It swiftly became apparent on the bus that they did not have our vegetarian meals, as ordered. The bus man produced various snacks instead, though this did not make up for actual meals. It was very disappointing for Ken. Jayna slept.
The bus also had TV screens, but there was no choice as to what the film was, or whether or not you wanted the sound blaring at you from the speakers above you
Huaca Pucllana. All in all it was a bus journey that left a lot to be desired.
We arrived in Lima at the bus company's terminal at nearly 8am on Wednesday 22nd. Ken had developed a cold on the bus journey. From the terminal, we made our way into central Lima, to the Plaza de Armas. There we found the roads closed and lots of police. We were swiftly accosted by a very helpful Infotur man who helped us to get to a hostel just a block away. This was cheap, though not en-suite and without breakfast. The building had natural light, high ceilings and a church-esque feel to it, so we decided to go with it. We found we could climb onto the roof of the hostel and did so; then took in breakfast and strong coffee from the attached small cafe.
We knew we had limited options for getting out of Lima, and so decided to try to head straight for Ecuador on one of the long bus journeys. These services ran on limited days and so we knew that we weren't going to have much time in Lima itself. We wanted to get the bus journey sorted, so sought some advice from local information places. They were unable to assist. We knew the name of one company, and everyone we spoke to told us to go to their bus terminal. So we took a taxi, which dropped us off to a place with the same name, but which wasn't the bus terminal we were looking for
Llama at Huaca Pucllana. Another taxi ride later and we ended up just a few blocks down from where we'd started at 8am that morning. Frustrated, we ended up booking the 31 hour bus journey we needed to get to Quito, which did not include any meal option. At least this time we knew we wouldn't be fed!
As we were south of central Lima, we decided to go directly to Huaca Pucllana. This is the remains of a pyramid and buildings associated with the Lima culture, dating from 400CE. Here we had a lengthy guided tour. We learned that Lima is the world's second driest capital city (after Cairo) and it has 'nearly' rained on three occasions in the last century. For this reason, the buildings we saw didn't have roofs, then or now. The building material was clay, sun baked, and stacked vertically as an anti-earthquake building measure. The site was being excavated, and they had found various mummies, the latest just a few months ago. The site used to be covered with a kind of plaster, painted yellow. We thought it was remarkably well kept, notwithstanding the fact that Lima city has developed around it.
We navigated back to central Lima via the Metropolitan bus network, thanks to a number of people giving us assistance along the way. We stopped at Plaza San Martin to take in the water fountains and ambience, and admired the statue of Madre Patria, with a llama on her head
(So says the Lonely Planet, "It was commissioned in Spain under instruction to give the good lady a crown of flames, but nobody thought to iron out the double meaning of the Spanish word for 'flame' (llama), and the hapless craftsmen duly placed a delightful little llama on her head.")
We found a nice little vegetarian restaurant around the corner from Plaza de Armas, and just a few doors down from our hostel. Here we dined and drank a lot of fruit juice before retiring for the evening.
On Thursday 23rd, we checked out of the hostel and put our bags into their storage area. After breakfast, we headed to San Francisco Church and Convent, for a tour of the religious areas and in particular the catacombs. The church and convent had an amazing amount of opulence, with tiles dating from 1620, paintings galore, and gold leaf everywhere. The catacombs gave us our fix of morbidness, with the remains of around 25000 people (estimated) in the catacombs (still, this was nothing compared to the catacombs in Paris).
Our next stop was the Parliament and Inquisition Museum, which was shut (nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!... Museum to be shut!) for 'limpieza general' (general cleaning)
We decided to find coffee and see if the place would open. This search was fruitless - apparently no cafes or bars in the area sold coffee. After wandering several streets, we went back to the Inquisition Museum, and it was still shut. So we decided to go to lunch to a vegetarian place we'd identified the previous day. It too was shut, having been shut down by the government for apparent tax violations. Undeterred, we found another vegetarian meal and had a four course set lunch which was delicious. Next we went to the Basilica Cathedral of Lima on the main plaza, and took in the sights of the cathedral and the attached museum. This included the tomb of Francisco Pizarro (the Spanish Conquistador), plus more catacombs and we saw and spoke briefly to a guy who'd been on the tour in Huaca Pucllana the previous day. We finally found some expensive coffee, probably because it was the only coffee shop in Lima, and went on advice to climb the tower of the Santo Domingo Church and Convent. The tower was shut. We didn't go into the church.
We wound up back at the hostel to collect our bags, and headed in good time to the bus terminal for our long bus journey.
Next stop - Quito, in Ecuador!
world travel
Some thoughts on Peru, as a country. We would recommend Peru to anyone (anyone who doesn't suffer the effects of altitude sickness, that is). We covered fairly extensively south Peru, so this is based simply on our experiences. Aside from some parts of Lima, we felt safe in the country. There are lots of pretty things to see and do. Machu Picchu for us was a definite highlight and is a 'must do'. Like Bolivia, the country is diverse, from coastal heat to jungle to altitude. We found that Peru has generally friendly people, who are louder than in other South American countries we have visited. The hostels were generally nice and fairly well priced (this was a significant bonus over Bolivia!). It was easy for us to find vegetarian food in all of the places we went. All that, plus the country isn't particularly expensive. Overall, we very much enjoyed our stay.