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| Lady with the llama |
We had until midday in Lima, so SJ and I were up early to head into central Lima: the Old Town. We'd met the last 2 of our group the previous evening: Kristen, a Canadian and Mike, from London, the most senior of the group. We set off at 8am, having decided to travel the proper backpackers' way: by bus. It was actually much easier to figure out than expected and with Lima Oystercard in hand, we descended to the express bus highway with the Monday morning rush hour throng. 4 buses later we squeezed ourselves in and 20 minutes of careering down a narrow bus lane, we alighted downtown. We had a 2 hour walking tour to follow from our guidebook, beginning at the Plaza San Martin, which boasts a statue of some famous lady or saint with a tiny llama on her head (it was supposed to be a crown of flames, but the word for flame and llama just happen to be the same...), through some decrepit but beautiful streets, to the Plaza de Armes, where, besides an overtly strong police presence - riot shields included - is the beautiful Catedral de Lima. We wandered in. 21 alters and a chance to go 'below stairs' and see the remains of interred bodies was pretty extraordinary. From there we took a view of the old city wall and then onto the Monasterio de San Fransicso.
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| Dome in the monastery |
Another incredible church and beautiful monastery of the Franciscan monks, still used today. We also had a tour of the extensive catacombs; thousands of graves, mostly covered, but many open, displaying wonderfully ordered patterns of tibias, fibulas, pelvic bonees and skulls. Once dead bodies had disintegrated, the bones were laid in these 'graves'; they estimate 25,000 people are buried here in 2 or 3 levels. It's amazing.
We hurried back to the bus stop and were back with 15 minutes to grab our bags and get on our transfer to catch our coach to Paracas. The coach station had the typical bustle expected, but was all very organised. Having imagined an ancient, falling apart 3rd world bus, I was pleasantly surprised that our coach was actually very luxurious - doubly so seeing as we'll be spending a night on one later in the trip - and 4 relatively restful hours later we arrived in Paracas, a beach resort south of Lima.
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| Peruvian 'hairless' dog. Pure bred, not a mutt! |
Settled into our hotel on the front, Dennis took us for a walk on the busy, and dirty, beach. This is a popular Peruvian beach resort and full of people, stray dogs, music and places to eat. It's fun, despite the dirt. We ended up at the very swanky 5-star Sheraton - not remotely in our budget, but a great place for my first pisco sour. Delish!! I'm sure I'll have more, but that one set the bar pretty high.
Sadly we couldn't afford dinner here, but a fish restaurant on the beach front served up amazing dishes. More cerviche for me! And we're all getting to know each other - it's a lovely group with some fun characters. Thank goodness. :)
We had until midday in Lima, so SJ and I were up early to head into central Lima: the Old Town. We'd met the last 2 of our group the previous evening: Kristen, a Canadian and Mike, from London, the most senior of the group. We set off at 8am, having decided to travel the proper backpackers' way: by bus. It was actually much easier to figure out than expected and with Lima Oystercard in hand, we descended to the express bus highway with the Monday morning rush hour throng. 4 buses later we squeezed ourselves in and 20 minutes of careering down a narrow bus lane, we alighted downtown. We had a 2 hour walking tour to follow from our guidebook, beginning at the Plaza San Martin, which boasts a statue of some famous lady or saint with a tiny llama on her head (it was supposed to be a crown of flames, but the word for flame and llama just happen to be the same...), through some decrepit but beautiful streets, to the Plaza de Armes, where, besides an overtly strong police presence - riot shields included - is the beautiful Catedral de Lima. We wandered in. 21 alters and a chance to go 'below stairs' and see the remains of interred bodies was pretty extraordinary. From there we took a view of the old city wall and then onto the Monasterio de San Fransicso.
Sadly we couldn't afford dinner here, but a fish restaurant on the beach front served up amazing dishes. More cerviche for me! And we're all getting to know each other - it's a lovely group with some fun characters. Thank goodness. :)
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