South America Part II: Lima, Peru
Dec. 17th, 2025 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipThe next leg of this tour was Lima, capital of Peru, and named after the pre-Incan civilisation that inhabited the place from 100 to 650CE. A desert and coastal city of some 11 million people, it is understandably the political, financial, and historical centre of the country, but is also notable for its
urban segregation between wealthy barrios and poor suburbs. We ended up at the Hotel Jose Antonio Lima in the Miraflores District, which certainly sits in the former category, bustling with commercial energy and entertainment, whilst also relaxed with plenty of pleasant coastal parklands. Two particular locations in Miraflores are especially worth mentioning. One is the Park Kennedy, named after JFK, which is better known as "Cat Park" after the dozens of collectively-domesticated cats present, and is everything like it sounds. The other is Huaca Pucllana, an extraordinary 1500-year-old adobe pyramid and grounds designed for managing water resources and religious ceremonies. By pure chance, we also stumbled on an exhibition for two great Peruvian artists, Fernando de Szyszlo Valdemor and David Herskovitz, both broadly belonging to the neo-expressionist school. I especially liked the former's representations from "Don Quixote de la Mancha".
Another significant cultural area of Lima is, of course, the "Centro Historico de Lima", a UNESCO World Heritage site and for good reason. Here is a very fine collection of colonial and Republican-era buildings from the Plaza de Armas and surrounds, including the Government Palace, the Cathedral of Lima, the Archbishop’s Palace of Lima, the Municipal Palace and the Palace of the Union. A visit to the "Museo Convento San Francisco y Catacumbas" was absolutely necessary. Dating from the 17th century, it includes the remains of some 70,000 people. There is also the El Convento de Santo Domingo, which has a very impressive old library. Nearby is the "Basílica Catedral de Lima", which houses the tomb of the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, who conquered Peru for the crown of Castille (awkwardly, the church proclaimed the wrong body as Pizarro's until the real one was discovered in 1977). With superior technology, he led an ambush at the the Battle of Cajamarca where less than 200 Spaniards defeated and massacred several thousand Incan imperial guards and thousands of attendants. The military acumen is impressive, utter lust for blood and treasure despicable. Appropriately, the next stop in the journey is Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Incan Empire.
urban segregation between wealthy barrios and poor suburbs. We ended up at the Hotel Jose Antonio Lima in the Miraflores District, which certainly sits in the former category, bustling with commercial energy and entertainment, whilst also relaxed with plenty of pleasant coastal parklands. Two particular locations in Miraflores are especially worth mentioning. One is the Park Kennedy, named after JFK, which is better known as "Cat Park" after the dozens of collectively-domesticated cats present, and is everything like it sounds. The other is Huaca Pucllana, an extraordinary 1500-year-old adobe pyramid and grounds designed for managing water resources and religious ceremonies. By pure chance, we also stumbled on an exhibition for two great Peruvian artists, Fernando de Szyszlo Valdemor and David Herskovitz, both broadly belonging to the neo-expressionist school. I especially liked the former's representations from "Don Quixote de la Mancha".
Another significant cultural area of Lima is, of course, the "Centro Historico de Lima", a UNESCO World Heritage site and for good reason. Here is a very fine collection of colonial and Republican-era buildings from the Plaza de Armas and surrounds, including the Government Palace, the Cathedral of Lima, the Archbishop’s Palace of Lima, the Municipal Palace and the Palace of the Union. A visit to the "Museo Convento San Francisco y Catacumbas" was absolutely necessary. Dating from the 17th century, it includes the remains of some 70,000 people. There is also the El Convento de Santo Domingo, which has a very impressive old library. Nearby is the "Basílica Catedral de Lima", which houses the tomb of the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, who conquered Peru for the crown of Castille (awkwardly, the church proclaimed the wrong body as Pizarro's until the real one was discovered in 1977). With superior technology, he led an ambush at the the Battle of Cajamarca where less than 200 Spaniards defeated and massacred several thousand Incan imperial guards and thousands of attendants. The military acumen is impressive, utter lust for blood and treasure despicable. Appropriately, the next stop in the journey is Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Incan Empire.
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