Lima day 1

Monday 03^rd of April 2012

This is our 1^st day in Peru and in particular Lima. It has been a most enjoyable day. Lima is a big city with wonderful architecture, a population of 9.000.000. There are vary degrees of affluence and poverty. It is beautiful city in the centre but has a number of run down districts where the infrastructure needs a bit of attention but once again even in these districts it is clean tidy with no litter and only one wall that we saw with graffiti and that was a planned one.

There is no social welfare here so if you do not have a job you get no money. Peruvians are very proud and resourceful so out of work people buy little bags of sweets, or drinks and sometimes other commodities to sell at a profit in the City.

Out of Lima on the mountainside are some shanties where the desperately poor live.

Today we were on a city tour where we visited the city centre with its marvellous squares and buildings and journeyed out into the suburbs where we saw the affluent new build apartments and the seaside resort of Miraflores. (we return here on Wednesday).

Our tour took in the City’s Cathedral which is large and very beautiful; very much Catholic with all the reserved iconic murals, statues, and austere pews etc. We also visted the Church and monastery of st Francis; this too is a magnificent building and both are remarkable in that the majority of the building has a wooden structure disguised by plaster and marble pillars. Both roofs are particularly intricate in their design.

Underneath the St Francis church are Catacombs. In history, when Lima was not so large, everyone was buried here, so obviously there are a considerable number of remains of bones and skulls!!!

It was also discovered that the main city square was the site of an original Inca City and another excavation they discovered an Inca pyramid dating back to 300bc. Work on this is in progress and we did not get a chance to visit it closely but it looks spectacular. The pyramids here are not like the Egyptian ones and certainly not designed as tombs as they are in Egypt. This one is constructed in various levels of platforms and designed to be a meeting palce for religious festivals.

We have certainly enjoyed today and tomorrow we go to a museum and an indian Market. Where we are berthed there are a number of stalls and shops selling locally made artefacts etc so we are looking forward to some shopping in the market tomorrow because there appears to be a a lot of local craft and art.

In the dock area where the stalls are was a couple of musicians palying pan piped and wooden flutes; some very musical playing!

Incidentally our cabaret last night was by a group called “Beyond the Barricade”; four very talented artists who have all been principals in “La Miserable”. If ever you see them on tour where you are it will be well worth going to see their performance; they are indeed excellent. Oh and I managed to get my photo taken with some of Black Watch orchestra today in Lima. So really pleased about that!