To me, Lima's most interesting site is the Monastery of San Francisco, with its catacombs containing the bones of 70,000 dead, with some macabrely arranged into patterns, such as skulls stacked on type of each other and femurs displayed in concentric circles. (I took the pic at right from the web.)
The National Museum displayed only temporary exhibits during my visit
, one on the potato (Peru has over 4,000 varieties), another on pre-Columbian pottery, and a third on El Sendero Luminoso, aka "the Shining Path". Pre-Inca pottery, particularly the monochromatic black pieces by the Chimu (seen at right) and the orange and cream-colored pieces by the Moche, were surprisingly modern and far superior to those by the Incas. The Incas conquered the Chimu, but the Moche preceded the Incas by 1000 years.The Shining Path was a socialist movement launched by a philosophy professor that aimed to overthrow the Peruvian government. Most of the war was waged in the Andean highlands from about 1980 to 2000, and it is estimated that up to 60,000 people were killed through guerilla warfare and government reprisals. Though the movement's leaders have been imprisoned for life, about 300 members remain. They have abandoned their socialist agenda for the more lucrative pursuit of coca exportation through the jungle to Colombia.
Another interesting museum in Lima is the Museo Raphael Larco Herrera, particularly its erotic pottery exhibit. Westerners believed that the "pre-Columbians" (as in Columbus, ie, pre-1492) of Peru did not depict sexual subjects until these artifacts were discovered in the early 1900s. Pictured left and right are examples of Moche pottery.
The museum is also interesting because visitors are allowed to wander through the areas where artifacts not currently on display are kept, stored on crowded shelves behind glass.
The Miraflores district is Lima's coolest neighborhood. It stretches along a clifftop overlooking the Pacific lined with a string of parks. And the highlight of Miraflores is ceviche at La Rosa Nautica, one of the city's more highly regarded restaurants. It's octagonal in shape (with every table having a good view), at the end of a pier with ocean waves rolling underneath. The ceviche was as impressive as the setting. Ceviche originated in Peru and involves preparation of raw fish with lime or lemon juice. The acidity of the juice kills any microorganisms. (Historians have resolved the dispute regarding Chile or Peru originated ceviche in Peru's favor.)
Left: The Miraflores lighthouse.
Left: The bay with La Rosa Nautica brightly lit at the end of the pier in the middle of the pic, with a silhouetted cross on the horizon, marking the far side of the bay.
After 2 days in Lima, I took the 8 hour bus ride north up the coast and then east into the Andes to Huaraz, the base for treks into the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Huayhuash. I ate a traditional Andean delicacy -- roasted guinea pig on a bed of potatoes -- at Encuentro Restaurant that night. It tasted like rabbit, or slightly greasy chicken, though the hand-like paws and the head (neither of which I ate) creeped me out a bit.
I delayed my trek into the Cordillera Huayhuash by one day in order to further acclimatize, by taking a day-trip from Huaraz over the crest of the Andes to Ch
avin de Huantar.
The Chavin culture flourished about 2,300 years before the Incas, around 900 BC. This site is an impressive temple with labrynthine interior passages. The priests awed worshippers by giving them the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus and then ushering them into the temple, which was decorated with mirrors made of polished anthrac
ite (coal) and water passages to create visual and auditory illusory effects. (No mirrors or running water now.)
A central chamber contained a carved stone pillar of great religious importance. Between this temple an
d the National Museum's Moche and Chimu pottery, I was quickly learning that there was a lot more to Peruvian archaeology than the Incas.
The next day I started my Andean trek, the highest highlight of my trip.
