Going backward...First Day in Lima

Saturday, February 13, 2010

After breakfast at the hotel, we set off into the oldest part of Lima with our guide Pepe, which is apparently a nickname for Jose. We started at the main square, which is bordered by the President’s house, the mayor of Lima’s house and the oldest Cathedral. We walked through the former post office building to the pink Dominican church. This church holds the remains (skulls) of the two native Peruvian Catholic Saints, Saint Rosa and Saint Martin. Saint Rosa was a nun at the church and is depicted as wearing a crown of roses. Saint Martin, a black saint who is depicted with a broom, started as a janitor in the church and later joined the Dominican order.

After crossing back through the square, we visited the Cathedral, which houses the body of Conquistador Francisco Pizarro. After he was killed by a rival Spaniard, his body was hidden and later found in the catacomb under the alter of the church. His tomb is now in a side chapel decorated with elaborate mosaics. The Cathedral’s catacombs are the final resting place for all of the Archbishops of Peru, starting in the 1500s. The side chapels were built by local artisans and include native themes, such as representing Mary as mother earth in the form of a mountain. There are elaborate baroque carved niches celebrating the native saints of Peru, who are mentioned above.

We then entered the enormous Franciscan church and monastery, which unfortunately did not allow photography. The monastery features a central courtyard area with the walkway around decorated with gorgeous Spanish style tiles from the 1600s. The ground floor contains communal spaces for the monks, such as the enormous dining area with a huge painting depicting the Last Supper. A room that was previously used for wakes, now displays several paintings by Ruben. The second floor includes the monk’s cells and a library with ancient books and two spiral staircases. Since there was a service in session, we viewed the church from a second floor balcony, where the chorus would have sat, which provided a unique view. Finally, we descended into the musty labyrinth of the catacombs, which contain over 300,000 bodies of people buried between 1500 and 1800 until the first cemetery was built. There are several entrances into the catacombs from the church, which must have reeked of rotting bodies in the hot humid weather.

After leaving the historic area, we went to a museum, which houses artifacts collected by an archeologist named Larco. There is pottery, jewelry, weaponry and other artifacts from many native cultures including the Incans, the Nazca, and the Olmatecs. Many of the thousands of pieces of pottery depict faces, animals and scenes from daily life.

At a lunch featuring some traditional Peruvian food, Jon sampled a Pisco sour drink and I sampled a chincha, a deep purple drink made from boiling purple corn, cinnamon, cloves and pineapple. Other dishes featured cerviche, goat, yellow potatoes, and yams.
At about 2pm, we went back to the airport for our flight to Iquitos, where we will board our boat for our trip down the Amazon.

Interesting fact: Pizarro and many of the Spanish conquistadors married noble Incan women and several people can trace their lineage back to this time. One of the top soccer players in Peru today has the last name of Pizarro.