August 11, 2006

August 11, 2006

Our hotel is in the nicer Miraflores district of Lima. It is small and old. Breakfast is included and consists of bread, orange juice, a mandarin orange, and instant coffee or tea. Quite a few other adventurous English-speaking tourists come and go during our breakfast. Thankfully, we are not alone! After breakfast we meet up with two of my nephews, Ryan and Jamie, and walk the few blocks to the ocean. Despite its location near the equator, Lima is cool and overcast. This is Peru's wintertime. We have coffee and hot chocolate at a cafe overlooking the ocean. This cafe and apparently much of Lima is atop a highly eroded cliff overlooking the ocean. It would be pretty but the skyline is foggy, the ocean muddy, and the constant breeze is cool and damp. This is not the place I would have picked for the capital of the Spanish colonial empire as the conquistadors did in 1535. As we finish our drinks several glider parachutists soar over the beach right in front of us doing pirouettes. They must be skilled as they use the breeze to stay at our eye-level seemingly forever.

Afterwards we taxi to the original town center, Plaza Mayor, to tour the Cathedral of Lima. All around the plaza are Peruvian police with riot shields. Peru recently elected a new president and protest marches by the opposition are expected today. They let us through their barricade so we can see the cathedral. Only small sections of the original 16th century cathedral remain. The rest was destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt later. Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conquistador, who conquered the Inca Empire, is buried here in an alcove. The cathedral also has a museum attached with various church artifacts. For lunch we head to Lima’s Chinatown and sample Chifa (Chinese-Peruvian) cuisine. Figuring out what to order is difficult. My Spanish dictionary doesn’t include Chinese food.

After lunch we taxi to the National Museum of Archeology. I knew that Peru had an advanced Inca civilization but I had no idea Peru had many other prior civilizations and is full of archeological sites. Unfortunately the museum is in Spanish with English interpretations only randomly inserted. Nonetheless, it is worthwhile as an introduction to what Peru has to offer.

For dinner we head to a pizza joint a short walk from the hotel. So far the food is just like home.