#mqechange

[ash-travels-peru]

Day 4: Lima City Downtown

Today I was moving accommodation to stay with other uni peers!!! Three days was enough of individual travel for me and I was so excited to be able to share things with other people and experience what they want to do! I was up at 8am, had another awesome brekky and was ready for my taxi at 9:45am. The taxi came and took me the 1.2km to me new accommodation. 

My new accommodation is a B&B, and seems a bit like between a hostel and hotel. There are heaps of tables and sitting areas in a patio type area surrounded by brightly coloured and morrish style tiles and leafy green pot plants. I dumped my bags and then the two of us got ready to head back out. We had organised with two other Macquarie Uni girls to do a free walking tour of Lima City Downtown at 11am. The meeting point was at a backpacker style bar which was a 20min walk. Seeing as it was 10:45am, we caught a taxi there! 

The free tour had a price of 2.50soles for the bus trip downtown. You could certainly pick where the tour began from because there were heaps of tourists and backpackers loitering out of the front. The street was bright and each building was a different colour! Inside, the bar had sick and psychedelic murals and served craft beer. 

Our tour set off by foot and walked a few blocks to the bus stop Ricardo Palma. I took a photo of it and sent it to one of my uni mates because his name is Ricardo! There are no temporary bus tickets available for tourists, so if you want to catch the bus, you have to beg a local to tap you on and then pay them the money in cash for the fare. There was a fair few people on the walking tour from all over the world. However, the tour group was much smaller at the end of the four hours than at the beginning because many people left the group and went exploring on their own. I met some Brits and Canadians on the bus and was able to show them the photos of the Nazca Lines because they weren’t going to be able to make it there themselves. The bus was quite crowded! I don’t think Lima has trains, so these articulated buses seem to work a bit like trains around the city. It was mainly standing room and people were packed into the bus like sardines. This trip brought a whole new meaning to the phrase! The driving in Lima is a little interesting, the drivers seem to accelerate as fast as possible and then stands on the brakes...its as if they forget there are regular bus stops! If it weren’t for being pressed on every side, I probably would have gone flying along the bus and gotten badly injured. Alas, instead I think I kept stepping on some poor Peruvian’s toes. Sorry! 

Once off the bus, we walked through a famous plaza which is apparently quite famous. During the 1950′s the rich and famous occupied all the buildings around this plaza. There was a marble statute in the middle of the square, with a female figure on it. There is a Llama on her head, and our guide told us that there is a theory that it was meant to be a flame on her head to show strength, but because the spanish words for llama and fire are similar, the artist must have gotten confused. One of the famous hotels facing onto the square has been voted the best Pisco sour in the country, and our guide also told us that all important marches/protests are always staged in the plaza. We continued walking and passed the bar that invented the famous Peruvian cocktail, the Pisco sour!! 

We continued walking down a ‘commercial street’ that had many vendors who would walk up to you trying to sell you super touristy necklaces. There were also heaps of people painted in all gold or black doing statue busking. A few of the statues were quite macabre, referencing ‘black slavery’ and had chains around their neck. It wasn’t the most encouraging of things to observe. We passed many beautiful and colonial buildings in bright colours!!

At the end of this particular street was Plaza de Arms! It was a public holiday in Peru, so the plaza was teeming with people! The Cathedral of Lima was closed for the day and our guide told us that only the rich and famous were permitted to get married there! Our guide took us to the fountain in the middle and told us that it was the oldest construction in Lima because it has survived all the earthquakes. Apparently the figure on top of the fountain used to be solid silver and gold, but was “lost” when it was taken for cleaning one time. Since then, the statue has been replaced with a copper figure. Our guide also told us that on Peru’s independence day (24 July) the fountain is filled with Pisco Sour and people can fill up a cup and drink free Pisco Sour!! 

We left the Plaza and walked down some side alley into what was a walking alley that was filled with cafes and restaurants. There was a large rock in the middle of this area, and our guide informed us that this was sort of a nod to Incan culture in the midst of Spanish colonised architecture. We headed into one of the cafes and were given a free sample of local Peruvian Coffee. Peru coffee beans have consistently been voted the best coffee in the world, but I just don’t think there is a sufficient barista population that knows what to do with this coffee gold. There is not a large coffee culture in Peru, unlike Australia and if you do get coffee...its usually NesCafe! First thing I do when I get home is get a flat white!!! Whilst our group was standing around sipping on the black coffee, an older gentleman walked around with a tray of churros filled with caramel. It was about 12pm and it turned out to be a perfect morning tea. Our tour group then walked next door and tried some local potato dipped in some classic sorta sauce. The local knowledge about the good places to eat was awesome, and there were plenty of photo opportunities to check out some beautiful colonial style buildings!

We walked back through the Plaza del Armas and stopped in front of the Government Palace for a photo. We left the square again and walked through a myriad of UNESCO protected colonial buildings. I think I’ve already mentioned it, but the lack of gutters really struck me as odd, particularly as the sky is always cloudy and looks as thought it is about to rain!!! We walked into a colonial building, which also was a restaurant! Here, we tried a craft beer made from star fruit. To begin with, I’m not a fan of beer. I think it may be because I was on a beer tour in Munich when my HSC results were released. But I still wanted to have a go! The beer was initially quite sweet, but then you were overwhelmed by that distinct hops taste. I didn’t finish the small tasting glass. 

We then headed through the post office building. There was a strip of little stalls that sold super touristy items, such as key rings, postcards and selfie sticks. What struck me most about this place was that there was no glass in the roof! There was an atrium style roof frame, BUT NOTHING IN IT!!! I’ve started to believe that it seriously must never rain in Lima! Immediately left after this walkway strip was the house built by (and still owned by the family) the youngest Spanish Conquistador. He was 19 when he came to Peru and built his house. We then headed over to the Lima river bridge, if you could even call the trickle a river! There were so many people, women particularly, who walked past me dressed in that stereotypical Peruvian dress; big hats, plaits, jackets and short flaring skirts. 

We continued on our way and we were taken to these little tourist markets that seemed to be in a little street maze between buildings. There were enough stools set out arranged for us and we all grabbed a seat. We found out that we were doing Pisco tasting! Pisco smells a lot like grappe, but knocks you for six just like schnapps. Grappe is made from fermented grape skins, whereas Pisco is made from the fermented grape flesh. The first pisco we tried was between 38-45% alcohol and it smelt like rubbing alcohol or something. Our guide showed us this particular way of consuming the alcohol so it doesn’t burn your throat! The second Pisco we tried was with passionfruit. It was quite sweet and was apparently the drink of choice for the ladies of Peru! I can definitely understand that! We drank out of these tiny plastic shot glasses that were made out of the same colourful and transparent plastic like the gelato spoons you get when you want to taste test. 

Our tour finished (at about 3pm!). As we were already a block or so away, the four of us headed over to San Francisco Basilica. It is a bright yellow cathedral that is famous for the catacombs underneath and also for the heaps of birds that roost on the roof of the buildings! We crossed the road which was crazy and we went inside! It was five soles entry, but there were free tour guides available to take you through. Unfortunately we were unable to take photos inside, which is sad because it was so beautiful and opulent, but good because it forced me to really look and absorb what was around me! The first thing that I noticed was that all the steps, regardless of being wood, marble or stone were all sloped due to the wear over the past hundreds of years. We first went into the stairwell which had the most intricate ceiling! It was a geometric pattern that was made of more than 9,000 individual pieces of wood. It was stunning!!! 

We then visited the library. The library was two levels and our guide told us that the first level was texts from the 15th - 18th century and the second level were texts from the 19th century to present. There were over 20,000 books in this library and it was so gorgeous!!!! Like the other library I visited before, there were two hymn books written in latin. Our guide explained that these sheep skins books weighed more than 200kg each due to the weight of the pages and the weight of the cedar covers! We visited the beautiful cathedral, saw a gold altar, a renaissance style passion of Christ pained by Peruvian artists (including pearly white skin and the Mona Lisa style eyes that follow you around) and beautiful cedar chairs set against aqua coloured walls! 

We then headed down into the catacombs. They were sort of freaky and since visiting the Killing Fields and S-21 in Cambodia I’ve never felt fascinated, but rather horrified at human remains. It is known that the catacombs in San Francisco has more than 25,000 people but there is believed to be more than 75,000 due to layers beneath! Many bones were on display and looked so dusty and brittle. It was sorta creepy, because all the bones that has been examined by archaeologists were then arranged in patterns. It looked interesting but still eerie at the same time! I was relieved to head out of the catacombs, a) because it was out of the creepiness but b) so I could get out of the low ceilings and stop hitting my head! 

The four of us headed back and found a bus ‘C’ heading in the right direction. We grabbed some local Bitel sims and bought plenty of calls and data for the month. However, we think we’ve been ripped off and given a lesser amount and the vendors have pocketed the difference! We made our way back to Miraflores and grabbed dinner near Kennedy Park. It was down a super touristy strip which I wasn’t overly keen on, but we were all hangry! Lima is known for its food, and this meal we had was positively BAD!! I had this pasta that turned out to be drenched in soy and was quite a turn off! Lima cuisine does not seem to be straight Peruvian food. The city seems to be a fusion of Peruvian, Italian, Japanese and Chinese cuisine! It was so odd! 

We finally finished dinner and parted our ways around 10pm and Bella and I headed back to our accommodation.