Thursday, November 12, 2009

One more day in Lima








We set out walking looking for a Peruvian market. We found spare parts alley where you could get that carburator for that 1983 Nissan Sentra that you´ve using as a cab, parts for your washer and the local food market but never did find the craft market. At that point we were hungry and found some cheap but mediocre food.

Then we met up with Tate, a guy from WV I had met a month or so ago in Lewisburg. He has been living with his wife in Lima doing a chiropractic residency. He gave us some good tips for the rest of our travels. My neck had been bothering me for a few weeks and I knew I was in need of a manipulation so we headed to his office by cab to a pretty upscale neighborhood and he set me straight. He has a beautiful office that opens on to a verdant backyard. That will definitely help for my upcoming bus rides.

We jumped back into a cab then back to the Hostel to meet a tour guide that we had arranged for. We then headed toward more central Lima by cab to the Plaza De Armas(see pics). This is a central square with several beautiful buildings, some Churches, some government. Vanessa the guide was very knowledgeable with a great command of the language.

The high point was a tour of the San Francisco Cathedral and the catacombs below(My friend M.R. told me to go). Incredible architecture and history but unfortunately you can´t take pictures inside. The catacombs have bones of many thousands of people that we disinterred from the local cemeteries and then categorized by bone. Femurs here, humeruses there. She gave us lots of history of the Franciscan order and showed us frescoes, tilework and huge paintings of religious scenes. Also an ancient looking library that looks like it should be at Hogwarts(mom would have loved it).
The cab rides are pretty crazy here. Apparently, no one has insurance and it´s a huge free-for-all. We were within inches of other vehicles multiple times but never hit anything. The worst thing are the fumes though. At this point we are ready to get out of the city and breath some cleaner air.

We had enough running around so we ate at Mama Ollas again. This time Tiffany got the Ceviche(see pic). After she saw That I didn´t die she figured it must be safe. So far no explosive diarrhea, yay!

Going to bed early to head by bus to Nazca tomorrow.

P.S. Found out what the cows are. A milk company put out the money to have the sculptures all over the city. Most are very creative.

2 comments:

  1. I think Karen would rather sell Sebastian to a Korean Barbeque restaurant than eat Ceviche, but I think it looks delicious! The shells look crunchy though.

    There were cow sculptures all over San Jose too. Weird. Durham, not surprisingly, has bull sculptures, which I think count as cows. We can't get away from the damn things.

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  2. Glad you got to see the catacombs!

    M.R.

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