17th April- Lima & Pisco sours!

17th April- Lima & Pisco sours!

It was late when we arrived at the hotel. We had been met at the airport by our Llama Travel representative, Rafaella. It was a 40 minute drive from the airport to our hotel, across 5 provinces to the smart, tourist district of Miraflores. 

We checked in & were given an automatic room upgrade to a suite. The room wasn't particularly fancy, but was huge and had plenty of little extras we could have used before. Particularly the extending washing line over the bath! Good mirrors, & fancy toiletries. There's even an iron & ironing board- not that I bothered with that. I am on holiday. Love me, love my creases!

We had a lovely lie in, followed by a very long shower, at the end of which, I felt like a new woman. Breakfast was good, with lots of choice and there was big mugs for the coffee. Perfect. 

We had a city tour booked for 2pm, so headed out to explore the area near the hotel. The weather was hot, sticky & overcast. 

We wandered around John F Kennedy Park, just a few blocks from the hotel. Feeling a bit bemused by the line of armed, riot police at each park entrance! Peru is in political turmoil, and our holiday had originally been canceled due to civil unrest - that's how we are here on our own & not part of a group. It felt bizarre rather than scary, but we figured we should have a quick look around & then move on- the park in the affluent area of town would be the perfect place for a demo to take place. We took sanctuary in a nearby church, with a stunning vaulted ceiling, before heading down towards the Pacific Ocean. The street art was brightly coloured and great to see. I don't like graffiti, but I love real art. 

The sea front is home to the main highway, and set back are shops, restaurants and malls. The ocean used to be here,but the city claimed it to help deal with the huge amount of traffic. They have built in flood defences & pedestrian bridges high above the water line in case of tsunami or the ocean claiming it's land back. In truth, the area left me cold. The high-rise buildings and big chain shops made it feel like I could be anywhere in the world. The cities all become the same when corporatised. Not my idea of travel. If I wanted a Starbucks, KFC & to buy a North face jacket, I'd stay at home.

We saw a sign for Pisco cocktails, and although it was only 11:30am, figured we had to try the national drink. Graeme got chatting to the waitress, a very pretty girl, with dark eyes & long dark hair. "Your English is excellent" he said. "But you sound like you have an Australian accent, have you been to Australia"?. Erm, yes, she answered….."I'm Australian "! I was creased. The lass is working here as part of her travels, but she is from Melbourne.

It was happy hour ( it appears that wherever we go in South America it's happy hour, & I am not complaining). The currency is Peruvian Soles- at 4.6 soles to the pound. 2 cocktails are 30 soles ( pronounced sol- eyz), so not bad value either - for the posh end of town. 

After a bit of people watching & 3 rounds of drinks later….we staggered off towards our hotel to freshen up for our planned city tour.

We were collected by our guide Ricardo & driver Jorge. I was so glad we did this trip, as it changed my opinion of the city completely. A few facts for you- Lima has 11 million inhabitants and a further 2/3 million just outside.. A 3rd of the entire country. Lima is the only capital city in South America next to the sea (the others you may think of, are actually on rivers) It is also the 2nd largest city in the world built on a desert; the Atacama desert.

Our first stop was the Museo de Sitio Pucllana. This is an ancient site built c1500 years ago by the ancient Lima people. A kind of solid, flat topped pyramid, made up of hand-made, vertically placed clay/mud bricks.These people worshipped primarily the sea. Their temples painted red or yellow- red to represent the power of the sun and yellow the power of the moon. The colours of Peru's flag today.  In turn these people were conquered by the Wari who used the site as a cemetery and placed their mummified corpses - accompanied by unrelated sacrificed babies - in the walls & floor. In turn the Ychsma people took over, followed by the Incas and then the Spaniards when the site was lost, literally, in the sands of time until the 1980s when the local authorities decided to stop kids playing on the mound and start excavating and conserving. This work is still going on now. 

Moving on, we visited the very exclusive district of San Isidro, where lo and behold, English businessmen settled and took advantage of the opportunities Peru offered during and after the abolition of the slave trade. The English influence can still be seen in the Anglican Cathedral and mock Tudor homes!

Graeme talked to Ricardo about football on the 20km trip to downtown Lima - Teófilo Cubillas and Nobby Solano. Solano played for Sporting Cristal in the city but Ricardo is a Universidad fan and their deadly local rivals are Allianza - those matches can attract up to 80000 crowds and have a history of violence. I often spent time with Solano when he played for Newcastle, as his cousin & uncle lived next door to me. I could tell a few tales about the parties at the house, but I'll leave that to your imagination 😆

Arriving at the outskirts of the old colonial part of town, where the city walls once stood, we passed French baroque-style buildings which were built and shipped to Peru for the 1871 great exhibition by the Eiffel company, years  before their Tower went up in Paris.

Our first port of call in the old town was the church of San Francisco. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed but the cloisters were stunning - lined with beautiful Spanish ceramic tiles from the 16th Century. We then went down into the catacombs where 20000 human bodies - mostly now just skulls and femurs, are laid out in a macabre display. The smell was musty and the air humid and close but I had no bad 'Doris Stokes' feelings down there- unlike upstairs, where the vestry gave me the chills!

Then onto the main square where, like Quito, all the main administrative office buildings are situated - the Presidential Palace, the Mayor's office, the central post office and the Cathedral - so handy if you want to stage a coup ;-) Discussing past Presidents from Alberto Fujimori to the recently deposed one, it seems they all eventually end up in jail for corruption. Maybe they should just build a tunnel from the Palace to the jail? Not a bad idea for our present lot in Westminster either, eh?! 

Graeme got a bit excited about seeing Francisco Pizarro's tomb in the Cathedral. He was murdered by the son of his old Spanish business partner and subsequent rival, Almagro, and his body was lost for centuries unti an earthquake in the 1970s revealed a box under the cathedral floor which contained a head with an inscription claiming it was Pizarro. Other bones were found which confirmed his terribly violent end and modern DNA tests have since proved it is him. He now has a rather grand tomb in a corner of the Cathedral ( built in the 1980s) - but I doubt he went to heaven given the acts he and his brothers got up to in the quest for gold and the holocaust he presided over.

The Cathedral was huge, beautiful and architecturally impressive and we learned a few interesting facts for Graeme's sponge like brain and his craving for quiz trivia.

San Rosa (Isobel) was the first saint in the whole of the Americas. Most impressive, given she was a woman. San Martin, was also the first black saint. And both individuals were Peruvian. The first University in the entire Americas was founded here too - some argue that the first was elsewhere - but Lima had the 1st documentation to prove it, both from the King of Spain and then shortly afterwards, the Pope of the time. The University was named San Marcos, after the names of the Apostles were put into a hat & St Mark won.

South America appears to have a long standing affinity with the idea of equality, as shown in a lot of the architecture & art works. Even the ornate figures in the fountain in the main square represent the cultural mix of indigenous people & the subsequent following nations that invaded and the cultural melting pot that followed. How that 'equality' has been reflected in reality is up for debate. It certainly does not apply to the class system & poverty. 1.5 million (15%) of those living in Lima, are in the brightly coloured houses on the hillsides. At first glance, these look lovely, on closer inspection the people are living on top of each other & most don't have running water, an education or prospects of work. Those who scrape a living selling items to drivers on the busy roads, or washing windscreens have just been prevented from this meagre income, after a driver was shot for refusing to pay for his impromptu screen wash. The government has now made the practice illegal. Much easier than having to tackle the real issues at play here. 

After a slow wander through the streets of the old town, with it's stunning architecture, bright colours and an abundance of churches, Ricardo told us that this historic area is where the poor people live! (I don't suppose this can be true of many other world capitals?).  Not those in absolute poverty however, as they are on the hillsides, but poor working class families. It is beautiful. You can keep your high rise apartments- I'd have a 2 room place here anyday.

We then headed back to the coast and a visit to the park of lovers. Decorated in mosaic tiles similar in style to Barcelona's Gaudi park. There's a huge statue of the artist, entwined with his lover, who was 43 years his juniour at the time. Apparently some 40+ years later, they are still together, so their love can't have been solely about him being a wealthy artist…

The sunset was stunning.

Back at the hotel we showered & changed and headed to a restaurant, La Punta Azul, recommended to us. The food was good & in big portions. A free side dish, Racoto salsa, (a very spicy chilli sauce) was the star of the show. More cocktails followed & a very cool, but expensive hidden gem of a cocktail bar. Another late night, and we have an early start again tomorrow for flight number 8 of the trip!

Night night,

Caroline.