Lima, Peru day 3

 Need I say I woke up early. It was a bit cool last night, but with the window closed and my blanket, I was comfortable.

First stop was breakfast, where I also spent time updating my post from yesterday. Adding pictures and some missing comments.

I plan on either just walking or joining a walking tour of the historic area of Lima that includes visiting the Catacombs of the Convent of San Franisco.

But the first thing I need to do is get some clothes washed. I asked at the front desk, but they don't do laudry. The desk attendant directed me to a nearby laundry "lavenderia".

It was almost on my way to the historic area.

I dropped off my laundry. There was a gorgeous pure white cat with 1 blue eye and 1 green eye lounging on the counter.

From there I caught a taxi to a meeting spot for the walking tours. In front of the la Merced Church on Jíron de la Reunión. I was early for the tour, so I went into the Church to check it out. As mentioned before, the sides of the catholic churches here are lined with additional altars. Sometimes they are free standing altars lining the walls. The more elaborate in large churches are inside alcoves along the side walls. 

The altars in la Merced are the second, more elaborate altars. I learned today that these altars were not part of the orginal construction.

Here is a link too the Wikipedia page where you can read more about this church.

 

 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_and_Convent_of_Nuestra_Se%C3%B1ora_de_la_Merced
 

The alcoves maybe. The altars in la Merced were commissioned by wealthy individuals over time. The largest of these altars here must have been approaching 50 feet tall. Some were wood, others a mix of wood and stone. All of them very impressive.

After I completed my tour inside la Merced, I came back out and decided not to join a tour, but rather go off on my own.

My first stop was at Plaza Mayor de Lima. Boardering this plaza is the Palacio de Gobierno de Republica del Peru. That's a long name for the Presidentional Palace of Peru. A massive grand building, surrounded by a high cast steel fence. On another side is the Catedral de Lima, and one other side the Palacio Municipal de Lima Metroplitana.

I first visited the Catedral. This Catedral although still open for worship, is also a museum displaying artifacts from many other churches. This churches altars were even larger and more ornate than the ones a la Merced. It also featured serveral surrounding rooms displaying paintings, antique garments of former priests and bishops. Another room had large portraits of all the bishops of the church from the 1500's to present day

When I came out from the Catedral, I was just in time to watch the changing of the guard at the presidential palace. Pretty impressive. The ceremony lasts about 45 minutes. The large band was playing. When they finished, they marched from their position facing the public to one side where they regrouped facing into the courtyard.

Next another group of trumpet players marched out and took their position in from of the palace. Then 2 more groups came out, one from each side of the palace to take there positions in the center of the palace courtyard. The marching was a mix of high stepping, alternated with raising one leg bent, then slowly lowing that leg stepping forward one step and raising the other leg, and repeating. This causes the guards to sway slightly back and forth. All together there were probably about 100 guards in these varios groups all in there formal regalia.

I decided to find a place to eat before continuing on my walking tour for the day. I found a another small shop that had fixed menu. I had potato dish as a starter. It was sliced boiled potatoes topped with a sauce. My entre was Arroz de Cubano. Basically riced topped with a couple fried eggs.

Leaving there, it was time to find my way to the Convent of San Franciso.

The only way to see the convent is to join a guided tour. 20 Soles, about $5 usd. The tour includes a tour of the convent and also the catacombs under the church. The church is not included. The downside is that pictures and video are not allowed. I may be able to find some pictures on the web to show you.

The tour was interesting. I only hit my head about 3 times on some of the low passageways in the catacombs. You may be asking what are catacombs.

In the past most of the parishers were not buried in a graveyard, but rather in the catacombs/tunnels under the churches. Most of the old churches had catacombs. Most are not open to the public. The guide said there we over 25,000 people buried beneath this church alone.

So what did we see? Burial pits, bodies were stacked 8 high in deep pits. Each time someone was added. A layer of sand and lyme was put over the body. I believe he mentioned this is when incense became a thing in the churches, to offset the odor of decaying bodies below.

Many of the pits have been excavated and bones are now openly displayed. A lot of bones and skulls.

The church, la Merced also had catacombs but not as extensive as San Franciso.

By the end of my time at San Franciso, I was more than ready to give my legs a rest. I had to walk a few blocks to get out of the walking only streets. When I did, I hailed a taxi to take me back to the hostel.

Then, siesta time.

Now later in the evening, after having picked up my clean cloths. I am happily wearing my clean hoodie and having my first "pisco sour". It is the tradional drink of Peru. It is made with Pisco, a distilled alchohol made from grapes. Maybe similar to tequila. It also has limes, eggwhite and a dash of a chocolate liquer.  The result is a drink, faintly similar to a margarita.

You can read more about Pisco Sour here:

https://www.liquor.com/recipes/pisco-sour/