Thursday May 21, 2015
Just when I began to think the sun never shines in Lima, it peeked out today. The locals say they live under “the donkey’s belly.” Which is what the local people call their usually overcast grey sky.
This was the first day of our Tauck Tour and we were directed to gather in the gorgeous modern dining room on the first floor of the Belmond Miraflores Park Hotel to meet our guide Marcos Soto and the other participants. After an excellent breakfast, Marcos spoke about the tour saying it would be “an adventure, not a vacation.” He advised us about altitude sickness and described the highlights of our activities during the next two weeks. It sounded strenuous, tiring, and very exciting.
Our group of twenty five adventurers boarded a large comfortable bus and left the hotel at nine am to have a guided tour of the capital city. The coach crawled through heavy traffic and we finally arrived in downtown Lima an hour later. The bus parked on a narrow street and we walked a couple of blocks to Inglesa San Pedro. I would describe the interior as high Spanish Baroque, if there is such a style. The main altar and side chapels were covered in gold and silver.
Frequent small earthquakes & tremors shake this region almost daily. 2007 was last big one. The guide said there were forty-nine districts in Lima with 10.5 million people. Iron bars were on most windows & doors. “Chifa” is the Peruvian name for Chinese food which reflects the large number of Asian people living in Peru. Flat roofs rested on most buildings because annual rainfall is so minimal.
After exploring the church, we walked to the Cathedral of San Francisco. We had a guided tour of the large compound then went down to the catacombs where sixty thousand known dead are buried and some bones are on display.
It was a short walk to the Plaza des Armas surrounded by Colonial Spanish style architecture. A large brass band heralded the changing of the guard of the main government building.
We left at noon to drive to Costa Verde’s Cala Restaurant for a fabulous lunch at right on the shore of the ocean. I had ceviche & fried calamari, tuna with mango chutney & grilled veggies, lemon gelato with citrus fruits. Yuummm…
Another drive through traffic-clogged Lima to our destination, the Museo Rafael Larco Herrera, to see ancient Peruvian art. This was a private collection of 40,000 artifacts from 500 BC to 800 AD. We also saw an exhibit of Incan gold & silver and another display of ancient erotic artifacts.
The ancient Incans did not have a written language, however they did have a system of recording important information using knots on ropes perhaps similar to an abacus. This system was called Los Quipus and an example is pictured below.
Back to hotel at 5:30pm in heavy traffic. Time for a quick shower then down to the bus at 6:30 to go to Señor & Señora Luna’s house. Forty-five minutes later we arrived at the opulent house to see their incredible collection of 2000 Nativities. Sr. Luna was the Peruvian Minister of Culture with a passion to save Peruvian folk art. He began to collect Nativities when he was fourteen years old and now owns twenty thousand pieces primarily from Peru and other South American countries, as well as from Europe, Africa, and Asia.
After Señora Luna gave us a guided tour of the exhibit, we gathered in their beautiful garden for pisco sours and a sumptuous traditional Peruvian dinner. This visit was a fabulous way to end a very interesting day.
