A Day in Lima

---

I could not sleep at all last night. I seriously found myself online responding to work e-mails about how to manage the channel business at midnight. What a pathetic way to spend a night in Lima! But this morning I was up at the crack of dawn, and on the road to exploring the massive city of Lima.
Julie met me at my hotel around 9am just as I was finishing breakfast. Our tour guide picked us up shortly after, and we were on our way. We went to an archeological site on the southern border of Lima. This site has been excavated since the late 1800s and they have not even scratch the surface (please forgive the spelling, I am on a Spanish keyboard). This site was the equivalent of Mecca of the pre-Columbian cultures of Central and South America. People from all over were expected to make pilgrimages to this site to worship a wooden idol god. Until the Incas came along and outdid the 15 pyramids, but building a huge temple to their god, the Sun. It was an interesting site, but hard to tell what we were really looking at.
The craziest thing was this pathetic looking beast we saw there. It looked like a dog on its last leg. It was truly the scariest thing I have ever seen in my life. After inquiring about this poor sight, we were informed it was a Peruvian hairless dog, and it was actually quite young and healthy. I guess they are usually black, but this one was albino, just adding to its strange looks. They have an insanely high body temperature, and when people on sick, they will sleep with them to get better. I tell you, I would have to be pretty damn sick to sleep with this thing. I will add a picture when I get a chance.
We met a couple cool guys on our tour. One of them an Aussie who was traveling the world for 9 months and was planning on doing Cairo to Cape Town overland!
So after lunch we had some lag time, and I started to have a real problem. As some of you know, I have not smoked a cigarette in almost 2 months. I have been using nicotine patches, which I am going to graduate from on Friday. Well, the last of my patches were in my lost baggage. So needless to say, after lunch, and while waiting for our tour guide.... I really, really wanted a cigarette. So, I was just about to buy a cigar (because technically that is not cheating), when I saw a store selling Skittles in the purple bag! Yes! So I bought 2 bags, and an Inca Cola (the best selling cola here, even over Coca-Cola) and I got over my urge!
While the city tour was not too exciting. We did run into a few cool things. One, the whole main square was shout down by riot police because the president of Venezuela was visiting and they were afraid of riots. The president of Peru right now only has a 10% approval rating, the lowest in Peru’s history. Things could get bad here real soon. He is the first president that has an Indian background, and since the Indians are the majority, you would think it would be a good thing. But I guess he has made a lot of promises and he is not delivering.
We also went to this old cathedral and went down in the catacombs underneath where they used to put all the dead people. The rich were put in tombs, but the poor were just thrown together. There were human bones everywhere. It was seriously something out of Indiana Jones!
The museums were interesting, however, it is hard for me to be very impressed with what I saw. I am standing here looking at clay pots made my ancient people, and thinking, that is pretty cool, but also thinking that while the Wari Empire were making clay pots, and building temples to wooden idols, the Roman Empire was building the Coliseum and Parthenon, and studying Aristotle and other great thinkers. But then I think, whom do I respect more? The Wari, who sacrificed women to the gods for fertility out of ignorance, or the Romans, who were educated, but watched human being slaughter other human beings in the Coliseum for fun? Weird how sometimes people we see as the most civilized can be the most barbaric.
When I got back to my hotel, my luggage was here! I really still cannot believe it. I don’t think it was ever in SFO. There is no way it would be here by now. I did not plan on seeing it this week. What a relief!
Now I am at Julie’s hotel near the airport. We have to be at the airport at 330am tomorrow, and my hotel was almost an hour from the airport, so I transfered over here. Mine was in a much nicer area, but just too far to get up that early. We went out to dinner and drinks (pisco sours...the local cocktail made from pisco, an alcohol distilled from grapes, egg whites, lemon, and who knows what else) in an area call Barranco. We celebrated my luggage by eating some good food, getting a good buzz, and then taking a life-risking thrill ride in a taxi! Now she is sleeping and I am planning on staying awake until we leave. If I go to sleep now, I will never get up!

Talk to you all soon,
Kevin

---

Photos

Me in front of a church
Have the name written down, but not with me. Some chruch in Lima that is famous in Peru.

Bones Under Church
These are just some of the bones of all the people buried under the church. These were arranged this way for ¨shock¨ value a few years ago. Orginally the bones were just scattered everywhere.

Hairless Dog
How sick would you have to be to sleep with this thing. And remember, this one is young and healthy!

Comments

[Susan]

Wild Ride!
Hi Kev - I love to read your chronicles and the pictures! I know the dog you refer to - was there one in the dry run the other day:) Keep the strength and do not smoke! You can prevail! Glad you have a friend with you as you travel the wild ride and thank God for the kind hearted spirits such as yourself! The world is already a better place:) Until next time!

[Greg]

What an adventure Kevin! Sounds like a great life experience all the way around! Please don't come back here and try to pawn that drink you two had last night on our culture. It sounded like wine and an egg white?

[shawn]

yeehaw
well! I will not get into the excitement I experienced in Tx and Ok. because it sure will never be as exciting as yours....Good to keep in touch...to know you are swell....

[El Peruano]

oh lord another american in Lima!
why do you think every thing in the world has to do with your US standards? ... Coca Cola, Indiana Jones... The church you are standing by is called Convent of San Francisco. In colonial times, people believed that the closer they buried their death people, the more protected their souls would be. So, the first public cemeteries were located under the churches, in this case Lima had it at the location you visited. None of the Indiana Jones fiction is there! Also, the Peruvian hairless dog is very common in the northern part of the country and it was considered sacred by the indigenous peoples. When the Romans were building Coliseums, the Wari had their own architecture, which has mostly dissapeared because Peru is located in a highly earthquake zone.