Lima Peru 1/30/24

Lima Peru

Authored by Laurie Hardcastle Seil

“City of Kings”

The center of Lima is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with colonial mansions, churches and a few Inca ruins. Despite having declared this site inhospitable, Francisco Pizarro established a settlement here in 1535. He arrived in the New World in 1502 and was part of various explorations afterward. Upon hearing about legendary wealth in South America he made a couple of limited forays south from Panama along the west coast to investigate. By 1531 he had the Spanish emperor’s support and an army, he sailed to Peru to make his fortune. Upon reaching the Inca town of Calamarca he was introduced to the Inca Emperor Atahualpa and invited the ruler to a feast in his honor. Here’s where the major treachery comes to play as Pizarro ambushed the Inca, slaughtering thousands of his escorts with artillery, guns and cavalry when they refused to immediately accept Christianity and the Spanish emperor. Once Atahualpa was captured, he offered Pizarro a room full of treasure in exchange for his release. The duplicitous conquistador agreed, ended up with some 24 tons of gold and silver, but then put Atahualpa on trial for trying to overthrow the Spaniards and other charges. Of course he was found guilty, and not long afterwards met his death by strangulation. Pizarro then marched on the Inca capital of Cuzco in 1533, took it without a struggle, but decided he needed a capital closer to the coast to make it easier to communicate with Panama, so Lima became the capital. Atahualpa was not the only person Pizarro had conflicts with and in 1541 he ended up being assassinated by enemies while at dinner in his palace in Lima.

Lima was the primary shipping port and most powerful city in South America during the Spanish colonial days. San Marcos University, the oldest institution of higher learning in South America, was created here in 1551. When our old friend Jose San Martin sailed into town to help declare independence for Peru, Lima was the natural choice to become the new nation's capital. The stories these streets could tell!

The center of town is the Plaza de Armas, aka Plaza Mayor, the site where Lima was founded. Among the sights here are the Government Palace, the home of Peru’s president where you can see the changing of the guard daily at noon, and the Lima Cathedral, which took 58 years to build following an earthquake in the 1700s. Next to the cathedral is the Archbishop’s Palace which was built using materials from the Old World, including tiles from Seville. It was completely reconstructed and renovated in 1924, and currently the first and second floors are open to the public. The Convent of San Francisco is a Baroque convent from the 1600s which is the largest of its type in this part of the world. It survived earthquakes in 1687 and 1746 and has beautiful architecture and a rich interior. One of the creepy but interesting spots to visit at San Francisco is the catacombs, for which you must take a tour, fascinating that the bones have been arranged in artistic patterns in an effort to make them less alarming. Another religious site is the Church of San Pedro, which like most other churches in Lima has had prior versions due to earthquake damage. The current building has a Neoclassical exterior but inside you’ll find multiple architectural styles, the most outstanding piece here is the massive gold leafed main altar.

One of the best museums in South America is the Larco Museum which has been around since 1926 and contains 5000 years of ancient Peruvian history, bonus here are gardens and a park outside. Nearer the port you’ll find the Real Felipe Fortress which was completed in 1774 to defend against pirates. A fun place to visit in the evening is the Circuito Magico del Agua, a show with thirteen different fountains at Parque de la Reserve where the water glows and “dances” to different types of music and laser lights.

Miraflores is along the coast and the place where most first time visitors to Lima will stay. Here you’ll find a malecon, or boardwalk, to walk or bike along with sea views and lots of parks. Also, within Miraflores is Huaca Pucilana, a 7-tiered temple of adobe from the 5th century. This part of town is also a good place to shop for Peruvian Indian crafts at the Inka Market.

We originally were not going to get the chance to see Lima, as we would be heading back from our Machu Picchu tour. As I said earlier, Royal made the decision to postpone the debarkation in the event the train to MP opened up. With that extra time, Royal pulled together a tour of Lima for those of us who wanted to see Lima. Mind you, this is a group of 500 people that they arranged a tour for in less than 24 hours. Mickey and I did this as part of our jobs, and this was no small feat. We had the opportunity and we jumped at it, not knowing if we would ever have the chance again. A long day but well worth it. We started at the Park of Love, with the chain locks, wonderful views, interesting mosaics and water fountains and statues. Weather was warm but it was towards evening and cooling down, so quite pleasant. Then, off on a shopping spree - unfortunately it was a modern mall, not local artisans, so what do we do? Found a bar and enjoyed a pisco sour overlooking the ocean. Great way to spend an hour. On to the water park - was not expecting much, so this way exceeded our expectations. It used to be a military training base, turned into a park, with the water features added in 2007 for 10 million dollars. A wise decision and investment - the place was packed. Great family experience. From there, we headed to a Peruvian restaurant to sample some of their native dishes and of course, another pisco sour. All in all, 3 very packed days - over 12k steps each day one of them was 15k, getting our workout at high elevations. Tomorrow's port was to be Manta Ecuador, which was cancelled due to the drug wars going on right now. I am happy to have some sea days to rest up. Next up, Costa Rica

Park of Love