Goodbye to Lima 3 Jun 2015

At first, I would like to visit the ones recommended in the guidebooks.  Though, I could not locate any one of them.  Finally, I had lunch at a local shop at the business area.  Many white-collar visited this one.

El Metropolitano is a new Bus rapid transit system serving the city of Lima. Its construction began in the year 2006 during Luis Castañeda Lossio's period as Mayor of Lima.  It serves only 3 lines but could connect the central Lima with Barranco and Miraflores.  Actually, I should take a ride for S2.5.

Main street with many big brand names set up outlet here.

After lunch, I walked all the way back to Plaza Mayor

Iglesia de San Francisco / Monasterio de  San Francisco
It is the jewel of colonial Lima.  The church faces a small paved square, full of pigeons and portrait photographers.  The outside is attractively painted in colonial yellow, but it is the interior that is fascinating; much of it is decorated in the geometrical Mudéjar (Andalusian Moorish) style.

Its outstanding features include the 17th-century library, with 25,000 leather-bound volumes and 6,000 parchments dating from 15th to the 18th century.  The cupola has a superb Mudéjar carved wooden ceiling of Panamanian cedar, dating from 1625.

In a gallery above the nave of the church are 130 choir stalls and 71 panels with carvings of Franciscan saints, made of the same wood.

San Francisco has probably survived more recent earthquakes because of the solid base provided by its catacombs, which were used as Lima's cemetery until 1810.  A network of underground chambers, which are open to public, contains hundreds of skulls and bones, stored in racks according to type.

Bones including thousands and thousands of human skulls are piled in eerie geometric patterns in the crypt of this church.  This was the city's first cemetery, and the underground tunnels contain the earthly remains of some 75,000 people.  The church is the best example of what is known as "Lima Baroque" style of architecture.

Library

 Choir stalls

Altar

Catacomb

 Moorish style

  

"Last Supper" with Cuy

Garden

Followed the guide book, I tried to locate the restaurant of La Choza Nautica, a good place for yummy fish ceviche, with fresh and tasty seafood.  From the menu with pictures, I chose this and got ...  Well, still good

After having an early dinner, I got back to 1900 Backpacker Hostel to reclaim my luggage deposited earlier in the morning.  Once I arrived, the reception told me that a lady would like to share the taxi with me to the airport.  Well its's good, I could pay less.  My companion is from Canada and has spent a year in Peru to experience her life.

Sunrise on 4-Jun over Atlantic

Waiting at Newark for transfer, for flight to Tokyo, my last stop-over (for 3 hours) before flying back home.

Historic Lima 3 Jun 2015

Quirky Climate
Lima may be a tropical capital, but its climate would hardly give that away.  For over half the year - April through November - the city is draped in a damp blanket of low cloud called garúa.  Cool temperature with highs around 18°C accompany the dreary weather, created by condensation above the cold Humboldt Current off the coast.  Rainfall hardly amounts to more than a few nights of drizzle, however.  November through April, the summer months, are pleasant, with highs rarely topping 27°C.

Museum of Art of Lima - MALI 
On the other side of the street of the hostel I stayed

Today, I would like to go to visit some tourist spots near Plaza de Armas.  On the way, I passed through a newly opened mall near Centro de Lima.

Many eateries in the mall

and a supermarket

Paseo de los Heroes Navales

Fire station

Historic Lima

Under the auspices of Unesco it has been declared part of the "Cultural Heritage of mankind", and there have been spectacular changes in both architectural restoration and street cleanliness and security.

Most of Lima's colonial-era churches and mansions are in El Centro, along the Plaza de Armas. From there a speedy expressway called Paseo de la Republica (aka Via Express) or a traffic-clogged thoroughfare called Avenida Arequipa takes you south to San Isidro and Miraflores. two fairly upscale neighborhoods where you'll find the bulk of the city's dining and lodging options.  East of Miraflores is Barranco, where colonial architecture is complemented by a bohemian ambience.


Plaza San Martín

South of Plaza Mayor, the largest square and hub of Lima's first expansion is the Plaza San Martin.  It's best approached via the pedestrianized Jirón de la Unión, once Lima's most elegant shopping street, now a teeming mass of shoppers and fast-food joints.  The colonnaded Plaza San Martín, restored and repainted and brightly lit, is an important gathering place for political meetings.  In the Center is an equestrian statue of General José de San Martín, Peru's Argentinian independence hero.

On its west side is the Gran Hotel Bolívar.  Built in the 1920s, it retains much of its former atmosphere.

Plaza de Armas / Plaza Mayor
Stand in the middle of this handsome square, by the 17th-century bronze fountain, and it is the city's historic heart.  The Angel of Fame on the fountain is a copy of the original that, according to legend, flew away in 1900.

The eastern side of the square is dominated by the Catedral San Juan Evangelista,

The first church on the site was completed in 1625.

On its right stands Archbishop's Palace of Lima

Municipalidad de Lima (City Hall)
There is a library inside

Municipal Palace of Lima / Palacio de Gobierno

There is a free 2-hour guided tour with a copy of passport and registered one-day before.
At 11:45am, every day except Sunday, Changing of the Guard performs in the front courtyard by goose-stepping troops from the Húsares de Junín regiment, dressed in the red-and-blue ceremonial uniforms and ornamental helmets of the independence period.

The oldest building of the square, the Casa del Oidor, is on the right side of the photo.  Dating from the early 18th century, it has the wooden balconies in the form of enclosed galleries projecting from the first floor that were colonial Lima's most graceful feature.

Lots of people already there to watch the match, I slipped to the side

Other buildings around the plaza including the post office

Desamparados Station - an old train station turned cultural centre Casa de la Literatura Peruana

At the back of the palace, there lays an express way - Panamericana Norte

and a pleasant walkway

Along the hillside, there is a shanty area for the poor.
Pueblos jóvenes
Many Andean communities suffered greatly during the 20th century, and between the 1960s and 1980s Lima seemed like a promised land to the rural poor.  Thousands of migrants gradually filled the city with a huge Andean population.  Urban authorities were unable to satisfy the basic needs of these migrants, and thus the pueblos jóvenes, or shantytowns, surrounding Lima came into being, They started as squatter settlements of rush-matting huts, but decades of hard work have turned some into pleasant districts,  Many others remain desperately poor, lacking electricity, piped water, or paved streets.

Correo Central
Inaugurated in 1924, this regal structure looks more like a palace than a post office.