July 21: Central Lima
Kitty had been informed by the Cultural Liaison Officer at the U.S. Embassy that there was a guided bus tour of Central Lima available for Embassy workers and their friends or family. The cost was $5. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
The Tour
We saw many sights including the Congress Building, the Church of San Pedro, Plaza Mayor, Plaza San Martin, and the Santo Domingo artisan market. The two highlights of the day, though, were the Museo del Banco Central de Reserva (the Museum of the Central Reserve Bank) and the Church of San Francisco.
The museum was not actually about the Central Reserve; rather, they used the former reserve bank’s space to display traditional ceramics. Its vault was used to store and display gold jewelry dating back several hundred years B.C. It seemed more real to me than the gold in the museum at Larcomar, and this building had free admission. The tour guide also said the museum had the cleanest bathroom on the tour. At that announcement, my respect for her grew immensely.
The Church of San Francisco was either in a poorer neighborhood, was run by a less ostentatious religious order than other cathedrals and churches in the area, or both. It was surrounded by pigeons and the doors and walls seemed worn down and in need of a paint job. Two ladies were setting up tables to sell food to raise money for the church’s renovation.
The church has a 5 soles entrance fee per person, which the tour guide paid for all of us. We saw the main altar, the beautiful garden courtyard with the brick walkways laid out in the shapes of crosses, and the library with ancient books in disrepair. The tour guide said the Franciscans don’t have enough money to restore these treasures.
The last stop on the tour was the catacombs. Here we saw hallway after hallway of bones and wells covered at the bottom with skulls and bones. Some collections of bones were covered with glass because in the past people had been known to steal bones. Not me. I was so horrified by the first sight of skulls in a well I couldn’t even take a picture. By the end of the tour, though, I was able to take a picture of one, as well as a picture of a sign that said “keep walking.” I thought it was ironic that this sign was surrounded by bones and a stairway that went nowhere.
By the time we got out of the church, the two ladies selling food for the fundraiser had opened the stand for business. The tour guide bought some papas rellenos (stuffed potatoes) to take on the bus. I asked what they were exactly, and she said, “You’ve never had papas rellenos? Oh, you’re gonna LOVE them!” She then proceeded to buy me one because I didn’t have any small change and we needed to get on the bus. It turned out it was mashed potatoes that filled with meat, beans, and corn, then rolled up and deep fried. It was fattening but delicious!
A Tale of Two Taxis (and a museum)
We got on the bus and got back to the Embassy at about 1:00. I’ve been advised not to take the combis in Peru, and you can’t take a taxi on the street because the driver might turn into an alley so his associates can rob you at gunpoint. This is not an exaggeration—it has happened to many people, including one of Kitty’s colleagues. Instead, I waited nearly half an hour for a taxi that I called from the Embassy entrance. My destination: Museo de la Nacion. I thought it would be like the Smithsonian or the British Museum, but it was much more modest. Of course, so was the price (7 soles). There was a nice collection of pre-Columbian art and Inca Gold among the dioramas of Peruvian civilizations. There was also an exhibition of Peruvian Indian handicrafts. The bright, colorful fabrics, intricate pottery, and alpaca sweaters and rugs were more impressive than the main exhibits.
When I left the museum, there was one taxi waiting. I didn’t like the looks of that so I went across the highway to Plaza Vea, a huge grocery store. Sure enough, the store had its own taxi drivers. The driver seemed nice, and suggested a fair price to return to Kitty’s. Twice on the way to Kitty’s I shut my eyes because of his driving, but I wasn’t robbed at gunpoint so I feel it was a successful journey.
Tags: Lima, Peru, taxis, Travel
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