Peru - Central Lima - Part 2

(Continuing from Part 1 of my post on Central Lima)  After visiting the Plaza Mayor, I wandered over towards the park area near the river.  On the way, I stopped to gaze at the Basilica de San Francisco.  I had hoped to visit the catacombs there, where there is an odd display of human bones arranged neatly in circles.  Alas, the tour would have taken more time than I had, so I had to forgo the experience. I did get a few nice pictures of the church, though.

 Pigeons

Interesting indoor detail

The Parque de la Muralla (Park of the Wall) is just a block away from the church.  It's built along the old Spanish wall that was built to protect the city. In addition to the remains of the wall, there are ruins from 16th Century buildings.  It's one of those odd places where the past meets the present in a jarring manner. 

My favorite thing about the park is the view of Rimac, the area of town named for the river that runs along Central Lima.

 Avian Photo Bomb!

Next came lunch.  I ate in a tiny cafe right next to the park, where I had a nice conversation with the server.  He wanted to practice his English, while I was trying out my meager Spanish.  Like many people I met in Peru, he was surprisingly interested in my American-ness.  

I think that meal may have been my favorite one in Peru. It was fairly simple - just arroz con pollo with a Coca-cola - but it was delicious.  I tend not to take pictures of food, but in hindsight I regret not photographing that meal.  I did, however, photograph the cafe - and the Coke!  I was ridiculously grateful for every single sugar-not-corn-syrup Coke I could get my hands on in Peru.

After lunch, it was time for more walking.  I saw some interesting people and sights on that portion of my walk.  

 

 Men's underwear store

As I neared the end of my walk, I came upon an exceptional building which turned out to be a palace known as Torre Tagle. The palace contains two gorgeous courtyards with finely carved details. I took too many pictures, but here are some of my favorites:

Torre Tagle Exterior 

Front courtyard 

Awesome detail 

Rear Courtyard 

Couldn't resist a selfie 

Another awesome detail

The last few blocks of my walk in Central Lima consisted of passing more costumed Peruvians, this time apparently after the parade I had seen beginning earlier.

A couple of hours later I was on my flight to Cuzco. I'll end this entry with a picture I took while flying over the Andes mountains.  So much more adventure to come!

Peru - Central Lima - Part One

For my first 18 hours in Peru, I stayed in and explored Central Lima, the area in which the city was first founded by Conquistador Francisco Pizzarro.*

I arrived in Lima fairly late in the evening and allowed myself to be whisked away from the airport in a taxi van.  In hindsight, I paid entirely too much for that taxi trip.  I failed to discover ahead of time that in Peru one normally bargains a price for the taxi ride before entering the cab.  I'm grateful for the safe passage to the hotel, though.  I don't know what I would have done driving on my own when confronted by crowded intersections in which no one bothers not to "block the box," as they say in the U.S.  Anyway, moral of the story: read your Lonely Planet guide very carefully.

My hotel was not an upscale one in the overall scheme of things - frankly, it was rather dusty - but I chose it because of its history and its location near the city's old squares.  Hotel Maury bills itself as the originator of the Pisco Sour, the official cocktail of Peru.  So I wasn't surprised to find it had an unusually beautiful bar with a lovely stained glass window. (Don't forget to click on the pictures for larger views.)

I ventured into Lima with a plan to visit the exteriors of some of the most iconic buildings.  First, there was San Martin Plaza.  I was amused that the famous old Hotel Bolivar contains a KFC (sign in a bronze-colored metal, of course).

I sat in the Plaza, watched locals and tourists interact, and took in the sights.

That's San Martin up there on the pedestal.

I then sauntered up the Jiron de la Union, a pedestrian street full of shops that were just beginning to open for the day.

There I saw ornate buildings containing mundane shops, small crowds, and preparations for a parade in front of the old Iglesia de la Merced, which dates from the late 16th century.

My next stop was the Plaza Mayor or Plaza de Armas.  This is probably the best-known square in Lima, containing the Governor's (now the President's) Palace as well as the Cathedral of Lima and the Archbishop's Palace.

 Governor's Palace

Cathedral of Lima

Archbishop's Palace - check out those balconies!

I was fascinated with the guards at the Governor's Palace.  

 The door is wide open - I guess you can go meet President Humala if you can get past these guys.

Guard dog

More on my day in Central Lima in the next post...

*Let me just say for the record right here that there's absolutely no doubt Pizzarro was a greedy, ruthless, and cruel man.  For example, he held the Inca ruler Atahualpa hostage for months, gathering literally rooms full of gold and silver for the ransom, most of which was taken from sacred Inca temples in Cuzco and other cities.  He then killed the Inca emperor anyway, forcing him to convert to Christianity before doing so by threatening to burn him at the stake.  (As a reward for converting, Atahaulpa was garotted instead.)  In case you are wondering, yes, the Incas were warriors too, and they were capable of cruelty in their own right.  Nevertheless, it's difficult to ignore the fact that the Spaniards destroyed a great culture in order to loot its treasures, and worse, they used the Catholic religion as their excuse.  For a detailed account of the struggles of the Incas to survive the Spanish invasion, I recommend The Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie.

Peru - Introduction - Contrasts

During my too-short week in Peru, there was one overarching theme:  the constant presence of contrasts, whether historical, religious, or cultural in nature.  The contradictions are impossible to ignore.

First, in Lima:  Modern structures and ancient ones sit side-by-side. (Note that throughout my blog, you can click on the pictures for a larger view.)

The La Muralla Restaurant sits in La Muralla Park, a public space in Lima built on the site of the old Spanish city walls.  The restaurant features a terraced garden, modern in style but ancient in principle.  In the photo you can see remains of the wall on the left and remains of an old city structure on the right.

In Central Lima, it's not unusual  to see graffiti and utilitarian doors on older, ornate structures.  This example is on the Jiron de la Union, a pedestrian walk containing shops, banks, and movie theaters.

Historical and culture contrasts aren't just in the architecture; they can also been seen in the way people present themselves.

Here a group of women, apparently from Huancane (near Lake Titicaca), prepare for a Sunday morning parade featuring their provincial iteration of the Virgin Mary, while a woman in modern dress walks by, nonchalant.

I'm still not sure what to make of this parade costume.

The contrasts are historical and religious in nature in Cuzco, where the Conquistadors built Roman Catholic churches on the sacred sites of the Incas after defeating them.  There are 14 Catholic churches in Cuzco, according to my tour guide, and all of them are built on the foundations of Inca temples, which were looted and destroyed. The symbolism is unmistakable: the "triumph" of the Church over the indigenous religion.  The most haunting example of this is Qorikancha, aka the Church of Santo Domingo.

Here a stone church is built on the base of the older Inca temple wall, while a more recent wooden structure is attached. It's both bizarre and beautiful. I'll have more pictures of Qorikancha in a subsequent post.

Qorikancha is located in the tourist district of Cuzco, right next to this modern tapas restaurant on a narrow road constantly populated with taxis and other automobiles.

High above Cuzco sits Saksaywaman, the remains of a fortress that predated the Incas.  The Spanish and Inca generals fought a bitter battle for this high place in the early 16th Century.  Now, on a nearby hill, the Cristo Blanco (modeled after the similar statue in Rio) stretches his arms over the city.

The constant contradictions were sometimes disturbing, sometimes jarring, and always fascinating to me. When I consider it, we certainly have similar contrasting images here in the United States; one of the most familiar to me is the sight of the St. Louis Gateway Arch towering above the Old Courthouse in St. Louis.  I'm not sure if the contradictions are more jarring to me in Peru because they are foreign to me or because they are truly more extreme. Either way, I found myself noticing them everywhere in the small piece of Peru I had a chance to visit.

Welcome

E. M. Forster, my favorite author of fiction, was famous in his time as a writer of travelogues.  In an attempt to emulate his awesomeness, I've decided to start a blog about my own travels.  I expect this to be rather haphazard, given that I only get to travel occasionally.  I'll start with my trip to Peru.

Basilica de San Francisco, Lima, Peru