Peru Day 13: Lima self exploration

After yesterdays over-indulgment, Teresa and I went a little easier on ourselves today. I for one, felt like I was ready to birth a Peruvian baby by last night and knew there was tremendous risk to having two of those days, back to back!

We took Alex's sage advice and Uber'd over to Colonial Lima - the city center, really. This area is a hive of churches as well as a good place to check out the famous wooden balconies and the Presidential Palace changing of the guard.

At our first stop... a church of course... we met (were accosted by) a man named Luis. He was a fast talking guide who promised to show us all there was to see, including exclusive access to places that only guides can go. All in 2 hours and for only S/45 (About US $15). It seems like a good choice if we wanted to miss nothing, get a local perspective, additional info and keep to a schedule of sorts. We agreed to his tour, he dumped his jacket in the church (?!) and we were off!

Things of note:
Lima suffered a catastrophic earthqake in 1746. It measured 8.6-8.8 and was centered 90km NW of the city. It was the deadliest earthquake in Peru's history (until the 1970 one occurred). All 74 churches were damaged or destroyed and in fact the city of Lima was pretty much destroyed in just 3-4 minutes. A giant 80 foot high Tsunami followed. It killed thousands of people in the port cities nearby as they tried to flee. The wave followed them inland for 5km and overtook them!

The buildings we saw today, while old, are mostly post 1746. Some still feature the damage that was wreaked in 1970 though.

Interestingly, the Inca's constructed all manner of buildings and walls that withstood earthquakes, but the conquering Spanish, were not as prepared and they built Lima the capital city as they built in Spain.  :-(  It wasn't until the 17th and 18th Century did they build to mostly survive seizmic activity that is ongoing in Peru.

I digress.

Lius the guide. Fist-bumped, high fived, and hola'd his way across squares, though churches and around back streets.  Always asking for doors to be unlocked and secret passageways to be opened to us. He had no trouble asking policemen to pose with us or telling us we could actually touch or even pick up ancient relics! I felt like at times we were peering into private quarters and Luis may have been fast-talking his way out of trouble?! I'm still not convinced that we were actually allowed to touch the art that we did.

He was mostly likeable if not the consummate salesman, constantly telling us how his other tourists loved him! There was something fascinating and compelling about him, while simultaneously we felt a bit overwhelmed and onguard too.

Luis was no Alex! We missed Alex and his gentle ways of delivering lots of education. Luis was an ethically questionable, Alex-on-crack, sort of guy. 

As far as I can recall, there were 3 notable Saints being celebrated here at Santo Domingo:

1. Saint Rose 

For a young thing, she was super attached to self-flagellation. Constantly doing penitence for something or another. Sleeping just 2 hours a night... and to make sure of that, she wore a crown of spikes to make it too hard to sleep! Sadly, she died of infection at only 31 years old. (I guess they didn't yet understand that torturing yourself until you had open wounds was dangerous. Antibiotics were not yet invented. Or did they simply believe it was God's will to die of infection/complications related to guilt?)

2. Saint Martin De Porres

He's my fav! This guy was mixed race, brown and had a rough start to life. He is known in painting and sculpture for holding a broom - descended from a slave, his first thought as to his role in the church was in service befitting his bloodlines. We found him to be best remembered for his kindness to animals and it's common knowledge that he shared his space (including bed) and his food with dog, cat, bird and mouse. It took the Catholic Church decades after his death to cannonize him. He was the first non-white Saint and obviously that took a fair bit of consideration!

When we visited "his" church we found a film crew recording a documentary or movie or such. There was a young actor dressed as Saint Martin de Porres and of course Luis asked him to pose with us!

2. Saint Juan Macias

Forgive me Father... for I have forgotten who the heck this guy is or even if this is the guy we learned about. Sorry!

(Wikipedia says he was the modern day Saint Martin de Porres - he was good to the poor and trained a donkey to collect donations for this cause.)

There was lots to see and do at the churches. A seriously ancient library was fascinating - if nothing else, it's because the books are just kinda hanging out there and I expected them to be more secure, in humidity controlled environments or something that gives them the best chance at surviving another few hundred years. Nope.

Lots of art and sculpture. Some appearing to be decorative, but other pieces can be touched from behind, through a hole in a wall... if you are on the "special privileges" tour with Luis!

Leave a note for Jesus here

There are ACTUAL skulls in the coffins below the statues

The catacombs. Under the church, a pit with a mirror to reflect the view! This was a first for me.

The tower was another of the places that would have been out of reach to us, without Luis. What a grand view of Lima and a different view too. Some of the churches and other buildings still await their chance to be rebuilt, restored or removed, post 1970 earthquake.

It was at the top of the tower, that Luis informed us that it was time to pay. Oh.. and the price had doubled! Hmmm... given our interesting location the argument for integrity was weak (especially from me) and he ended up receiving about 150% of what was agreed upon. But NO tip!! We departed his company at the bottom of the 200 steep stairs and found our own way out. Goodbye Luis!

The changing of the Presidential Guard. Precisely 11:45am, there is pomp and ceremony. A marching band that was truly excellent! Us commoners are NOT allowed even on the sidewalk near the fence for the Palace and armed guards will enforce the rules.

Full day, right?! Not yet.  We wandered old Lima a bit longer, eventually finding lucuma ice cream and then set our sights on the 2nd major attraction on today's list: The Larco Museo.

This museum, originally founded by 25 year old  Rafael Larco Hoyle  (trust fund!) is home to an vast collection of Pre-Columbian artifacts. 5000 years of treasures from ancient Peru that help us understand the relationship between the people and their natural world.  

To identify the men's and women's bathrooms!

Above: Sacrifices were made! Every 20 years or so, El Nino weather patterns meant disaster for growing and for sustainability of the people. As folks who worshipped the sun, moon, stars, water, earth etc, they assumed that one of the God's was annoyed and punishing them. To earn back his/her favor and for the survival of everyone, they sacrificed humans. Not just anyone though... the BEST they had.  I know right?! Seems counter-productive to survival. But it worked apparently, so they kept doing it.

Peruvians and their relationship to sex. It's honest, open and recorded in LOTS of art. There is a separate wing to the Larco Museum dedicated solely to erotic art. It leaves little (zero) to the imagination and I can assure you there is nothing going on today that wasn't also practiced thousands of years ago. NOTHING! They enjoyed sex, understood pregnancy and the female body, and had no issues combining sex and the underworld either. 

Teresa and I while wandering the exhibits occassionally caught a glimpse of each others faces... whether it was horror, amazement or amusement, it was worth taking a second look and such an interesting way to spend the afternoon!

Funeral embelishments

Oh, and we were not done yet!

We booked a night tour with Mirabus. Supposedly 3.5 hours of well lit, Lima attractions that included the Magic Fountains and a coffee break at the Sheritan Hotel.

So, a word to the wise. Mirabus night tour is ... meh. We took a vote and will henceforth be calling it "lame". IMHO, when in Lima, figure out when the light and lazer show is playing at the magic fountains park, then Uber there and Uber home. Save yourself $20 and 2 hours!

Our bus was big. That meant it had trouble with narrow streets and tight turns. Not many of he neighborhoods we went through had much to see, so it hardly mattered they were not lit with more than some regular old street lights. 

Check out the power line setup!

Saturday night traffic in the city center. Lanes mean very little.

At one point we did a 30-point turn around a corner that took about 10 minutes and was WAY to close to scraping up a landmark building. To facilitate that turn, because we had become a bit stuck, the guide jumped off the bus and removed some temp fencing that was blocking our way around the corner. Oh, my!  Yes, bystanders were laughing at us!!!

We had two guides on the bus. They spoke in Spanish then English. Not bad, but English was a direct translation and that was often hilariously wrong or inappropriate. The female guide must have been new too because she was often pleasantly surprised by what she read and her voice gave way her excitement at learning something new. (A half a block after we passed said attraction!)

Teresa and I just about pee'd our pants at times, trying to make head or tail of what she was trying to say. This photo came after I thought she referred to the ocean as the "sea of meows" and Teresa was sure she said "sea of clouds". Both most likely incorrect, of course!

The park with the fountains... Definitely worth seeing. They light the fountains of course, but there is also a lazer light show to music, shon into the mist/spray of moving water. It lasts about 15 minutes and is only projected 2x/night. Mesmerizing!

Did they get wet? Of course! I'm not entirely sure if they expected to, but there were changing rooms nearby, so common sense dictates it was entirely predictable. Hahaha.

And finally, there was the tunnel of spigots. Kind of weird feeling, but also kind of wonderful. We got a little spray, but nothing to write home about.  You can walk the tunnel with me...

The evening break at the Sheritan was just fine. Quite tasty, if a little too non-Peruvian IMHO. Nice hotel. Little sandwiches with mushrooms and cream cheese, brownie and coffee.

Then it was "home" to bed...  via JFK Park to say goodnight to all the cats.  :-)