We had two full days to see the sights of Lima. We decided, that since this is a city of 8 million people, we would take a city tour which started at 9.15 on Sunday morning. On the second day, we wandered around on our own, did some washing, updated the blog on the internet, sent some emails, and tried to confirm our Galapagos trip for June 7. It was nice just to have time to ourselves and accomplish some of the admin stuff we needed to make the rest of our journey comfortable.
Lima is a big city. It has a couple of nice areas, Multiflores and San Isidro, where the rich people live and some of the houses and parks are truly spectacular. However, it is also a city that has grown very fast, and therefore there are a number of areas or shantytowns where the majority of the poor population live which are not too pleasant to see. Surprisingly, one of the major problems is unemployment, which we find hard to believe because the city seems very busy, lots of building, and we also met an accountant from PWC in Lima who told us how healthy the economy is. Something doesn´t add.
There is also the colonial Centro where the old Spanish buildings are being fixed up and looked absolutely spectacular, especially at night when they are all lit up.Our hotel is very near the Plaza Mayor which is one of the two main squares. The cathedral, government palace and city hall are all located in this square, and all are very distinguished buildings. This morning, we watched the changing of the guard at the palace which was a rather sleepy, noisy procedure that brought out a ton of riot police, a couple of tanks, a water truck, and hundreds of additional police, police dogs, etc. Quite an event. This happens every day at noon.
We have visited the San Franciscan nuns convent and went down into the catacombs where all the bones and skulls of the 25000 dead people buried there have been separated out into containers labelled with each type of bone. A little gruesome.
There have been several earthquakes in Lima and a big one in 1746 destroyed 70% of the colonial buildings, but these seem to have been rebuilt in the 1800s and then recently restored as much as possible. None, or very little of the Inca buildings remain, as the Spanish destroyed them all before building over the top of them. We did see an archaeological site dating back to the Lima Indians who lived 200 to 700 AD. It is currently being restored in Miraflores. We also went into the Banco Central Museo which was quite fun as it was an old bank complete with vault in the lower level and cash cages on the first floor. Here we saw an explanation of all of the South American cultures leading up to the Incas, and there are many of them depending on which part of the continent you are in. We also saw splendid examples of Inca gold jewellery and other artifacts. The Inca prized sea shells more than gold or silver, and so most of the ceremonial jewellery is made of seashells.
Lima also has a large China town, which we saw the outskirts of.
There is a strong European influence in some of the buildings, mainly Italian, and French, as after the WWII many Europeans moved here for safety. We learned that the Spanish have big doors so that people could ride right into the house to take their horses to the courtyard behind. Also, the Spanish loved processions, and so all the houses have tons of balconies so that people could stand on the balcony watching the procession.
We also stepped into the Postal Museum and saw myriads of beautiful stamps from around the world, let alone a beautifully restored colonial house. One of the lovely things about the people here is their enthusiasm. The security guard who ushered us into the Museum was so anxious to have us visit. He was so excited to show us in and tell us where things were. This spontaneity and enthusiasm are definitely missing in the service areas in Canada. Just like the restaurant we had lunch in today. It was a small little typical cafe and when we walked in the waiter was so delighted, he took us upstairs, smiling all the time and treated us like kings. There is no subservience about their attitude, it is just one of genuine delight.
Late yesterday afternoon, we went out to Larco Mar in Miraflores which is a suburb of the city situated on the coast, and sat high in one of the restaurants on the rocks above the sea shore watching the sun set. We had quite a ride getting there. The cab was very broken down. No shock absorbers, a half chewed back seat, the dashboard was stripped, and the cab stank of petrol. We had agreed on 10 soles for the ride. The cabbie couldn´t find the restaurant. He tried to ask a young chap on a motorbike delivering pizzas but the young lad wouldn´t even stop to speak to him. Then we stopped a Miraflores security policeman,and he directed us to a restaurant. The cabbie let us out just around the corner and another concerned citizen took us to the cafe. However, it turned out there are two in Miraflores and we had the wrong one. So we had about a half hour walk to the shore to the correct restaurant. The view was perfect though looking out over the Pacific Ocean. We also saw the statute to the Lovers. Two lovers kissing. Apparently on Feb 14 there is a kissing contest to see who can kiss the longest. It has to be a Peruvian kiss, a French kiss is not acceptable!!
The people in Lima are generally very friendly and helpful and get a big kick out of you trying to speak their language. But it is still a little racy, although we believe 10 years ago, it was a lot worse, and the door of our hotel for example, has iron grills in front of it which are closed all the time and the security guard has to let you in and out. This doesn´t give you a very good feeling. We were also warned not to walk on the streets at night in the Centro area. This really makes us feel very limited in what we can do after dark as Ray and I both like to walk a lot. Anyway, its really only another big city. I do hope the economy continues to pick up and that way the City will be able to develop into a safer environment.
While in Lima, we learned that Penny, one of the truck group who left us in Santiago had been travelling by overnight bus and someone had crawled under the seat in front of her, slashed her day pack and taken out her passport, travellers´cheques, money, and some other items. It seems that all of those who left us and continued their journeys on their own have had major items stolen. This confirms to us that one of the major advantages of travelling overland on a truck is the security and safety issue and we just don´t have to worrry about those sorts of things happening during our travel time. Means we can sit on the Truck and sleep in peace as we journey!
Early tomorrow morning we are off on the next stage of our journey. We have 9 nights of camping, five in Peru and then we enter in Ecuador. We also have 3 nights at Punta Sal, a beach resort on the Pacific which we are all looking forward to. So stay tuned, but bare with us if we do not get pictures or more text updated for a while. Not every camp site has an internet, and we do have a couple of rough camps thrown in for good measure.
Lima is a big city. It has a couple of nice areas, Multiflores and San Isidro, where the rich people live and some of the houses and parks are truly spectacular. However, it is also a city that has grown very fast, and therefore there are a number of areas or shantytowns where the majority of the poor population live which are not too pleasant to see. Surprisingly, one of the major problems is unemployment, which we find hard to believe because the city seems very busy, lots of building, and we also met an accountant from PWC in Lima who told us how healthy the economy is. Something doesn´t add.
There is also the colonial Centro where the old Spanish buildings are being fixed up and looked absolutely spectacular, especially at night when they are all lit up.Our hotel is very near the Plaza Mayor which is one of the two main squares. The cathedral, government palace and city hall are all located in this square, and all are very distinguished buildings. This morning, we watched the changing of the guard at the palace which was a rather sleepy, noisy procedure that brought out a ton of riot police, a couple of tanks, a water truck, and hundreds of additional police, police dogs, etc. Quite an event. This happens every day at noon.
We have visited the San Franciscan nuns convent and went down into the catacombs where all the bones and skulls of the 25000 dead people buried there have been separated out into containers labelled with each type of bone. A little gruesome.
There have been several earthquakes in Lima and a big one in 1746 destroyed 70% of the colonial buildings, but these seem to have been rebuilt in the 1800s and then recently restored as much as possible. None, or very little of the Inca buildings remain, as the Spanish destroyed them all before building over the top of them. We did see an archaeological site dating back to the Lima Indians who lived 200 to 700 AD. It is currently being restored in Miraflores. We also went into the Banco Central Museo which was quite fun as it was an old bank complete with vault in the lower level and cash cages on the first floor. Here we saw an explanation of all of the South American cultures leading up to the Incas, and there are many of them depending on which part of the continent you are in. We also saw splendid examples of Inca gold jewellery and other artifacts. The Inca prized sea shells more than gold or silver, and so most of the ceremonial jewellery is made of seashells.
Lima also has a large China town, which we saw the outskirts of.
There is a strong European influence in some of the buildings, mainly Italian, and French, as after the WWII many Europeans moved here for safety. We learned that the Spanish have big doors so that people could ride right into the house to take their horses to the courtyard behind. Also, the Spanish loved processions, and so all the houses have tons of balconies so that people could stand on the balcony watching the procession.
We also stepped into the Postal Museum and saw myriads of beautiful stamps from around the world, let alone a beautifully restored colonial house. One of the lovely things about the people here is their enthusiasm. The security guard who ushered us into the Museum was so anxious to have us visit. He was so excited to show us in and tell us where things were. This spontaneity and enthusiasm are definitely missing in the service areas in Canada. Just like the restaurant we had lunch in today. It was a small little typical cafe and when we walked in the waiter was so delighted, he took us upstairs, smiling all the time and treated us like kings. There is no subservience about their attitude, it is just one of genuine delight.
Late yesterday afternoon, we went out to Larco Mar in Miraflores which is a suburb of the city situated on the coast, and sat high in one of the restaurants on the rocks above the sea shore watching the sun set. We had quite a ride getting there. The cab was very broken down. No shock absorbers, a half chewed back seat, the dashboard was stripped, and the cab stank of petrol. We had agreed on 10 soles for the ride. The cabbie couldn´t find the restaurant. He tried to ask a young chap on a motorbike delivering pizzas but the young lad wouldn´t even stop to speak to him. Then we stopped a Miraflores security policeman,and he directed us to a restaurant. The cabbie let us out just around the corner and another concerned citizen took us to the cafe. However, it turned out there are two in Miraflores and we had the wrong one. So we had about a half hour walk to the shore to the correct restaurant. The view was perfect though looking out over the Pacific Ocean. We also saw the statute to the Lovers. Two lovers kissing. Apparently on Feb 14 there is a kissing contest to see who can kiss the longest. It has to be a Peruvian kiss, a French kiss is not acceptable!!
The people in Lima are generally very friendly and helpful and get a big kick out of you trying to speak their language. But it is still a little racy, although we believe 10 years ago, it was a lot worse, and the door of our hotel for example, has iron grills in front of it which are closed all the time and the security guard has to let you in and out. This doesn´t give you a very good feeling. We were also warned not to walk on the streets at night in the Centro area. This really makes us feel very limited in what we can do after dark as Ray and I both like to walk a lot. Anyway, its really only another big city. I do hope the economy continues to pick up and that way the City will be able to develop into a safer environment.
While in Lima, we learned that Penny, one of the truck group who left us in Santiago had been travelling by overnight bus and someone had crawled under the seat in front of her, slashed her day pack and taken out her passport, travellers´cheques, money, and some other items. It seems that all of those who left us and continued their journeys on their own have had major items stolen. This confirms to us that one of the major advantages of travelling overland on a truck is the security and safety issue and we just don´t have to worrry about those sorts of things happening during our travel time. Means we can sit on the Truck and sleep in peace as we journey!
Early tomorrow morning we are off on the next stage of our journey. We have 9 nights of camping, five in Peru and then we enter in Ecuador. We also have 3 nights at Punta Sal, a beach resort on the Pacific which we are all looking forward to. So stay tuned, but bare with us if we do not get pictures or more text updated for a while. Not every camp site has an internet, and we do have a couple of rough camps thrown in for good measure.
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