Capitals and Cathedrals

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So after our lovely night bus from Trujillo, two days after the start of the strike, we arrived in Lima - one of the dirtiest cities in the world. Were going to stay in the centre but our taxi man decided it was too dangerous. Drove around for an hour until we just couldn´t be arsed any more and ended up paying a horrible amount for a hotel. Only one night though. Went to sleep for a few hours in our riduculously expensive bed!

Ventured out and walked an hour to the market (it really didn't look that far away on the map!) And spent the whole time convincing Kat not to buy more jewellary, she was having non of it though, and all our careful budgetting went out the window! Decided that we had not spent enough time doing our geeky tourism, so hopped in a very expensive taxi to the centre..went around the museum and then into the catacombs where there are apparently about 70,000 bodies which some conservationist came up with the truly bizarre idea of using to arrange the skulls and femurs into patterns of concentric circles. Really quite creepy.. Headed to the Plaza de Armas where there were a scary number of police with riot shields so we pretty much took photos and left for Plaza San Martín to see the statue of Madre Patria who, due to a translation error when she was commissioned, has a llama sitting on her head instead of a crown of flames! Then true to form, went to sample the Peruvian cocktail of choice - Pisco Sour..god knows why its the national cocktail because its vile! Went of in search of food to take the taste away!

Next day we got up late so had to skip the national museum in favour of Museo Larco which houses the record breaking Paracas weaving with 398 threads per inch which was the only reason me and Kat went, but it does also have the largest collection of erotic pottery in Peru. Yes, the Pre-Colombians did make everyday pots, as the Lonely Planet puts it, "illustrating with remarkable explicitness, the sexual practices of Peruvian men, women, skeletons and animals in all combinations of the above"! Hmmm..interesting..!

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