Lima December 13

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Today is the big tour of Lima. The guide is to arrive at the hotel at 2:00 PM to begin our tour. Glenn and I decided to take the opportunity to do some exploring of the area around the hotel on our own. This was a continuation of the exploration of our first day in the city. This time we were headed to the main square of Miraflores to see what interesting images presented themselves.

The street that was chosen to go on proved to be one of many "art factories." Artists would work in ground floor spaces not unlike the loft spaces in New York and other areas. Hundreds of paintings were on display in many different styles and level of quality. Glenn found a group of angels with guns and I found some abstract canvases in which I was interested. We decided to purchase them on our way back from the town square.

The main square of Miraflores was a contrast of architectural styles ranging from colonial Spanish to contemporary office towers. The city hall and nearby church were interesting structures with the area between the two occupied by dozens of abandoned cats with signs warning people not to leave anymore cats in the area. Clearly no one was paying attention to the signs. The district of Miraflores sanitation crews had just arrived on the scene to wash and disinfect the area behind the main district building from the leavings of the cats. You can imagine what the area smelled like.

After photographing the main square we headed back to the artists area to make our purchases. I bought 3 in which I was interested and Glenn bought 10. We arrived at the hotel around noon and decided to rest until the guide arrived. We had eaten a large breakfast so decided to skip lunch.

When Ruth, our guide, arrived Glenn explained to her that his objective was to take many pictures of the colonial architecture first, churches and the cathedral second, and anything else there may be time for after the first two. He said that museums were not critical so the itinerary could be modified by eliminating museum stops.

I explained to Ruth that the reason Glenn like to set-up private tours was because it gave him the freedom to spend as much time photographing as he chose to use. In bigger tour groups one is constrained by the dictates of the larger group, hence when it is time to leave a site, one must leave with the group.

First stop was the area around the presidential palace. The van stopped on the edge of an open-air market and the journey began on foot. A look at the river near the presidential palace and a view of the railroad that runs along the banks of the river. The river was a roiling brown stew since the rainy season is just beginning in Peru.

The palace is heavily guarded by policia and militaria armed with AK-47’s some of which look as if they had seen better days. Although the men of the security forces had a stern, determined look they were by and large very friendly responding with smiles and waves to the calls of good morning.

A short distance from the side entrance to the presidential palace is the entrance to a private residence Casa Aliaga, South America’s best preserved colonial mansion, occupied by the same family since 1535.

After our visit to the mansion we walked half a block to Plaza Mayor where the cathedral and government buildings are located. We entered the area at the rear of the Presidential palace and were now on the square in which the building faced. Two sides of the square were occupied by buildings of the colonial period that now house governmental offices and some businesses. On one side is the Presidential palace and the remaining side is the cathedral and the archbishops palace.

We had come to tour the cathedral and then go several blocks to the San Francisco Monastery. The tour of the cathedral was amazing. It is a magnificent building filled with elaborate and ornate chapels one of which is the burial place of Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish conquistador, conqueror of the Incan Empire, and founder of Lima, the modern-day capital of the Republic of Peru.

This cathedral is has the highest vaulted arches I have ever seen in a cathedral. This cathedral is of the Latin cruciform plan with a long nave, crossing members called transepts, and an extension called the choir. It is bright, open, and filled with light as you will see in the pictures below. Many pictures were taken in the cathedral.

The next stop was the San Francisco Monastery. Since the time was running out for the tour, it was decided to skip the interior of the monastery and catacombs in favor of exterior photos and then a trip to the coast and a park with very interesting architecture in the Gaudi tradition. Photos of the monastery are below.

On the way to the El Parque del Amor on the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean we passed a pre-Incan pyramid that is in the process of being restored. Apparently much of Lima was built on ancient pre-Incan structures with a number of the pyramids falling into disuse and disappearing as varies cultures took control of Lima prior to, during, and after Spanish colonial period.

The Archaeological Complex "Huaca Pucllana" was an Administrative and Ceremonial Center of the Lima Culture, a society that developed at the Peruvian Central Coast between 200 AD and 700 AD. It is found in the Miraflores section of the city the "Huaca Pucllana" was built around 500 AD. "Pucllana" is one of the most important ancient monuments in Lima. It was a brief stop to enable us to take photos through the iron fence surrounding the site.

The last stop was El Parque del Amor on the Pacific cliffs at the edge of the Miraflores district of Lima. Glenn saw a photo of this park in one of the brochures at the hotel. The wall was Guadi-like, serpentine and covered with mosaic decoration and colorful tiles. The park is located on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean. It is dominated by a huge statue of lover's embracing. Couples can be seen in various places around the park, chatting, hugging, kissing, all in the spirit of the park. A verbal description cannot do justice to this creation so please refer to the pictures below to get a true sense of the unusual structures that comprise the park.

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Photos

Artist factory
This is where Glenn found the paintings he bought later in the morning.

Small Angel canvas
This is one of the 10 that Glenn bought.

Statue in main lobby
One of a number of statues in niches around the interior of the main lobby.

Stained glass window
This window is at the top of the central stairs leading from the lobby of the building.

Fountain in a Public Square
Enroute to Presidential Palace and Lima Cathedral.

Comments

[deleted_192229]

wow this is really good scott,its very interesting and well said .