Day 3: Friday, July 24

After breakfast at the hotel, we were off for a Lima city tour with a local guide named Adada. She told us a little about Lima, where 9 million of Peru's 27 million inhabitants reside in 43 districts. As we travelled through different districts, it was easy to see that there is great variation in socio-economic status. This picture shows a lovely old house in Lima.




Our first stop was the National Museum of Anthropology and Archeology at Bolivar Square. It is housed in the 19th century Quinta de los Libertadores mansion, which once was the home of a couple of South American independence heroes, Jose San Martin and Simon Bolivar.





The museum covers Peruvian civilization from prehistoric times to the colonial and republican periods. It has a large collection of ceramics, carved stone figures, metalwork and jewelry and textiles from the Incas, as well as other ancient cultures that predated the Inca period.








We then made our way to the old colonial part of the city, to the main square which is the original center of the city and the site where Francisco Pizarro founded the city in 1535. Much of the original architecture has been reconstructed after disastrous earthquakes; the oldest surviving element in the square is the central bronze fountain, which dates from 1651. The building on the west side of the square, behind the fountain, is the Lima City Hall.



On the north side of the square is the Presidential Palace, where we watched the noontime changing of the guard. Lots of martial music and high stepping soldiers.





On the east side of the square is the Lima Cathedral, which was first built in 1555. The present building is an 18th-century reconstruction of the early version. Its twin yellow towers set off an elaborate stone facade.






Inside there are several ornate altars and carved wooden choir stalls, but the most striking feature is the chapel dedicated to Francisco Pizarro. His remains are entombed here and his life depicted in colorful mosaics.

Just next door to the cathedral is the Archbishop's Palace, which is distinguished by an elaborate wooden balcony.










After leaving the Cathedral, we stopped briefly at the Church of San Augustin (Saint Augustine), which was severely damaged in an 1895 revolution. Restoration is ongoing and the churchyard is a popular spot for people-watching and feeding the pigeons.













Also near the church, there are many vendors, mostly selling handicrafts from the area.











Our tour ended at the Parque de Muralla, which is located at the only remaining portion of the wall that encircled the city of Lima until 1868. Here also is the Restaurant La Muralla, where we had a delicious lunch - first an appetizer of boiled potatoes covered with a cream sauce of cheese, chilis and spices, then fish stew accompanied by roasted potato and rice, and finally lucuma and strawberry ice cream.


After lunch we went to Huaca Pucllana, a sacred pyramid that is an active archeological site right in the middle of the city. The name "pucllana" is the Quechua word for a great ceremonial center built in the fifth century AD, pre-dating the Inca Empire by a thousand years.





The earliest residents gathered, traded, made community decisions, worshipped and sacrificed women and children for some 300 years. Other indigenous peoples, the Wari and later the Incas, moved in later.





Small adobe bricks were made by hand and placed in vertical rows resembling shelves of books. Huge walls and platforms were built using trapezoidal panels up to ten yards wide. They form enclosures, plazas, ramps, stairs, and entrances. Look closely at the first picture - you can see handprints left by the brickmakers.











There are many rooms that were used for storage and public meetings, but the most impressive part of the structure is a large pyramid surrounded by plazas, where religious rites and ceremonies were held.








Even though much of the original site has been overtaken by the encroaching city, Huaca Pucllana once stretched for eight square miles. Even so, our guide told us that it would take another 30-40 years to complete the excavation of the remaining structures.



After a little free time to rest and recharge, we headed off for a special dinner at La Dama Juana Restaurant. The restaurant is located in the Larco Mar Mall, high on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We were treated to a grand buffet of all sorts of typical Peruvian food - with heavy emphasis on meats and starches. The real reason for coming was the after-dinner show: an exhibition of folk dances from various regions of Peru.