Day 3 in Lima

Saturday, June 27, 2009

This was a day full of activity. We had a tour of Lima City. We had a tour guide named Vanessa. She was so knowledgeable about Peru´s history and her English was excellent. We saw Main Square and Cathedral, The National Museum of Anthropology, the Catacombs of St. Francis of Assisi Church, The Juaca Pucllana Ruins (Pre-Inca times), and Miraflores and San Isidro Districts.

First we went to the National Museum of Anthropology. Here we were giving the history of Peru which started thousands of years before the birth of Christ. We were given so many dates that I can´t remember exactly. Just know that it was a long long long time ago. Basically several groups of people were in power way before the Incas conquered them. The Incas absorbed the other ways of living all over Peru in the 1500´s, but again don´t quote me on the dates. This was a wonderful way to begin learning about Peru. It gave us the background to understand what we were and are about to discover during the rest of our trip. The museum has the largest public collection of artifacts in Peru. Vanessa had to really move us along because there was so much to see and those into photography were slowing the tour down. There was so much to see.

Next we saw Lima´s Main Square. Here we saw the beautiful Cathedral, The Govenor´s Estate, and the Changing of the Guards. Everyday at noon they have an elaborate ceremony with bands playing, people watching, and a parade around the square. It took about 45 minutes. There were many school children on field trips. Each group of students had their own school uniform sweats outfit that had the name of their school printed on the back. We saw them at ever attraction we went to except the ruins.

Next we went to St. Francis of Assisi Church. It is still being run by the Franciscan Monks. We could not take any pictures here. The most interesting thing we saw were the catacombs. I have never been in an underground grave site before. Our guide explained that it was a public cemetery with 3 levels. Those of higher status were buried on the first level, the one we were able to see. It was creepy to see. We usually think of individual places for each body, but this was not the case. Bones had been classified and placed in groups. For instance, the humorous, femur, and skulls were place in separate rectangular dugout boxes, for lack of a better word. Each with bones of many people in each compartment. It reminded me of a place in which Hollywood props were keep except they weren´t props, they were real bones. The bodies of 25,000 people were in the catacombs. We also say a well which was about 33 ft deep that had skulls and leg bones arranged in a semi-circle design that made me think of a sun. People had painstakenly arranged these bones. It was a work of art. The enitre time I had to keep reminding myself that these were really bones that belonged to people. Being Catholic, I kept wanted to make the sign of the cross out of respect for these people. The tunnels were perfect for someone of my height. If you are taller than about 5´7¨ you would have to duck.

After eating another delicious meal, we proceeded to the Huaca Pucllana Ruins. But before writing about this, I want to let you know that here in Peru lunch is their biggest meal unlike dinner in the US. I don´t think that it is possible to go hungry on one of these tours. The food it terrific and we get 3 square meals.

Back to the ruins. To our surprise, the ruins were in the district of Miraflores very near to our hotel. Our guide told us that the ruins were discovered under what looks like a huge hill. In fact, when people began building on it they would find human remain and just dismissed them. Soon other remains were discovered and this took the attention of foreign archeaologists. It was only after these scientists become interested that archeaologists from Peru began digging. They believe that the ancient pyramid and it´s surrounding buildings covered 18 hectors, but because people had built their homes and other structures on top of it, only 10% survived. I can´t wait to show you some of the pictures. The architecture is amazing. Those who built this had knowlege of how to make it earthquake proof. The pyramid was where human sacrifices were make. They were young girls whose dismembered bodies were found. Our guide told us that when each level of the pyramid was done being used, they would cover it with dirt and rocks and begin building another level on top of it. We were able to see how they made the bricks and stragetically placed them. In some parts of the walls, we saw hand prints. The process in which they made the bricks was very similar to how adobe bricks were made except they didn´t use molds or straw. Instead they shaped them by hand and used stones, mud, and shells. They would mixed these by stomping on them with their bare feet. I took a picture of a foot print. This was so fascinating to see and experience.

After about a 2 hour nap, we went to dinner in which we saw traditional Peruvian dances. Freddy ,our Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) guide in all of Peru, told us that we were going to see the best of the over 100 cultural dances that they have here in Peru. We ate at a buffet with terrific traditional food and fantastic dances. The dances, dancers, and costumes were beautiful. We enjoyed this very much. Again we walked home to try to burn off some of the calories we had consumed.

This was a day full of fun and adventure.