"Hola from Lima,
"A bit slow getting to [the] internet, but here I am at last. About 4 p.m. Sunday in Peru.
"Yesterday, after arrival at 8, we got liberty about 11. The Cal Poly group and a couple of others took 8 or 9 taxis in an armada to Pachacamac. We split into 2 groups there, each with an English speaking guide. Fairly interesting, and a much more extensive set of ruins than I expected. But you don´t see too much beyond partial remains of walls and a couple of not terribly well preserved pyramids.
"The taxis waited for us and then took us to Miraflores, the most ¨modern¨section of Lima. The main drop off point (also for shuttles to the ship) is in front of the Marriot Hotel and right across the street from the Larcomar Shopping Mall, which is interesting as far as shopping malls go - open air and built in a descending circular terrace into the side of a cliff over the ocean - but otherwise could be about any southern CA shopping mall. Some of the girls HAD to have a Starbucks before being able to carry on.
"But we did survive Starbucks, and most of us headed a couple of blocks away to a cervheria I had seen when we were in the taxis. Had a delicious plate of ¨classical¨cerviche, which is traditionally served with hominy and sweet potato. By then it was after dark, and Lee Parker and I picked up the shuttle bus back to the ship. The students and Stacy headed out to some music clubs for quasi-traditional Peruvian music (or at least Latin music) and drinks.
"Lee and the ship's doctor John and I were going to visit the National Anthropology Museum this morning, but the taxi driver (the ship has arranged for a ¨reputable¨taxi company to come inside the port and hang around by the ship) told us there was some big political rally today (they´re having presidential elections here) at the square where the museum is and that we´d probably never get into the museum. John, who speaks a bit of Spanish, was carrying out the conversation with the driver, who spoke a bit of English, but my Spanish wasn´t enough to get more than the bear [sic] outlines of the situation.
"Anyway, we opted instead for El Centro, the downtown, which is fronted by the main cathedral and the governor´s palace. The cathedral, which has been rebuilt multiple times from earthquakes, was rather disappointing. Plain, not much happening. But then we found the main action a couple of blocks away at the much more historic cathedral of San Francisco. Much more typical over-the-top Latin America design and decor. Mass was going on inside, [some] kind of festivity was going on right in front with dancers in Andean dress and a ¨band¨consisting of 6 saxophones, a clarinet, a violin, and a harp. People milling about everywhere. And San Francisco has an attached museum that had been (and part still is) a Franciscan monastary for centuries. Quite Moorish-style tilework all around the central courtyard, interesting artwork. But the big reason most people go is the catacombs underneath. According to the guide, under the monastary and cathedral was the first cemetary in Lima, and an estimated 25,000 people were buried there over the centuries, pretty much piled right on top of each other. We went through several corridors of low, barrel-vaulted hallways filled on both sides with walled pits - I think these were the original tombs - filled with tastefully arranged human bones. Hundred and hundreds of femurs. Just femurs, with the occasional pelvic bone. Then several pits with skulls. Somewhere there´s got to be a humongous room of ribs and fingers and toes, but we didn´t see those.
"Anyway, that worked up an appetite, so back to Miraflores for lunch at an upscale place directly overlooking an archeological site right here in Miraflores. I presume it´s also connected with the pre-Incan people, since it looked not unlike Pachacamac, but we didn´t get the story behind it. Had shrimp stew, which was tasty but not overwhelmingly great.
"Headed from there to the Indian Market, which was nearby. More trinkets and chotzkies than I expected, but a few intersting things. Now I´m back near the Marriott, thought I´d get this sent off."
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