On our way from Machu Picchu to Lima, we spend one night in Cusco. Again, we notice the sealed houses.
(Apart form those who are under construction)
Seeing people and dogs skim through the garbage is incredibly sad...
...especially if for us, the biggest sorrow in life is a slow internet connection.
House numbers are not consecutive, which makes it difficult to find our hotel. We become fans of Open Street Maps, and add our hotel there for those who come after us.
From Cusco to Lima, we lose 3500m in altitude. Yes, I know, imagine what it did to our brains.
Barranco
Barranco is a bohemian beach-side neighborhood in Lima.
It has a beautiful park...
...and a lively promenade by the sea.
Lima City Center
Lima has a well-working metro bus system. Unfortunately, a map of the system is available nowhere. We get around by asking.
The officer proposes to get us onboard for 2€ without a ticket. We refuse.
Lima itself has beautiful colonial architecture dating back to 1535 when the city was founded by the Spanish.
Lima was the center of Spanish rule during 300 years.
Today, the metropolitan area has 8.5m inhabitants — well over a quarter of Peru’s 30m people.
The historical center is a UNESCO world heritage site.
The Plaza Mayor has the Lima Cathedral to the East...
...the Palacio del Gobierno to the North...
...and colonial houses to the South.
We learn that the Franciscan convent is poor in comparison to the Jesuits’, and hence in bad shape. Looks good to me, though.
We also see a replica of the Tissue of Turin, in which Jesus was supposedly buried. Kindly enough, he left an imprint of his face (arrow) before resurrecting.
José de San Martín, the independence fighter whom we already met in Buenos Aires, is revered in Lima as well.
The city is surrounded by slums.
Lima calls itself the “gastronomical capital of South America”. Here is Cheviche, the national dish, consisting of marinated seafood, corn, and onions.
Miraflores
Miraflores is the upscale neighborhood of Lima.
It’s called “Miraflores” for a reason.
Miraflores is directly at the, well, “beach”.
Lima has a steep coast...
...which looks rather ugly close up, ...
...although they’re doing their best to tidy it up.
Here is a Brighton-style restaurant in the Pacific.
Museo Pedro de Osma
Pedro de Osma and his sister inherited mines and territory from their parents. They lived in this house together, and never got married (neither to each other nor to someone else).
Pedro started collecting art. After their death, their house became a museum. It is supported by a private foundation that is based on their heritage.
It houses art of the “Cusco school”: under the Spanish Inquisition, Indigenous artists were forced to paint Christian art (“Paint or die”).
The Spanish priests gave the Indios postcards with Ruben’s Christian motives (bottom right), and asked them to copy them.
Christian art often shows a moon at the bottom, symbolizing the supposed supremacy of the occidental culture over the oriental one. The Indios, of course, had no clue why the Spaniards...
... were so obsessed with a woman who lived 1500 years ago. Hence, they hid their own gods in the pictures: The sun (behind the head), Mother Earth (mountain shape of the dress), and the moon (bottom).
This box shows the main stories of the Bible with wooden figures. It was used to explain the Bible to the Indios. Kind of a portable Bible in 3D.
Today, we leave Lima to go back to Paris.