Our arrival to Lima was late in the evening on September 26th. Since it was Friday night we were glad to find a quiet hostel to rest for the evening and next day. Sunday was the perfect day to start our Lima adventures, which began with a visit to the Parque Zoologico Huachipa. It was a bit of a drive to get to, but we managed to find a taxi for a good price and set off to see some animals. While it is difficult to see animals stuck in zoos, I understand the benefit to education. I just wish there was enough control and funding to give the animals much more space to live comfortably. Here are some of the interesting animals we saw:
After the zoo we headed to the Plaza de Armas and checking out a couple of churches and the architecture of the Torre Tagle Palacio. There was a free cultural center with some photographs of Peru inside, one of them showing a destroyed illegal gold mining operation in the Amazon rainforest Tambopata. Gold mining in the Amazon has ruined tens of thousands of acres of forest, destroying animals’ homes and turning the forest into muddy mush. The government continues to fight the problem – here is a news article on the problem: Peru’s Illegal Mines.
The following morning we headed to a set of ancient ruins in the middle of Lima called Huaca Pucllana. We were required to take a tour around the site, but only had to wait a couple of minutes luckily. Our guide explained to us that the adobe and clay pyramids (with walls of shells, mud, and limestone) in front of us were built by the Lima culture between 200 AD and 700 AD. The Lima people constructed the buildings supposedly as their ceremonial and administrative center,as indicated by structures with alters, courtyards, and patios. The buildings were intended to be earthquake-proof, as the stones used in the structure of ‘book-like’ blocks (a technique known as ‘bookshelf’) would absorb much of the shock of the shake.
In a nearby museum we were shown pottery pieces and other artifacts showing images of fish and marine life, which the Lima people clearly relied on for food. They painted images of the fish on their goods, including some striking representations of sharks, and they left offerings of fish in their tribute packages for the gods. It is likely that the culture did this partially because of El Nino. The guide explained that there is evidence of the Wari culture on the site as well –including some mummies and children sacrifices which had taken place between 700 AD and 1000 AD. Around Lima there are more than 100 huaca centers, many showing evidence of use by multiple cultures similar to Huaca Pucllana.
Our guide walked us around the site, through some animal pens and gardens showing the local products the Lima culture would have eaten, and up to the top of a couple of the pyramids. We could see archeologists actively working on excavating more of the pyramids. Awesome to see them making progress!
After the ruins we grabbed some lunch, then took a taxi to the main plaza. The Cathedral of Lima had a joint ticket available for purchase which included access to the church, as well as the archbishops’ palace. First we headed into the church to see an eclectic mix of architectural styles including Elizabethan gothic, renaissance, baroque, neoclassical, and neocolonial. We looked at its chapel-niches closed with beautiful (each made with a different color) wood grille”abalaustradas.”
One room contained the remains of Francisco Pizarro. Pizarro. In this room were some beautiful Venetian mosaics showing the discovery of Peru and Pizarro’s coat of arms. From the panels located near the coffin we learned that since 1891 there was a mummified body on display believed to be Pizarro’s. However, in 1977 a lead box was discovered with an inscription on its cover indicating the skull was that of Pizarro’s. Additional bones were sent to the University of Missouri and matched to the skull. Pizarro was killed when a sword was driven from under his chin into his skull during a fight with some of his former followers; a distinctive cut in his vertebrae found by the University determined his cause of death.
We walked around the church looking at the different crypts and artifacts the church had stored away, only just rediscovered during a 2011 restoration. In the crypt 70 bodies were found, including 27 children, arranged in 5 communal tombs on top of each other. Ethnically, the bodies were mixed-race, Creole, and one African. A separate crypt was found for archbishops and other church leaders. There were numerous of these bodies and skulls on display – strange – and one room with large, old music books used for choir songs. After looking at everything the cathedral had to offer we headed to the archbishop’s palace next door to see a bit more about how the rich religious figures lived in the new world.
We took a walk through the archbishops’ palace, which was filled with stained glass windows and skylights. The palace was built in the early 1500’s, shortly after the founding of Lima, using materials from Europe. It was built for Father Geronimo de Loayza, the first archbishop of Lima – then known as the ‘City of Kings.’ Importantly, this palace was the place where evangelization and pastoral policy for Peru and all of South America was conceived and implemented for more than four centuries. There were balconies and carvings of cedar wood and mahogany, and tiles from Seville. There were loads of old furniture pieces and personal items including clothing and books… everything to show exactly what luxury the archbishop would have lived in. Having seen enough glitz for one day, we headed back to our hotel for the evening.
On October 1 we decided to see some more animals. Armed with a new camera Colin had purchased, we set out to visit Parque de las Leyendas, a combination theme park/zoo/park. Throughout the park were 53 ancient buildings built more than 2,000 years ago by the Lima culture. Numerous cultures after the Lima culture occupied the site as well, ending with the Incas. They were roped off and unavailable to explore, but we did see the outside of quite of few of them including one called Hauca San Miguel. Apparently one of the haucas, La Palma, at the site has a fresco of booby birds on it, though we didn’t see it at the time.
We had decided to spend more of our time exploring the animals at the park – and were delighted to see the park had the brightly colored orange bird we’d been looking for all over Bolivia and Peru! The cock of the rock is a really awesome-looking bird, whose little beak is almost totally hidden under its large, orange crest. There were many of these on display, and a few of the brown female birds as well (not as interesting.) We saw a couple of the males practicing their leking; a series of little head bobs in a courtship/aggressive stance. The bird gets its name from its nests, which are built in the crevasses of rocky overhangs.
The parks around Lima have an awesome variety of animals and it was awesome to get to see them up close after looking for them for so long in the wild! Next, Lima’s culinary arts and history…
Francesca
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