last day of winter

It's the last day of winter. There was a moment in the mid afternoon when it almost seemed like the sun might emerge from the thick cloud covers. I may have actually seen a shadow, though I can't quite say with honesty that I saw the sun.

Anyway, I'm posting some photos in honor of the promise of a coming spring.

These two photos (above and below) show the cliffs of Lima, with the beach below and boardwalk/park area, known as a Malecone, that follows the coast above the cliff. In the top picture you see the neighborhood of Miraflores. If ou click on it and enlarge the image you can see some paragliders. There were plenty of surfers out as well, but they are too small to see.

This is another park along the Malecone, in the neighborhood of Barranco. The sign reminds people to pick up after their dogs. Some do. Many don't.

This lovely old railing is part of a delipidated but surely formerly glorious old mansion in Barranco. Mostly built in the early 20th century, they were the country houses of Lima's elite, who came here to enjoy the beach and escape the bustle of the central parts of the city. Today, Barranca still feels like a village. It combines fancy modern apartment buildings, with old mansions, and artists' studios/galleries. There are some iffy sections, too. But it's very charming and remains one of my favorite Lima neighborhoods.

This photos just provides another example of the constant interesting combination of colors that one encounters strolling through any number of Lima neighborhoods. It's a nice contrast to a gray day.

Friends Dan and Amy introduced us to this section of the Malecone, where dogs can run off leash (a rare treat in Lima, unless we're talking about street dogs). Bacchus encountered this friendly husky. It looks here like they are sharing a good joke.

I'm not sure what this sign means. "Buzzard zone"? "Watch out for low flying buzzards"? There are certainly lots of buzzards around the Malecone, and other parts of Lima. They flew alongside us when we went paragliding, sharing thermals and currents. They are majestic in some ways, but still ugly.

This is a detail of a wall mural in Barranco.

This is a photos of a construction zone wall, made of recycled pieces of wood, obviously. I liked the haphazard patterns from the mishmash of plywood pieces.