Lima

Lima Saturday 9th April.

The hotel is in Miraflores, an affluent area which I wanted to explore this afternoon, planning to visit the historic centre tomorrow. Lots of restaurants but I didn't want much so chose a vegetarian restaurant where I ordered the vegetable tortilla which turned out to be massive and heavy, so not a great choice. Also had a bright, Singapore Sling pink,  "Tuna" juice, apparently made from an Indian fig and which, like the Singapore Sling was too sweet for my taste. My map showed a pre-Inca pyramid, Huaca Pucllana in Miraflores so I made my way there to find that it had just closed at 5pm. Apparently it was built about AD 500, initially as a temple and “administrative centre” and was later used for burials. Since it was built entirely out of mud bricks, only Lima's arid weather has stopped it turning into a  muddy puddle.

The man at the information booth told me it would re-open at 7pm so considered that as an evening activity. Made my way back to the hotel which took 30 minutes.

Artists selling their work in Miraflores

King of the Park in Miraflores

Huaca Pucllana

Huaca Pucllana:
Lots and lots of Mud Bricks

In the evening I decided I wasn't really that keen to visit a pile of mud bricks so  went out intending to find a bar for drinks and a light dinner.  Found the Orient Express bar but it was closed, which seemed odd at 8.30 pm on a Saturday night. Then found the Publica Bar but it was also closed. Was wondering if being included in “Best Bars in Lima” was a kiss of death. So then headed to Calle del Pizza where there are lots of tourist oriented restaurants, fast food places and cafes and, despite the heavy lunchtime  tortilla, I  was feeling definitely hungry by now so settled on one of the busier restaurants and looked at the menu. Most of the main courses were more expensive than I had expected and probably more than I wanted so I settled on another brochette, one of the cheaper items and ordered a beer to go with it. I couldn't believe the reply "Sorry, tomorrow is election day and we are not allowed to serve any alcohol. It is the law". So I had a Coke to go with my brochette. Now I knew why the bars were closed.

Sunday 10th April

Breakfast at the hotel was quite good, back to ham and cheese again, although I think I was beginning to miss it. Got a taxi to Plaza Mayor in the historic centre for 18 sols. I was a bit concerned that the historic centre of Lima would be the same as Quito but they are quite different. One thing they have in common is a cathedral on one side of the main square, which I think was a key part of Spanish colonial town planning. Walked around the square and its side streets and then across the river to a less touristy area called Rima. Clearly the municipal authorities decided that yellow should be the colour of the city. Was a law enacted requiring people to paint their buildings in yellow or was free paint handed out?  After a while I was a bit concerned that I was standing out as the only tourist in the area. Unlike Chile, Argentina and, to a lesser extent, Brazil, in Peru I don’t blend into the background. After about ten minutes I was relieved to see another obvious tourist, looking like Crocodile Dundee, in khaki shorts and a wide brimmed hat; only the corks were missing. Reminded me of the scene in the film where, on being threatened, Dundee replies "call that a knife?" Suspect any potential muggers in the crowds are too young to have seen it. By about 11.00 there were several more tourists, including some young women backpackers, so I didn’t feel quite so obvious. 

Plaza Mayor

Plaza Mayor

One of the Many Yellow Buildings in Plaza Mayor

Lima Cathedral

Archbishop's Palace

Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Merced

 Rima, Other side of the River.
Still Plenty of Yellow Paint

Not so Touristy. No Yellow Paint

Houses Climbing up the Arid Hill Side

There were lots of police around, many in full riot gear, probably because of the election, and I found that all the churches and museums were closed. Still it was lovely walking around the beautiful and fascinating streets. They were changing the guards at the Governor's palace and the Congress building is quite close.  Stopped  for a coffee and bite to eat at pleasant cafe. 

Don't mess with the Policia Nacional

After another look round and failing to find the station for the bus back to Miraflores, I got a taxi for 20 sols to Lacomar Mall which, according to the map, is on the beach and not far from the hotel. Lacomar Mall is cleverly buried in the cliff edge and is dominated by upmarket  brands, not the place to get a cheap tee shirt. It is indeed as close to the beach as the map implies but I had forgotten about those crumbly cliffs. Found out more about them at

http://lostgeologist.blogspot.pe/2008/09/small-geology-of-lima-coast.html

Expressway Through Miraflores.
Not What I Expected in Lima

Lacomar Mall

It's a Long Way Down to the Beach

The beach is about 100 feet below the mall with no obvious non-lethal means of descending. Walked along the top of the cliff which has great views of the coast and then back to the mall where I had a fruit juice, since there is no alcohol today, and a rather sweet desert; not a hoochy mama but it sounded similar. Walked back to the hotel through a very up-market residential area that could be an affluent part of a city in California. Mostly two and three storey, detached and terraced houses interspersed with newer looking low rise apartment blocks. At the side of the road reen verges, which must be irrigated to keep them green. Possibly what you wouldn't see in California are the high metal railings topped with sharp spikes or electrified wires surrounding most of the properties. I wanted to pick up a bottle of drinking water and a Coke before returning to the hotel but such salubrious suburbs don't have mini-markets so it was quite a trek to find one. Just round the corner from the hotel were TV reporters and their vans of paraphernalia outside what I assume was the home of one of the election candidates. The whole area exudes wealth and prestige.

Eventually found my water and Coke after crossing a road into a less precious area dominated by Chinese restaurants.

Later in the evening I planned to have dinner at Saqua, which got good reviews in Trip Advisor but it was closed so went to a chicken place where the food was both better and more expensive than I had expected.

Monday 11th April

After breakfast got a taxi to Museo Largo for 20 sols which was quite a distance through Lima's congested, ugly urban sprawl. The museum itself is beautiful, an old hacienda in gardens filled with colourful flowers. Inside it shows how to do museums. The displays are well designed, beautifully lit and there is excellent background and specific information in Spanish, English and French. Also two versions of an introductory video, Spanish with French subtitles and English with German subtitles. All of which makes the 30 sols entrance fee seem like good value. More information at 

http://www.limaeasy.com/culture-guide/museums-lima/archeological-museum-rafael-larco-herrera

http://www.museolarco.org/en/

It isn’t as extensive as the Pre-Columbian museum in Santiago  and it’s more specific in area but definitely comparable in interest. The belief system of the Pre-Columbian cultures  it described was much the same as in the Albado museum in Quito but here it convinced me that it was real and not just the imaginings of someone after a few drinks of the Shaman’s concoction. Even so, I do wonder whether the historians and archaeologists read the artifacts correctly. What I wonder would future generations make of the ruins of our shopping malls? The section on erotic pottery suggests that at least one of the many cultures viewed all aspects of sex fairly positively. The dark side of the belief system was the need for human sacrifices to appease the gods.

After seeing all the exhibits decided to have a light but rather expensive lunch in the delightful restaurant in the garden. The goat’s cheese salad and a Pisco sour were delicious; the desert, supposedly made from a local fruit, was a sweet goo that tasted mostly of caramel and reminded me of an instant desert from the 1970's.

Museo Largo

Moche Ceramic

Another Ceramic Figure. Think this is also Moche

Jewellery: Ear Decorations

Jewellery: Necklace

Funerary Pieces for Nobles

Funerary Pieces for Nobles

From Museo Largo I got another taxi for 20 sols to Plaza Mayor to see the cathedral but Lima cathedral was a let-down after the cathedral and churches of Quito. What happened? Did they run out of gold? The crypt was a bit spooky; I’m not sure whether the skeletons in their funeral clothes were real but the skulls definitely were. The cathedral makes a big thing of its art collection but it didn't do anything for me. Looking at the embroidered priests vestments, bishops' mitres and gold ornamentation, the Catholic faith doesn't seem so different from the pre Columbian religions. On the plus side, it didn't directly call for regular human sacrifice although the Spanish conquest undoubtedly caused the demise of far more indigenous people than the sacrifices did. Time for another cup of coffee after which I managed to find the bus "station" which was nowhere near where I had been looking before although it was quite close to where I had been when I wasn't looking for it. It has a rather unfriendly payment system, first you have to buy a card for S4.50, but the machine doesn't accept 50 cent coins. Then you have to top up the card by a minimum of 2.50. Luckily there was an official who demonstrated all this to me but I felt sorry for all the people waiting in the queue behind me. Three buses arrived in fairly quick succession; the first two were packed solid but the third was OK. The journey was fairly quick since the buses run along dedicated, Curitiba style, bus lanes and cards are scanned at the entrances to the stations, not on the buses. But as far as I know Lima has only one of these dedicated bus routes and one metro line so public transport is rudimentary and traffic congestion is bad.

In the evening went back to the restaurant Saqua which, on looking at the menu, I realised was quite expensive but the other places nearby were about the same so I had a swordfish steak on mashed yucca which was good and a beer. Later had a Pisco Sour in the Orient Express Bar.