Lima

We have company!

Country number 5 on our big adventure

Welcome to Lima, Peru; and Welcome to the Adventure Pete!

We have arrived in Lima, the capital of Peru, after our time in the rain forest (and spending 9 hours in an airport waiting for our flight). We are being joined on this section of the trip by our friend Pete from the UK. It will be nice to have someone other than each other to talk to. Though I am not sure if Pete knows what he has gotten himself in for.

26/10/2018: Day 1

We did absolutely nothing interesting today. After being on the go for a month, and spending two days getting completely soaked in the Amazon, today was life admin and laundry day. Pete arrives from the UK tonight so we thought it would be a good idea to get all the boring stuff out of the way before we had company.

27/10/2018: Day 2

Pete has arrived! He got in last night, and unsurprisingly we talked his ear off for a couple of hours before letting him go to bed to sleep off the Jetlag.

Today we are starting off on a free walking tour of the Historic Centre of Lima, which is the district we are staying in. We are actually staying in a beautiful AirBnB in an historic building right on Plaza San Martin. We woke up with no power this morning as unfortunately one of the buildings across the square had burnt down in the night so power to the whole area had been cut.

Today’s free tour was with Strawberry Tours. We started at Plaza San Martin before walking down Jiron de la Union, past the Church of the Mercy, to the Main Square of Lima (Plaza de Armas). Here we got to watch the changing of the guard which happens every morning at 11am. There is a lot more music involved in this changing of the guard than the one at Buckingham Palace, so well worth checking out.

The best story of the day is we learnt that every year they fill the fountain in Plaza de Armas with Pisco. It used to be that people could go and fill a bucket but after too many hospitalisations for alcohol poisoning there is now a person that gives out one small glass per person.

We then walked past the Monument to Taulichuso to the the House of Peruvian Literature, and the old Desamparados train station, which is one of the best examples of architecture in South America. We finished the tour by walking down Jiron Ancash where we saw some amazing buildings. For 289 years, from 1535 up until 1821, Lima was the capital of the Spanish empire in America, and thanks to this you can find some of the best examples of Baroque architecture on the planet in Lima’s Old Town, such as the incomparable Cathedral, or the palaces where the noblemen used to live such as Torre Tagle’s Palace.

As we were already in the right part of town we finished up the day with a trip to the Basílica y Convento de San Francisco de Lima, the famous monestary of Lima. Here you can do a tour of the Monestary and see where the Franciscans used to live and worship. You can even go down into the Catacombs (or more correctly Crypts) and see the bones of the thousands burried under the church.

28/10/2018: Day 3

After a sleep in, Louise and I are run down from travelling and Pete is still Jetlagged, we made our way to Convento de Santo Domingo. Convento de Santo Domingo is a beautiful church, and you can also climb the Bell Tower to get great views over Lima. Though I am still not a big fan of heights so did not overly enjoy the climb up the rather dodgey looking wooden staircase to the top.

Our second stop of the day was Huaca Pucllana, an Liman Ruin in Miraflores. Huaca Pucllana was amazing. Initially built by the Lima people. It served as an important ceremonial and administrative center for the advancement of the Lima Culture, a society which developed in the Peruvian Central Coast between the years of 200 AD and 700 AD. It was then used by the Wari and the Ichma people for religious and cultural purposes in the civiliaztions that followed. There is currently no evidence that the Ina People (the most recent of the ancient cultures of Peru) used the site but more of the site is being uncovered every year.

The history of Huaca Pucllana was amazing and the knowledge of the guides was extremely impressive. I highly recommend a visit if you are ever in Lima! We also got to meet the Hairless Dogs, a native animal of Peru that is now the mascot of Archaeology sites in Peru.

29/10/2018: Day 4

Today we are going swimming with Sea Lions!

We are heading to the port of Callao, a district just outside of Lima, to catch a boat to the Palomino Islands. We are also going around San Lorenzo, El Fronton and Cavinzas Island. It was a great day out. The boat ride was fun, and it was amazing to just be on the water and away from the city. We learnt a lot about the Islands and what they have been used for over the years. We learnt about the Shining Path in Peru and how members were imprisoned on San Lorenzo. We even got to learn about the history of Guano, or bird poop, that made Peru rich by being sold as fertiliser and lead to the Pacific war with Chile.

But the best part of the day was swimming with the Sea Lions. It was quite intimidating as we approached the island. There were literally thousands of the Sea Lions. The water was teeming with them and they were coming right up to the boat. We donned our wetsuits and hopped in the water. The guide took it in turns dragging us right up to the Sea Lions. They were so curious of us that they would bop our feet and hands with their noses. I think swimming with, and patting, a Sea Lion will be something I remember for a very long time!

Such an awesome day!

30/10/2018: Day 5

It is our last day in Lima. Tomorrow we have an early start to travel to Cusco to start acclimitizing to the altitude before starting the Inca Trail!

We are off to the Larco Museum today. If you ever find yourself in Lima and have time for just one museum, this is the museum you should go to.

Housed in a beautiful Spanish Inprired building with lovely gardens, the museum holds the largest collections of artifacts from all Peruvian ancient cultures spanning thousands of years. We thoroughly enjoyed the museum and all other museums we had visited on this trip paled in comparison.

In addition, the cafe on the grounds is beautiful, the food good and not too expensive.

We finished up our time in Lima down at the coast of Baranco and the Bridge of Sighs. I have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Lima. Anyone who tries to tell you that you can skip Lima because there is nothing to do has either never been here or is a very boring person who never left their accomadation.