Our first day waking up and feeling on top of things; we had breakfast with the owner Ana Felix Mendoza and her business partner (we think) Heinke, an elderly dutch guy who told us about their other going concern, a small charity which looks after local children with serious injuries. I listened with interest although with my typical Londoner’s suspicion that it might be a fund-raising pitch – it wasn’t though.
After breakfast, we decided to stay another day in Lima and check it out and we were based in a great central location. We headed towards town via the Institute of Modern Art and a long strip of collegios where thousands of prospective students were queuing up to register for the new academic year. It was chaos on the streets, although not as busy as some places I have been (eg Bankok) and getting anywhere takes ages because of the insane traffic.
We passed more interesting museums and fenced off grassy areas, stopping to book our bus to Pisco for the next day. The travel agent was lovely, and spoke slow Spanish so we could follow what she was saying. She also found common ground, being called Laura (Gomez) and having a sister in Melbourne – Belgrave of all places. We agreed that living in the countryside is good, then left only to be accosted and prayed over by an enthusiastic older gent, whose friend “translated” the prayer into Spanish for us.
Shantytown outside Lima
Laur in the Parque Muralla in Lima
After lunch at a great vegetarian place – vegetarianism seems to be on the rise here, a sure sign of westernisation – we spent the afternoon looking at cathedrals and plazas, as well as the Museum of the Spanish Inquisition which had lots of ghoulish scenarios (roasting feet, hanging and choking victims etc) dotted all around the place. The signage was all in wooden stocks, which I thought was a nice touch.
A spot of water-boarding going on in the background
Laur sees the funny side of torture...
Coming back out again into the mid-day heat, we wandered through the “financial district” (these are always underwhelming after the City of London and the obscenity that is the Docklands) and stopped off at a curious museum which featured pre-Inca handicrafts, cool statues, a ferociously-guarded room of golden trinkets and antiquities, as well as bizarrely a film club (showing Hollywood films) – none of which seemed to match with each other.
Punters at Quierolo
Mannequin frenzy in the fashion district of Lima
On a tip-off from our Spanish tutor Rosalind who lived in Lima for a year, we dropped into a great old-school bar which hadn’t changed for decades and had the most exceptional pisco sour I’ve yet experienced. Groggily we stumbled back to Casa Ana, self-catered and enjoyed the roof terrace on our last night in Lima.
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