Museums, parents and more…
We finally got to see the center of Lima. The plaza de armas, with the cathedral, the headquarters of the catholic church (the cardinal, to be exact), the president and the mayor of Lima. Lima’s trinity in all things political, even though the non-catholic christians are present in the parliament at the time.
The cathedral The center part is still from the original building, which collapsed after an earthquake due to Spanish architecture in the 1600s.
Then we went inside the cathedral, which has a small museum attached to it. All the dark wood inside was imported from Paraguay, because the Spanish had not yet explored the forests and preferred to use sources they knew were safe.
The remains of Francisco Pizarro, the great conquistador are here
A cross with a shrine to John the baptist
A virgin Mary The triangular shape was used to get the indigenous people to believe in Christianity, since their gods were the mountains. They also put crosses on the real mountains, so that every time they would pray to the mountain, they would pray to the cross as well.
The crypt at the center The last person to be interred in this crypt was a cardinal, in 2000, I think. There won’t be any more. This was a cemetery for the rich.
The coffins of children of rich people
A display showing various scenes from the bible that was used to convert the locals
Santa Rosa, the patron of Lima, who is a saint because she liked to imitate the passion of Christ
After the cathedral, we went to see a gold museum, which is located inside the building where the national bank used to be.
They (the Incas) used to cut people’s hearts out with this. It is called a tumi.
A gold funeral mask They painted the masks red to give an illusion of life.
They (the Incas) used to cut people’s hearts out with this.
One of the great heroes of the country (exact name and deeds will follow, I think he was an Inca)
The church that is attached to the convent of San Francisco. We were not allowed to take pictures on the inside, but it is a nice convent with some catacombs below. The whole complex seems rather unstable.
In the evening my parents finally arrived. Their luggage, however, did not. Yesterday we went on pretty much the same tour with them, but first visited the museum de la nacion.
Proof that the indigenous people used to worship my mother.
A cross in the same space, which also features a pool with lots of fishes that followed me I’ve got an army!!! Oh wait, they can’t leave the pool. Darn!
More crosses showing the mix of local and Christian culture in the course of time. This is contemporary.
Traditional clothing that is still worn every day by indigenous people
This is the guy who takes kids who don’t behave. No, seriously!
Flasks, in the shape of animals
That baby must have been tired!
A grave of a great leader, el Señor de Sipan. They buried pets, warriors and family with them, just to make sure. They also had gladiator fights…kind of a Catch 22, because they sacrificed the winner.
A golden mask, in a completely black and dark room.
Then we went for lunch.
That soup was good! We also ate some Rocotos, which were too hot for everyone but my mother and me (and Beto, of course!).
The president of Bolivia was around for lunch, so there was quite a bit of police activity.
Then we did the tour of the center, as before, with a city bus tour called “Lima by night”. For this, we bought a poncho for my mother. It was rather dark and wet (the tour, not the poncho), but very nice. I didn’t take photos, but my father did. I might post them later.
Today we’re going to a market to buy some more Alpaca, and then it’s off to Ica, to see the Nasca lines!