Big grey city
Trip Start
Sep 28, 2007
1
82
91
Trip End
Jun 25, 2008
Lima,
Peru
Sunday, June 1, 2008
It was the sheer size of the city that made the biggest impression on me. Huge avenues stretched for 50 blocks in both directions with equally long streets crossing them, all teeming with buses and taxis. I don't know if Lima is bigger than the other big cities we have visited in Latin America -Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Santiago- I suspect not, but two things make it seem much bigger to a tourist: there is no underground so you must chug along by bus and the sights are very spread apart with major museums in far flung neighbourhoods so you have to travel far outside the centre
Lima´s main plaza
. People clearly focus on the neighbourhoods as they refer only to the very centre as Lima. The second thing that intrigued me about 'greater' Lima is why you would build a city in a place that is blanketed in sea fog for seven months of the year. Imagine no direct sunlight for that long. It was oppressively grey for the full three days we were there apart from five minutes after we came out from seeing the catacombs (burial sites)under the San Franisco cathedral. 'Look, shadows' Mark said and there we were as fuzzy black shapes on the concrete in front of us. Looking up we could see the tinniest spot of blue sky but in five minutes it was gone.
The church and catacombs were interesting with amazing wood ceilings and a dome with the carved wood pieces held together by pressure alone. It was a Spanish tradition to bury people under the churches so that they were closer to God and 25,000 were buried there before they changed to a burial site outside the city. Archaeologists sorted the bones into types for counting, and so the cribs where they used to stack bodies covered in lime to reduce the stink, are full of femurs or hip bones five metres deep. It is quite creepy. The monastery, like in Cusco, had a last supper painting featuring cuy (guinea pig).
Crown of llama
After wandering around the Plaza de Armas we went to the San Martin plaza which we had read had a statue of a woman with a llama on her head.The Spanish had asked for a crown of flames but the word for llama is the same as flame, so a four-legged llama crown she got, and so much the better for it I say.
We then went to the 'official' black market (it is said to be sanctioned by the government - whatever that means) called Polvos Azules or blue powders (not sure why it is called that). It was buzzing, with rows and rows of electronics, pirated DVDS, sunglasses, clothes and shoes, and that was just the first level.
We spent most of the rest of our time in Lima wandering around Miraflores, checking out the mall that overlooks the sea (a foggy scene of course) wondering how rich the locals were.
We also went to the national museum that was closed for renovations apart from a temporary display of representations of art from every one of Peru's various cultures. Most amazing was the silver blanket of the Mochinas, literally 3,500 beaten silver squares sewn onto cotton backing. Also the amazingly colorful Paracus weaving. Apparently they weave in the most strands per inch of any culture.
They also had an exhibition on the potato, Peru's greatest export, but it was of the quality of your typical Peruvian fry, soggy and unappealing. Peru may be the birthplace of potatoes but they don't know how to cook them.
