Lima, Peru

 

25 March 2014

Overnight, we traveled only about 130 miles north to the port district of Callao and Lima, the capital of Peru. This is the one port where the captain felt concerned enough to send out a letter to the passengers about the level of crime against tourists.  He very strongly encouraged us to travel in tour groups or, if we were going to explore on our own, to pair up with other passengers. And he warned us about areas to not go in, particularly the harbor area. We have a full-day tour scheduled today, so no worries.

The bus picked us up right where we got off the ship.  Good thing because we are moored right in the middle of the largest harbor areas we have been in yet.  Surrounded by vanning stations, thousands of containers and many cargo ships, passengers weren’t allowed to wander around and it was about a mile to the terminal exit. The area right outside the terminal exit was pretty rough looking, so we will not be looking for souvenirs there.

The bus first drove us to the downtown area of Lima, which is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the age and quality of the buildings. The bus dropped us off at the plaza fronting the Cathedral, which is Lima’s national cathedral. We walked through the plaza and got a brief tour of the huge cathedral, which rivals anything I saw in Europe. This is where Pizarro, the Spaniard that conquered the Incas and founded Peru, is buried.  I found it interesting that he actually survived at least three explorations and lived to a ripe old age of 77, only to be killed by some political rivals. Then we walked about three blocks to the Franciscan monastery which is another beautiful complex built in the 1500s. About 40 monks still call the monastery home, but they live in a part of the complex not open to the public. There are murals painted on the walls of the cloister we toured that are hundreds of years old and are in the process of being restored. The wooden ceiling in the halls surrounding the cloister is the only thing original to the building. It was in amazingly good condition, speaking to the dry climate of the area. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos of the interior of the monastery.

Then it was back on the bus to head to another part of this city of 5 million. The area we went to is where most of the embassies are located and where many of the rich, especially foreigners (including Americans) live. Home values are in the millions and virtually every one of them is surrounded by very high walls with electrified fencing. The guide explained that in the 90s there was a group of guerillas who wanted to overthrow the government and install a communist regime.  They attacked the homes of the rich, so these folks created their fortresses. The coup effort failed and the need for the fortifications is reduced, but even new homes continue to be built with the fencing as it has become something of a status symbol. We saw lots of personal guards, some with machine guns. Guess they don’t have a lot of confidence in the local police protection, or there aren’t enough of those types of resources available to protect personal property.

One of these homes used to be the residence of a Peruvian ambassador and he turned the land into a museum for his gold and military collection. He has passed away and his daughter has opened the museum to the public. It was pretty bizarre to see all these tour busses pulling up to a home on a residential street and disgorging their herds of passengers. The ground floor is the military collection.  Russ was impressed with the type of weaponry and the quantity.  We saw conquistador armor and Japanese samurai warrior armor. We also saw a collection of items that Fidel Castro gifted to the ambassador, including a camera, binoculars and several pistols.

The basement is the actual gold museum and the entrance was through a vault door.  It makes sense to put this into the basement, since it provides more protection for the collection.  The collection was amazing, consisting mainly of hundreds of pre-Colombian gold necklaces, funeral masks and items that a royal Peruvian would have insisted on having in his funeral crypt. We weren’t allowed to take photos of the collection, but I will tell you that it went way beyond what we saw in the gold museum in Cartagena, Columbia a couple of years ago when we took a cruise through the Panama Canal. I saw two cloths, which I would say are related to quilts, which were woven, embroidered and pieced together in blocks to create coverings for the funeral chamber. These clothes were estimated to be a few thousand years old and they were in amazingly good condition, due again I assume, to the extremely dry climate. Our guide gave us an excellent lecture – her degree is history and you could tell she had a particular love for this era.

We also saw more of the mummies that we first saw in Valparaiso. These people were among the early settlers of Peru and were several thousand years old. And then there were the shrunken heads. A few on display in the mummy room.  Not my favorite.

Then it was on to lunch. We got another 40 minute drive to the lunch place where we ate a buffet lunch with 300 of our best friends. Pisco sours all around and we were happy tourists. I have to say the lunches on these tours have been very good and have helped us sample the local food. I found Peruvian food to be a little of several ethnicities – we had egg potato salad, tamales, beans and rice, and some people sampled a marinated fish that I thought looked a lot like lutefish.

In the afternoon, we got a tour of Miraflores, a part of Lima that is very affluent and a resort area since it is on the desirable coastal shore. The area was beautiful and the buildings were modern and striking, kind of what I was expecting to see in Rio and never saw. There was also a few very nice 2 story colonial style homes which the guide said used to be the main architecture of Miraflores until the 1990s. But since the area has become very popular, developers have been buying up the land these houses sit on and building high rise condos, so there are fewer of these homes in the area. We stopped at a park built on the ocean bluffs to view a statue called the “Kiss”. It is a popular place to stop and get a picture taken kissing your sweetie. A few moments to take a snap and then it was on to shopping.

We stopped at the Indian Market which is a collection of stalls runs by artisans showcasing local handicrafts. I had a good time and bought a fair amount of souvenirs because they were of good quality and excellent prices.  Afterwards, I regretted that I didn’t buy a couple more things I had my eye on, but I am starting to get concerned about how the heck I am going to get all of these little chatkas off the ship. The prices on alpaca woven goods were especially good.

By now, it was late afternoon and we had to hustle back to the ship. We saw a fair representation of the city with a tour guide who loves her country and city, but who didn’t paint an over rosy picture. She didn’t talk as well about the political history of her country as our Argentinian tour guide, but still, I got a sense of the city and its future. Somewhat troubled, but on a positive track.

The ship was late leaving the port. I am not sure why the delay but there were several groups of people with what looked like musical instruments boarding, so I assume we had to wait for a late plane arrival in order to get our next set of entertainers on board. Turned out I was right. One of the entertainers, a juggler, did arrive, but his equipment did not. So he was not able to perform that night. Found out later that they got a call very close to our scheduled departure time that the equipment had been found in the airport and the entertainer and some cruise personnel had to drive back out to the airport to claim it.  There was then no time for him to rehearse before his performance so they had to reschedule for the next day.

We did get entertainment in a different fashion though. The pilot of a large modern tugboat, the kind that has a swivel thruster like the jet boats you see on rivers, was turning in circles next to the starboard side of the ship. I think everyone who had a balcony was out on it, and they were hooting and hollering at the pilot and encouraging him to show off. We thoroughly enjoyed the show.

We also were entertained later that night by a wonderful folkloric company.  I don’t go to some of the entertainment because I am just that much into the dance spectaculars or comedians, but I always try to attend the folkloric performances.  This particular performance was spectacular – beautifully embroidered costumes, highly skilled dancing and live music that were hauntingly beautiful. A great cap to our short exploration of Peru.

Then, finally, the ship pushed off and we headed out to the channel and our next adventure.

The Crown Princess moored in Callao, Peru.

This was across the channel from our ship. We were conjecturing that fishing season must be over.

Saw lots of these fruit/vegetable carts on the streets – this one has avocados.  Haven’t seen those for a while.

 

While we saw lots and lots of buildings that were barely standing, every church we saw was well maintained.

The streets were exceptionally clean – This is the reason why.



On the way to the Cathedral, we went through the Plaza de Armas. This is a center for demonstrations.  Today there was a demonstration of miners who are striking for better wages.



There was a lot of police presence at the demonstration. We didn’t see any confrontations though. We were warned by the guide that if we were going to walk through that area, to not take any pictures as that would encourage the strikers to act out and it might escalate the situation.

We saw lots of buildings that were in ruins. I think most of this was due to the earthquake that struck Peru 5 years ago. Much has been rebuilt, but there are areas that remain to be restored.

A young mother, peeling oranges which she was selling on a street corner.

We started our walk through the old downtown area on this street. The guide pointed out the balconies. There are several hundred of these types of balconies in the downtown area. They were made of wood by the Moors in the 1500s.   The Moors came over with the Spaniards and applied their carving skills to the building of the city.  None of the wood is native though, it was all brought over from Spain.

 

The Cathedral with its Moorish balconies.



A colonial building opposite the plaza from the Cathedral.

Some government buildings on the same plaza.

Inside the National Cathedral.



In a side room near the entrance to the Cathedral is the sarcophagus of Francisco Pizarro.



Apparently his bones were examined in recent years; I think to determine if it was really him in the sarcophagus. There were posters scattered around the room with photos of the bones and a description of the researchers findings.

The Franciscan monastery.

A water fountain in the plaza outside the monastery.



Some of the statuary on the façade of the Franciscan monastery.

 

We left the downtown area on the Panamerican highway to head to the more affluent part of the city.



Most of the city was on relatively level ground, but there was this ancient volcano on the way out of the old part of town to the more modern part.  The cross on the top was originally placed there by Pizarro. It has been replaced many times in the hundreds of years since.



Some of the desperately poor homes on the hillside.  They were brightly painted.  Apparently, several years ago, the Pope came to visit Lima. The government handed out paint to the residents in this area and asked them to paint their homes so that the Pope would see how colorful the people of Lima were.





This is a main street through the embassy area of the city.  Lots of traffic.  The tour guide said that the city has grown very rapidly in the past 40 years and the roads have not kept pace.  But I have to say the traffic was nothing like Rio.

At first I thought this was a prison or military fort, but the guide told us this was the United State Embassy.  Very inviting, isn’t it?



This is the public university. Very nice buildings and grounds. Like all the Latin American countries we have visited, university is free to those who want it. And a public university education is considered to be better that that which you receive in a private university.



This is in the heart of where the affluence foreigners live.  It felt a lot like Orange County. We saw every type of American fast food that you would see in California (except for In-n-Out).



Russ trying to figure what he was willing to eat – much of it was unrecognizable to him.



Miraflores has some very hilly areas near its coast edge. There were beautiful brides and landscaping everywhere.  In front, you can see a recreational part that has been built for the local residents since most of them live in condos and land is sparse.



A view of Miraflores.



This sculpture, The Kiss, is in a park known as the Love Park.



A view from Love Park.



Russ taking a picture of me (I decided to not leave the bus for this short stop.)



A view of the coastline in Miraflores.



The Indian Market where I found lots of nice souvenirs.



The folkloric troupe performing a folk dance commemorating the separating of the corn from its stalks. 



Two young men entertained us with increasingly energetic dancing all the while clicking silver scissors for rhythm. They did a lot of acrobatic movements and I don’t know why they didn’t just fall to the ground in exhaustion.

Another folk dance.