Round The World Honeymoon: Day 11

Friday 12^th November 2010

Ok, so Lima isn’t as bad as it first looked, they say that cities look worse in the dark and they (whoever they are) are right.

Lima is actually a really beautiful city. We had toast and marmalade for brekkie with coffee and juice (starting to become standard for South America). We headed out for a mooch around and found that there is actually quite a bit to see without fear of death, rape or muggings etc!

We started at the Plaza Mayor and its here that the famous Francisco Pizzaro founded Lima. We meandered over to the Government Palace as the guide book informed us that the changing of the guard took place at 11:45. it turns out that today there happened to be loads of ministers from different countries arriving, we saw blokes from Italy and South Africa arrive but many more turned up. We’re not sure what they were doing but the army and police filled the square with their artillary (if you zoom on the second picture you can see another favela in the background).

On the eastern side of the Plaza Mayor stands the cathedral with its imposing twin towers. So we went inside for a bit of a butchers. The afore mentioned “Pizzaro’s” remains are on display inside, although a headless body, thought to be his were on display until tests in 1990 confirmed that the remains did not belong to him!

The cathedral itself was beautiful, and contained a crypt where all the important people of Lima e.g. Every Arch Bishop since the 1600’s has been buried.

We left for lunch and had an Empinada (like a meat pasty thing… 25p) and a beer. Lunch on tour rocks!

After this we had a little stroll over to San Francisco which comprises of a church and a chapel.

It also houses the catacombs that the Peruvians used as mass grave up until 1872. The bones packed crypt, is the site of an estimated 70,000 burials. It features rows and rows of bones, along with a circle of skulls and femurs deep in a well. The bodies were laid on top of each other, dusted with lime (this accelerates decomposition) and once decayed the bodies were sorted and stored……GRIM!! The smell in there today was unpleasant, imagine that 500 years ago!!

(we were not allowed to take pictures so these are off a postcard)

We were shown the library which is home to a huge amount of books, some dated back to the 15^th century! It included many first editions.

(again a postcard)

We were not allowed to touch L

That concluded the education part of the day so we went to seek out

Peru

’s national drink the “Pisco Sour”. The Pisco Sour is:

3 parts Pisco (grape brandy)

Mixed with lime juice

Sugar syrup

Egg white

And some Angostura Bitters.

After a jug of that we decide to walk it off (stumble) and headed to the Plaza St Martin. In the centre is a statue which incorporates Madre Patria the symbolic mother of the country.

She should have been adorned with a crown of flames, know as Llama in Spanish. Instead she had a little Peruvian Llama – the animal- sitting on her head. The double meaning of the word was lost on the poor bloke who crafted it in Spain.