Another Day exploring Lima! After breakfast, and a successful mission to find Amy’s coveted Black Tea, we walked around Larcormar waiting on our Bus Tour of Lima. On the slow bus ride through town, our guide told us about the history of Lima, from the Incan time to the Conquistadors who conquered it for its value in shipping, to its eventual independence.
Each group to take over had its own cultural and spiritual influence, which has created a melting pot of sun gods and saints. You could also tell technology was fairly new, as most of the power, phone, and internet wires were a tangled crisscross of wires running outside buildings.
We eventually made it to the city’s original market and got to go to the Basilica of Nuestra Senora Merced, a historic church that our guide claimed to have the largest nativity scene in the Americas. Whether or not that was true, it was certainly massive, taking up several pockets of the cathedral. This led us next to Limas city center, which like many places had a large square. Unfortunately, due to the political turmoil surrounding the president, and her being in the capital that day, everything was gated off by police. Politically speaking, there was this unrest, other protestors fighting for Working Women, and large groups of Venezuelan migrants trying to apply for asylum – not unlike home. Finally, we went to the Basilica of Santo Domingo, where Saint Rose of Lima and St Martin do Porres are both buried and also had an awesome old library the monks used to use.
Back to the hotel, some KFC to make sure the colonel was finger-licking good in South America, a quick regroup, and off to the Inka Market, a place near Miraflores that had a ton of artisans and handmade crafts. It also had the Chocolate Museum, which Amy had signed us up for a chocolate-making class. We learned about the history of chocolate, how the Incas used chocolate (including in sacrifices), and most importantly made our own chocolate, which we got to take with us. Our guide, Kilver, was great and made this experience the highlight of Amy and Charlie’s day.
The funny thing about public restrooms in Lima – they cost 50 sols to use, and that’s regulated by unassuming old ladies that dol out the toilet paper. And they don’t like to make change. So on our way out of the market, we walked around and finally found a department store that had bathrooms to use. As luck would have it, after our Esprit find the day before, Amy found another old favorite brand – Benetton! So a little more shopping before we decided to head back to Miraflores.
Kennedy Park was on our way, and someone told us we needed to see the “Park with a 100 cats“. They were everywhere. Under park benches. Sleeping in holes in trees. lying in flower beds. And when a local came out with food, they all came out. We came, we saw, we petted. We ventured on, stopping for churros at Manolo on a recommendation from our friends Erin and Brandon. Back to the Hotel for cocktails, Taco Cat, and Skip-Bo – another full day in Peru.
