Our last look at Peru

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Geo: -12.0931, -77.0465

Lima was huge, but not as challenging as expected, largely because we stayed in an apartment type hotel in a quiet suburban street and were upgraded to a suite which gave us lots of room. Tempertues were up again - sweaty and hot and we spent a lot on taxis, travelling long distances in Lima traffic jams.
We began with a taxi into the old town and found ourselves watching the changing of the guard outside the presidents palace in the blazing heat. Then we went into a monastery and up the bell tower to get a birds eye view of the old city and on to the gruesome inquistion museum, but the notices were only in Spanish as was so often the case. After admiring grand buildings but finding a palace closed to the public we gave up on the old town and took a taxi to the sea for lunch. This turned out to be a built up area with modern shops and resturants and a glimpse of the sea far below.
The best visit of all was to a beautiful Larco museum, with a flowering garden and welcome glass of wine a beer, which stayed open until 10.00pm. This had a collection of pre-Columbian findings, including some very erotic figures involved in sexual intercourse, which were buried in graves to give the dead a good after life.
Our last day in Lima was very long because our flight was after midnight. We took a morning tour to an Inca sight out of town, which was very baren and bare, but the guides explanations gave us more insight into Inca culture. Here pilgrims travelled to hear prophecies about earthquakes from priests that consulted the Pachacamac God through a wooden staff. Pizarros brother was incensed at not finding the protected oracle to be made of gold and broke the staff in disgust, insulting the religion. We returned to the hotel, had lunch nearby, read for several hours, went to a local mall to the cinema to see Les Miserables ad then back to the hotel for our bags at 10.00pm and finally to the airport.
We flew to Sau Paulo in Brazil and then on to Salvador the next morning. A taxi from the airport took us to the old town where we found Steve lurking in a doorway and Helen awaiting our arrival good to see familiar faces and share our last country travels with friends.

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