Lima

Feb. 25, 2006- Landing
(Photos:Love Park & Gaudi bench,
Plaza Mayor,
Rio Rimac)

Hurray! We can now blow our noses without bloody mucus! You know the joke about getting cheap theater tickets and having to sit so high in the balcony you get a bloody nose. It’s not a joke at 13,000 feet.

We flew Lan Peru to Lima and I think I prefer it to American. They fly airbuses and there was more legroom. We fly Lan Peru back to Miami. We’re at Hotel El Condado, which is listed as a four-star hotel but is nicer than the five-star in La Paz. It looks like it was moved here as one piece from Spain. It’s charming and loaded with dark furniture, deep colored carpeting, and heavy window coverings.

We were still a bit bonkers when we met with Eric, our new tour director, at 10 AM to organize the trip. Six people were new to the group since they didn’t take the pre-trip to Bolivia. The base trip is eleven days including only Lima and the Amazon. Nick and Louise who were old-timers and knew better were late to the meeting. June, a hoot, put two chairs in the middle of the circle and they had to sit there until we let them into the fold. To calm us down Eric passed out Pisco sours. Remember it was 10 AM. Pisco is a brandy and it’s mixed with stuff to make it into something resembling a whiskey sour. We tried Pisco by itself and it’s reminiscent of Slivovitz (prune brandy), a Polish abomination.

Levels

We met our city guide, Yvonne, who filled us in on this nine million-person metropolis of deeply stratified living. It appears to be a first world country but there are seven sectors each with separate names that are ranked from A-F by affluence. It’s a true melting pot with the largest communities being Chinese and Japanese. The Chinese came in the 1800’s when slavery was abolished and farm labor was needed. Well, how backward can this place be? The favorite for the next presidential election is a woman and voting is mandatory.

At first we thought the parks were so much cleaner and better maintained than Puno but we soon realized that they reflected the wealth of whatever sector they were in. Water is an issue here and an expense. Weather doesn’t co-operate at all. There’s no sun for nine-months of the year. The Humboldt Current brings fog and little else. They only get 4-6 inches of rain a year. The park we stopped at is a must for tourists. The Park of Love was opened on Valentine’s Day and its main draw is the super-sized statue of lovers kissing. The imitation Gaudi benches ala Barcelona are stunning as they frame the Pacific. The park is a photo destination for brides and grooms and we saw many there.

We zigged and zagged through the one-way streets gawking at the ugly new buildings and appreciating the dramatically graceful colonial ones. The Spaniards left a legacy of color, balconies, and flowing contours. Colorful buildings were thought to brighten the dreary foggy days.

The archeological museum was a colonial mansion and I found the structure to be more interesting than its contents. Lots of it was repetitive to the original crew of sixteen who’d been in Bolivia. But Yvonne brought some new explanations. We had heard of the droughts that drove civilizations to ruin but she clarified it as occurrences of Mega-Ninos. They experienced ten-year cycles of drought followed by ten years of too much rain. Sounds biblical. The popularity of fertility temples was more agricultural although they were used to promote human fertility as well. If the people were not well fed they wouldn’t be healthy and couldn’t reproduce.

Unlike their highland neighbors, those living in arid areas buried their dead wrapped in textiles. They also cut the ligaments at the knees and elbows so the body could be folded into the fetal position. One mummy had his hands on his head and looked so stressed. David thought his look of concern was appropriate considering he was dead. We went on to see some intricate metal work (here metal means gold or silver) and collections of ceramics.

We continued our drive through the city and Yvonne explained that some of the squatters in the “F” sectors had been there since before the government began protecting historic sites. There’s nothing they can do now. One-third of the population lives in shantytowns.

Pollution is generally bad. I cannot imagine what it would be like if more people could afford cars and if gas was not $4/gallon. Peru buys gas from Venezuela but Amazonians produce it locally and it’s cheaper in the jungle.

When we got to Plaza Major I was surprised that it was where Pissaro and the Spanish first settled. It wasn’t near the sea. Evidently the Spanish ousted the Incas and took their spot. It was on the Rio Rimac and ideally situated. Unfortunately the river is now a sluggish cesspool. The old city had been walled from the 1800-1900’s. When they tore the wall down they built roundabouts where the gates had been. The street urchins and vendors here are quite polite. A “no gracias” was enough to send them on to another prospect.

Tomorrow we go to see the Nasca Lines. We have to be up at 5AM. We didn’t realize that we were flying to Nasca to get our flight-seeing plane. We may be stuck in Nasca until 5PM depending on weather. It will be a longer day than we thought it would be with potentially lots of down time at the airport. I hope I remember to bring a book.

Toby