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.