Arriving in Lima

Lima is located in the valleys of the Chillon, Rimac and Lurin rivers, on the west coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was founded by Spanish Conquistaror Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535, as La Ciudad de los Reyes, or "The City of Kings." It became the most important city in the Spanish city in the Spanish Viceroyalty and was the headquarters for the Spanish Inquisition for two hundred years. Today around one-third of the Peruvian population lives in the metropolitan area which is over 8,000,000 people.

I am staying at Hostel Kokopelli in the Miraflores district of Lima which is an upscale district on the ocean.

The first place I visited today was the Plaza Mejor, formerly known as the Plaza de Armas. It was here that Pizarro dedicated the town and in the center of the plaza is a 17th-centruy bronze fountain.

The plaza is surrounded on one side by the palace of the Governors which is guarded by the military with rifles and there are even some armored tanks cruising around.

Palace of the Governors

Looking accross the plaza

On one side of the plaza is the cathedral, where the bones of Francisco Pizarro are entombed. Aparently, they thought they had buried his bones back in 1945 only to find a lead box in 1977 that had a skull in it with the inscription on the lid saying that it contained the skull of Francisco Pizarro. Next to the lead box lay a wooden crate of bones wrapped in velvet. His bones were verified by the different wounds he had recieved in battle while alive. So they re-buried his bones under the cathedral.

Tomb of Francisco Pizarro

Nave of Cathedral

These retablos are about 40 feet high

Another retablo in cathedral nave

The next place I went was the Basílica and Monestary de San Francisco de Lima, founded by the Franciscan monks and built in 1546. It was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1746 and rebuilt. When I got there, there was a mass going on and a very long line outside for people to come in and venerate the crypt and some sacred relics of Saint Tomas.

This Moorish style church is spectacular with a lot of carved cedar wood everywhere, from the cloisters with many saints to the carved mudéjar (Moorish-style) ceilings overhead.

A breathtaking carved Moorish ceiling over a staircase is a reconstruction of the original from 1625. There is also a library of 25,000 books dating back to tthe 15th century with two beautiful spiral staircases going up the center of the room. Unfortunately, we couldn´t take pictures in the monastary area. 

After mass everyone gathered in the side area to get a blessing from the priest.   Nave with La Virgen de Candelaria, whose feast is a big celebration in Puno on Lake Titicaca February 2nd which is where I am going next.

The guided tour takes you through the monastary area, with beautifully carved saints and a series of portraits of the apostles by the studio of Francisco Zurbarán, the famed Spanish painter.

The most fascinating part of the visit is the descent into the catacombs, which were dug under the church, beginning in 1546, as a sacred burial ground for priests and lay persons alike. 25,000 bodies were burried under the church before the main cemetery was built. The bodies were piled five high and covered with limestone powder. The catacombs are at least three levels deep and nobody knows how extensive they are because many of the passages were sealed off, presumably because they became unsafe.

For lunch I went to Rincon que no conoces, the restaurant you've never heard of and this is what I had.   It is called tacu tacu a steak and a mixture of rice with refried beans and  other flavorings.  In the back you can see my drink which is called Chicha Morada.  It is mase by boiling purple corn with pineapple and orange skins then adding a little sugar.  It was very good and refreshing!