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Published: October 25th 2007
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San Martin Square
with Patty, my friend's sister :) Welcome to the second part of my first impressions of Lima!
Some more aspects of traffic organization... All their streets are one-way except for the avenues, which are two-way, but in between one direction and another is a long 'island' of grass, flowers, and trees. I find this very effective and I think it prevents accidents as everybody drives like a maniac (worse than in LA) and yet I did not witness any accidents. Cabs drive around all the time and give little honks to communicate that they are empty and you just wave your hand and they stop. Before you get in the cab you have to barter with the driver to make sure he doesn't charge you too much. The cabs are generally cheap - 5 soles for a 10min ride (1 sol = 2kn; 3 soles = $1 USD --- the money is called 'sol' which means 'sun' because the main god of the Inca was the sun god) . The taxis stop anywhere and everywhere, which affects traffic but most streets (remember, they are mostly one-way) are two-laned so it seems to work.
My friend's family that I was staying at for a few days
Chifa Restaurant
With Patty and her bf. was SUPER nice, and the sister, Patty, made sure to take me around the city and I feel I have seen quite a bit for the short time that I was there.
So what else did I see in Lima...
La Plaza San Martin (St. Martin Square)-- v. green and clean, named after the don José de San Martín, who freed and is the protecter of Peru.
Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco (Church & Monastery of San Francisco) -- built by Spanish missionaries in the 17th century. We were shown around by a tour guide which was very interesting. The complex contains a large library of books, mostly in Latin, lots of frescoes, and elaborate handmade woodwork where the priests of the Franciscan order lived, prayed, held mass, etc. The most prominent part of the complex are the catacombs, located in the basement part of the monastery and church. Back in the 17th century there were no graveyards like today, so people were buried in the catacombs beneath the church as to be closer to God. The important people of the time got the 'best' places in the catacombs, unlike the majority of the local inhabitants.
Capon Street
The ground tiles where you can get your own inscription. That is my foot :) The catacombs are famous for the fact that they are open to visitors. There are actually two floors of catacombs but architectually only one is accessible. The second floor was discovered through special equipment (x-ray, etc.). Today, all the bones have been disassembled from their original skeletons, so all the skulls are on one pile, the femurs on another pile, etc. The guide was very knowledgable and I enjoyed the tour.
Then we went to the Chinese District to eat
Chifa. Chifa is Chinese food, but with very strong Peruvian influence. It was not spicy at all and I enjoyed it very much. Chifa is v. big in Peru. The main street of the Chinese District is called
Capon and its a pedestrian-only zone. The ground consists of thousands of little hexagonal concrete tiles with inscriptions on them - saying happy birthday or anniversary, or i love you. Basically, anything. That was pretty cool. You can get one yourself for around $50.
In the evening I went with the mom and their cousins to the
Circuito Magico del Agua (Fountain Park). Opened on May 28, 2007, the park boasts 13 very impressive 'cybernetic' fountains, including the
tallest fountain Highest Fountain in the World
Yep, Guinness World Book of Records! in the world at a public park (highest reach of the water)! The park also holds the Guiness World Book Record as the biggest fountain complex in the world. Anyway, yhe park was a lot of fun. Fountains portraying pyramids and
rainbows, the
tunnel fountain (a fountain you could walk through without getting wet), there was even a fountain with laser beams on it (like a laser show), which 'danced' to the music that was playing. I was very impressed. The BEST fountain was
La Fuente de Los Niños (Kids' Fountain). It contains of a large circle drawn on the floor and anywhere from inside the circle the water shoots up. It's basically for kids to play in and get wet. Naturally, I had to try it! I got completely soaked, as did one of the cousins, but it was so much fun. You think you can outrun the water and not get wet but you can't. There were a lot of kids playing there and in the summer it must be the best fun ever!! (A lot of the content consists on the lighting of the fountains so the park opens at dusk.).
Another aspect of Lima that
Arcoiris
The Rainbow Fountain. Cousin Carolina and me. I felt was the strong influence of the US (I was expecting a stronger influence of Spain). Mostly seen (for me) through the products that you can buy at the supermarket - from the brands to the bulk-sized packaging. They even have Hershey's chocolate syrup, yummy!! However, I did not notice any pop tarts.
To wrap up my Lima impressions I will end with their TV content. As you know, TV content is a strong country evaluator for me 😊 There are a lot of the newer/current TV shows (Gilmore Girls, Friends, Charmed, Prison Break, etc.) and they are not dubbed! Obviously a lot of the channels that I saw were cable, but still, two thumbs up for Peruvian television!
For first impressions, I think I have quite a lot.
Ta-ta dahlings!
Spanish Word of the Blog Entry:
iglesia = church
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Father & Son
draga, sve slike su super, ali father and son je stvarno prekrasna! Svaka cast!!!