Exploring downtown Lima......

The downtown area of Lima is very interesting.......
of particular interest was the Casa de Aliaga which has been lived in by the same family for 17 generations!  The first Aliaga came to Peru with Pizarro!

The house is just off the main square, the Plaza Major , and right next to where Pizarro's Presidential Palace once stood, which is now the Government Palace. ... rebuilt between 1921 and 1938

On another side of the Plaza Major is the Cathedral....a 16th century bronze fountain in front of it...

On the left side of the Cathedral is the Archbishop's Palace with its original wooden balconies...... to its left is the Pisco museum!

On the opposite side were the Police, keeping an eye on the Government building!

We also visited the Santa Domingo convent......

with it's resident cat!

We went for a pisco sour at the Gran Hotel Bolivar, Lima's oldest hotel....... but a little tired!!

with its beautiful dome..........

Then on to a private museum...the Larco....

...superb is the only descriptive word which can be used!!
Pottery.......

... beautiful gold....

....beautiful textile....4000 years old!

and a quipo...a record-keeping device with details of crop measures, debts, thefts etc!

and of course we did visit their separate erotic collection.......

Not many people know that it is open until 10pm........so no-one else was visiting! Amazing!


And the dinner afterwards in their restaurant was great.... food with a view.......

Exploring the Barranco area of Lima......

I decided to check out the area I was staying in by walking to the adjacent Barranco area...... a 30 minute walk, having to traverse rather busy roads.....and of course no one was willing to even slow down!
I initially made a mistake, inputting the area on google with an 'a' at the end instead of 'o' and was rather taken aback by the time of 48hrs to walk there!
I actually had in mind visiting 2 museums/art galleries.......one was closed!

The Pedro de Osma museum was being renovated....

....it would be re-opening the week after I left.... and it did look interesting! Owned by  the politically connected Osma family.....

However it was almost next door to my other intended goal........the MATE......
which was superb....

 This has a permanent exhibition of fashion photographer Mario Testino's photos...

His photos of Princess Di for Vanity Fair just 3 months before she died were superb!  And I am not a Royal Family fan!!

..and then there were his photos of people in local Peruvian costume.....

His non permanent exhibition was also very interesting......

The core of the Barranco area was just OK...... the bridge of sighs...one of the touted highlights would have left me sighing..... had I gone on a tour to see it!

 ..but the street art was interesting.....

Apparently this particular area in Lima is now the most expensive area to buy into! So it will no doubt be very gentrified soon!

As I didn't feel like walking back and trying to cross freeway off ramps I decided to take a local bus........for the sum of 30 cents!  Interesting!

Return to Peru........ and back to school!

Having missed out on Machu Picchu many years ago I decided to definitely return and visit it.....

........and added on a trip to the Galapagos Islands.
As I find it good to be able to communicate a little I signed up for some Spanish classes first!
I found a small school in the Miraflores part of Lima, the Peruwayna, and can definitely recommend. Their location is ideal and it actually had quite a number of students at different levels.
One observation....somewhat unexpected......the climate in Lima is such that even in summer it is almost permanently overcast, but never rains! My first view of the Pacific was underwhelming!

There are lots of hotels in the area, which is considered chic and I chose a Peruvian chain hotel, the Casa Andina Premium. I chose it in part because it has a pool......that was before I knew the weather would be overcast! So I actually never visited the pool! The  architecture of the hotel is quite interesting....

I also chose it because it was an easy walk to the school.
Another observation.......pedestrians have no rights in Peru!  Most corners had lines of cars, no traffic lights and no-one was in any way inclined to stop..... unless they had to.

One of the close-by historic highlights of Lima is the 1500 year old Huaca Pucllana...... this was totally covered with earth until 1963 and was used by motocross riders.....

Only roughly half has been excavated.......maybe in another 40 years it will be finished!
It is difficult to describe how large it is......500m long and 20m high and 30 m deep.

 No open interior spaces were found within the structure.  So, no burial chambers.....but they did find pottery and fish bones!
It is built with upright sun baked bricks, sort of like books on a bookshelf...... apparently the air gaps gave it the ability to withstand earthquakes.

 Given the fact that most of the centre of Lima has been badly damaged by earthquakes over the years (the Cathedral had to be rebuilt twice!) ........ it would seem that their building method works!

They have a very nice restaurant overlooking the site. I went during the day for lunch but apparently it is fantastic in the evening when the site is lit up.

...and they do a great ceviche!