Lima Centro
Trip Start
Jul 16, 2008
1
19
84
Trip End
Ongoing
Lima,
Peru
Sunday, September 21, 2008
We met Merena, a friend from school in Cusco, for dinner. She is staying in Lima for several months, interning at a hospital. We took a LONG taxi ride to Pueblo Libre, a not so nice area of Lima but there was a nice plaza with some cute restaurants. Luckily, by the time we finished dinner, traffic had died down so it didn´t take too long to get home. We were too exhausted from our week of traveling to go out so it was a pretty early night.
We spent the next day touring Lima Centro. The architecture here is very colonial. There are some buildings painted in bright yellows and blues. Very different style from Cusco, more similar to Arequipa but much larger. We first went to a monastary with a catacombs museum, The Iglesia San Francisco. The catacombs were very dark and confining, with cases full of bones that had all been separated according to body part! Slightly weird!
We headed to the main plaza where we happened to catch the changing of the guards in front of the Palacia de Gobernio. It wasn´t all that professional of a guard changing, not like in London or anything. There were gaurds beyond the fence and also national police officers in front. A few of the police officers were talking on their cell phone throughout the ceremony and there was some guy in a suit telling the gaurds behind the gate, in front of the palace, to move into the correct positions as they weren´t quite in a straight line. But, it was fun to watch. There were also horses that walked around the palace and then were met by some other horses, after which a marching band walked in front of the palace and then out came the new guards. We didn´t stay for the end because we figured we had gotten for the point!
We walked along the Jirón de la Unión, a pedestrian shopping street. We had a few delicious snacks...churros, my favorite! They were selling them everywhere! We headed to some park that was difficult to find because of a huge construction site in the middle. We had to cross some ridiculously large streets with no stoplights and no sidewalk. But, it was a very pretty park once we found it. There is a large art museum but we didn´t have enough time to visit so we just walked around. We headed back and went to another park, where the Rio Rimac is as well as some walls from the 17th century that originally surrounded the city.
Jan wanted a few more souvenirs (apparently he had room left in his suitcase!) so we walked around a few more artesenal shops. They all have the same stuff as the shops in Cusco, maybe a little more expensive. Jan had to catch his plane back to Germany so I was left on my own (like the first time I have been alone on this trip that I took by myself!!) I did some more wandering around the old city and then decided to move to Miraflores, another part of Lima, which is a more popular place to stay and is also closer to Cristina´s apartment, where I stayed before when I was in Lima, meaning it will be closer to Margie when she arrives!
The hostel seems nice so far. I met a woman who just came from Thailand where she spent 5 months, after 5 months in India and a month in Nepal. She is traveling for 2 years. We traded advice on the respective continents we had been visiting (although my knowledge as of yet is confined to Peru...hopefully that will expand soon!) There is a kitchen here, so I can actually cook something, as well as a nice living room (with internet!) and lots of travelers hanging out. The neighborhood is very nice. Very different from Cusco. Nice apartment buildings. Its a pretty wealthy area I think. I´m a short walk from the ocean. Unfortunately, I see now why everyone says the weather in Lima is crap. I guess I was really lucky when I was here the first time and had 3 days of sunshine. The smog and clouds are so thick I can´t imagine the sun ever being able to break through!
