and seated at a table. There's some confusion about drinks. First we're told soda or water which is fine. Then told no chichi which is fine. There's a buffet but almost all the food is gone. Evidently lunch started at 12:30 PM and it's past 3:00 PM. There's some rice dishes, grilled vegetables, some kind of beans, pasta, and some other dishes that I have no clue what they are was no labels and no one speaks English. We do manage to get some food which wasn't too bad but I'm sure this buffet would have been better if we had arrived earlier. There's a small stage on the 1st floor where I guess the traditional dances have been going on. We catch the end of one and that's it. We head outside to see where we are supposed to watch the horse show. The web site showed this large grassy lawn but this isn't what we see. It's a small area with seating on 3 sides. There are empty seats but when we try to sit we're told the seats are being saved. Finally I'm told I can have 1 seat and my husband will stand by the spot where we're supposed to meet our driver at 4:30 PM. I see that people are coming out of the building carrying plates of donuts. Must be dessert. I decide to check it out. Inside a long line for brownies and the donuts. Some are taking 6-7-8 donuts so the women are running back and forth to replenish the table with donuts. All I wanted was 1 donut which I eventually get and it tasted pretty good. This is so not turning out to be what I expected. As I look around I see locals-no tourists. Don't understand that. Maybe the tourists only come in large groups?? We never got our drinks. The dances we were supposed to see ended right when we arrived. The Paso show that the web site shows taking place on a large grassy lawn with table set up for the lunch-not what we got! It's almost 4:00 PM and the show hasn't started yet. I tell my husband that I'm not leaving until I see this show! Waiting, waiting. Finally at 4:15 PM the show starts. Obviously won't be leaving at 4:30 PM. This day has not gone well at all. However, I really enjoyed the show. The Paso horses are so graceful and a joy to watch. I took lots of pictures and video. When the show is over at 5:00 PM the riders and horses appear in the arena for people to get their pictures taken. I'm disappointed as I wanted to be able to ride one of the horses like I expected. We locate our driver who has been good about waiting for us. He takes us back to our hotel. I guess I should have gone with Los Ficus?? We spent a little over 2 hours here.

Here is where we were left and told to meet our driver later at 4:30 PM

Not the large open area shown on the website

This is the large building where we were to have lunch even though the website shows tables set outside

Food was just about gone and didn't look appetizing at all

This is the small arena where we watched the riders and horses perform which is not what's shown on the website

After the show was over people were getting their pictures taken with the riders and the horses

Didn't see anyone being able to ride one of the horses as indicated on the website

As soon as we arrive at our hotel I see the concierge and tell him what happened. He's appalled and tell us we should have had an English speaking guide with us at all times. He also said we were supposed to be with an English group of no more than 18. He calls LimaVision. He thinks we should get our money refunded but that doesn't appear to be what's going to happen. They can offer us a dinner tour tonight or another tour tomorrow but we have plans for tomorrow. I had him ask about the agency's Magic Water Circuit tour but was told that that tour for tonight had already left. I guess I'll just cut my losses and we will do the Magic Water Circuit on our own. We go up to our room and freshen up/change. I have the hotel call a taxi for us to drop us off at the Parque de la Reserva. We'll walk around, watch the water show, see the fountains. Then I'll get a taxi to take us back to the hotel. As we are getting into our taxi the concierge comes running out to say that an official from the tour company has come to the hotel to speak to us. Gladys Marcos Sotelo, Gerente General Adjunta for Pervasion Group-parent company of LimaVision. Through translation she expresses how sorry she is and that someone is going to take us to the Magic Water Circuit at no cost to us. We get into a car with a driver and a guide and go to the Parque de la Reserva. Crowds of people. All of Lima must be here! Long lines to pay admission and enter. I know from my research that seniors are free but we'd still have had to wait in line if we came on our own. The guide goes up to one of the windows and exchanges some words and we enter immediately. It's like a circus/zoo/party atmosphere. Fun. Lots of vendors selling food, drinks. I see cotton candy for sale. Souvenirs for sale. This place is amazing. All the fountains. The colors-red, blue, green, purple. We walk and see the Fountain of Life, Magic Fountain, Rainbow Fountain, Fantasia Fountain, Fountain of Harmony, Fountain of Illusion. We see the fountain where the kids mostly are inside and the water shoots up, then stops, then starts again. Object I think is to avoid getting wet?? Not all succeed at this. LOVED our time here. We watched the 8:15 PM laser fountain/light show. It was incredible with the lights and fountains set to music. Our guide (can't remember his name) was very nice walking with us and explaining about the park and what we were seeing. He asked if we wanted to see more as there are 13 fountains here and some of them are interactive. But it had been a long day so we felt we wanted to head back to the hotel. We spent around 1 1/2 hours here.

Entrance

Cotton candy for sale

Fantasia Fountain

Fountain of Harmony

Tunnel of Surprises

Popular with kids

Traditional Fountain

One last look as we're leaving

For dinner we are not inclined to venture out so we decide to just grab something easy at our hotels' restaurant Alma. It's late now-almost 9:30 PM. Way later than normal dinner time for us. Not many in the place but I'm just glad we can still order something. I ordered the Alma salad of mixed greens, grilled chicken, portabella mushrooms, asparagus, hearts of palm, bacon, blue cheese, and apple curry vinaigrette. It was yummy! My husband ordered chicken ravioli soup with assorted rolls. This light meal is perfect for us given the late time and for our tour tomorrow as we are getting picked up at 4:30 AM! Cost was 82 soles without tip.