We arrived in Lima after 24hrs travelling, only an hour later than expected, despite several hiccups en route. It’s always daunting arriving late at night, and the drive from the airport rarely shows any city at its best. Lima just seemed to be a succession of dual carriageways bathed in a mist of car fumes.
The morning dawned grey and cloudy, but this was hardly a surprise as Lima barely sees the sun for seven months of the year due to the Humboldt current, a very cold ocean stream that chills the moist air above forming the coastal mist called the garua, also ensuring rain rarely falls. Chris however was very sunny after Liverpool won another match 3:0 during breakfast.
With just a day in Lima, we started with the Museo Larco which has a huge selection of pre columbian artefacts including pottery, textiles and metalwork which helped to put Peruvian cultural history in context for us. The quality, variety and good condition of the pottery was amazing, although a lot of it was from Northern Peru, which we’re not visiting, including this amazing Moche portrait sculpture dating from 1-800AD.
We then stopped off at Huaca Pucllana (pronounced waka pookyana) which is unexpected as an adobe and clay pyramid rises in the centre of a residential district. It is the remains of a ceremonial centre from the Lima Culture of 200-700AD and the tour was excellent.
The clay bricks were handmade individually without a mould and were arranged vertically with gaps as earthquake protection, and they refurbished the complex every 20 or so years by rebuilding a new layer on top. They made sacrifices including pots which were deliberately broken and the pieces buried. They worshipped the ocean as it was an important food source and the moon as it controlled the ocean, but not the sun as it was rarely shining!
We stopped in the restaurant here for some lunch, Chris choosing artichoke ravioli in tomato sauce and me sea bass chowder with quinoa and lima beans. We finished with a local speciality, suspiro lima or lima sigh. The bottom layer is a caramel cream made by boiling whole milk and sugar until thick and the top is meringue sprinkled with cinnamon … yummy but very sweet.
Needing a little exercise, we walked along the cliff top gardens overlooking the sea which seems to attract the whole of Lima on a Sunday afternoon, despite the gloom. There is a lighthouse and Parque del Amor with Gaudiesque seating and a romantic sculpture.
Later we wandered down to the local square and found a small place doing tacos which was all we wanted after a lovely lunch.
We have been staying in a small B&B in Barranco, which was Lima’s seaside resort in the 19th century, with lovely mansions and ranch style adobe houses painted in a variety of colours, now a little crumbled, a central square with park and church, and a funicular along the cliff that used to take visitors down to the beach.
The Puente de los Suspiros or Bridge of Sighs, crosses the ravine and has apparently inspired many a poet, but it wasn’t looking its best as it is under renovation ready for the municipal elections. I’ve included the photo anyway, mainly for the worrying public safety sign … not today thank you!
I also had to include this tempting display of asparagus in the supermarket!
Now for the first leg of our 1000km coach journey along the coast to Arequipa … first stop Paracas.
Off Travelling Together 