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Published: March 19th 2013
Lima the Peruvian Capital.
I was sorry to leave Cuzco on St. Pat's Day. Even though I had 4 days in the city, I was away for 3 days on treks and tours. One day can not do justice to Cuzco. I could not even go to the Irish Pub for a pint of of the black stuff on St. Patrick's day as I had to be at the airport by 0900hrs. I also did not realise the airport was inside the city unlike in La Paz. The flight to Lima was pleasant and short. As we soared through the valley I could see the the tracks of the Inca trail hugging the slops of the mountains.
Lima was far removed from Cusco and Arequipa. It was hot and humid. Even though it rains very little here, the pacific brings in a lot of moisture. The people are more Spanish than indigenous. The influence of Incas and pre-Inca civilizations are almost wiped off the surface. Being the colonial capital that was only to be expected. It is replaced with Spanish style buildings, often the earlier ones being with more of a Moorish influence. There were a lot of classic
building dating from the 17th century. As the time was limited I opted for a city tour with an add-on to visit Lima's oldest site of civilization of pre-Christian era. I was very disappointed to learn that this part of the tour was not available as the site was closed on Mondays.
The city tour took us through all the major historic/tourist points. From the Plaza Major, which had the President's house and the Cathedral (which along with a side church is now a museum) we walked to the Franciscan Seminary. Built in the early days of colonisation it was built with space for catacombs with arched roofs underground which helped the church to survive freqent earthquakes. The catacombs were required as there was no cemetery in Lima in its early days. The whole building was covered with wall paintings which had to be covered up with canvas oil paintings as the former had deteriorated with the prevalent high humidity. The wooden roofs, originally brought from Central America, were also not suitable for the conditions of Lima and had to be maintained with a lot of difficulty. The trip ended in Miraflores, the affluent neighborhood with its promenade and
underground shopping area. Only problem was that the beach was more than 100m below and no steps to get down to either. It is great if you are worried about a tsunami. The beach could be approched by road but it would take at least 3km to get to.
I did not encounter any problems in Lima as most travel sites warn of the insecurity here. But compared to the smaller cities of Arequipa and Cuzco it was disconcerting the emphasis on security. All shops and even hotel entrances had steel bar shutters or doors (less so in Miraflores). May be it is required but with the amount of police in the city I doubt it, or may be you can't trust them either. My flight to Madrid was at 2100hrs so I could make full use of the day in Lima. When we actually started the city tour we could see the riemains and excavation sites of the older civilization of Lima which is claimed to be as old as 3000BC which would put them nearly on par with the Egyptians.
Finally I am on the Iberia flight to Madrid. I am leaving the South American continent
with mixed emotions. While there is a longing to get to home comforts and cool weather and green pastures of Ireland and probably a good round of golf in Mountrath there is a sadness that my little adventure had to come to an end. May be I can return to this continent to cover the areas I had omitted, that is the north and east of the continent, also including Central America. I only hope my health will hold up long enough to realise that dream. May be in the next trip my good wife would find enough free time to accompany me.
It was a strange four weeks. The minute I left Buenos Aires it had been a different world. Even though my Spanish was zilch, I had no problems during my travel. However it would have been of great help if I had a basic command of the language. Conditions in Bolivia were 50 years behind (except mobiles and TV) nearly back to the time when I was growing up in Kerala. Both inBolivia and Peru people were talking to me fluently in Spanish thinking I am one of their country men. If I sat in the
front seat of a tour bus they were asking me the itinerary assuming I am the tour guide. I was never harassed or threatened but I have to admire the enthusiasm of the Bolivian ladies to sell anything they have made, weather it is food, handicrafts or anything at all. I also had a few points to note for my trip to Asia and Oceania; I can't wait, but I have to wait to end of April to begin that.
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