Trip to Lima - Part 2

This is the Area Office. It is a beautiful building in a park like setting.

We joined the Armstrong family and the intern who has been working with him for a couple of months and his wife. A church member who is a single mother has a tourist business. She has a very nice van and takes people on tours of their own choosing. She took us to an archeological site not far out of town, downtown to the main plaza and also to an upper-class area of the city near the ocean. It was a very full and fun day.

we went first to Monumento Arqueologico y Museo de Sitio Pachacamac. It is a very large site that we drove through stopping where they have uncovered parts of buildings that date back to 200 BC, 650 AD and 1200 AD. Several civilizations used this site the Lima, the Wari, the Ychma and lastly the Incas in 1450 AD. There is a temple at the top of the hill that overlooks the ocean. We got sunburned but it was very interesting to see. Amazing how well adobe has held up over the years. Everything is built from adobe blocks. They added egg white from a particular shore bird to strengthen the cement.

Below is the view of the ocean from the Temple of the Sun. You can see how hazy it is. Apparently they never have clear skies in Lima. And it is in the driest desert in the world. It does not rain.

We spent quite some time driving through Pachacamae and reading all of the signs. But then we headed to downtown Lima. We went to the church San Francisco. It is one of the earliest built in Lima and below the church was the public cemetery. The wealthy donors have their private sections but for several hundred years everyone could be buried under the church. They were put in common graves and when the bodies decomposed the bones were moved to other common graves further away and the closer graves were reused. We walked through and could see up into the chapel through grates and saw plenty of bones. They estimate that there are hundred of thousands of people that were buried beneath this church. Originally there were monks living here who handled all of the funerals and burials. Lewis and Garreth had a hard time walking in a space built for people no taller than I am. It was much cooler down there and the tour was an unusual experience.

This is the main plaza in Lima. Below is the cathedral on one side of the plaza.

This is the presidental palace on another side.

The yellow building behind the tour bus is the governmental building for the city of Lima.

On the plaza they had a huge tree shaped display of local artisan handicrafts. I loved it.

Lots of fun things made by people in Peru that represent their culture and traditions.

This is the top of the presidential palace with the flag.

I loved the tassels around the building. I assume it was decorated for Christmas. Big, fat cheerful tassels.

Then we went to LarcoMar. It is a large outdoor mall on a bluff right above the beach. It is obviously for rich people and very lovely. We ate at Tony Romas with a view right down to the beach and hang gliders sailing in front of us. The Marriot hotel was right across the street and there were roller bladers and teenagers on skateboards having fun jumping the stairs and hanging out together. Lots of people walking their dogs and families enjoying a small playground and getting some exercise. It is a very nice place to eat, to shop, to spend time with friends. We looked in the shops that had artisan things for sale but everything was much more expensive than in Ecuador so I didn't buy anything. Most of the merchandise is very similar to what we have in Ecuador.

 This is the name of one of the shops. It means Kuna House - the warmth of home

They told us that we had "seen it all" in Lima and we were so grateful to have a chance to see more of Lima than just the Area Office. The people were delightful and we enjoyed our day very much.