Last Day of Perusing Peru

A man and his camelid. Which, in Peru, usually means a llama or an alpaca.

As I drift deeper and deeper into my dotage, travel has become less and less about seeing sights. It's more about soaking in the atmosphere of a place and learning more about the place's history and its current state. Today was the day to soak in Lima on the last weekend before Christmas 2025.

Yesterday I headed north from my hotel. Today I head south. Where there are museums aplenty.

Such as this. El Museo de Arte Italiano. The Museum of Italian Art.

Lets look at the big murals on either side of the entrance.

This, however, was not among the museums I intend to visit. I don't want to sound like an art snob here, but one does not travel to Lima to see the major works from major Italian artists. And I have a limit of two museums per day. The Italian Art did not make the cut.

So let's keep on walking.

This is the Fuente de Neptuno, the Fountain of Neptune, in Parque Juana Alarco de Dammert. I do not know who Señora Alarco de Dammert. And I don't why she has a Neptune in her park.

She also has a former president of Peru in her parque, too.

Meet Don Manuel Candamo.

Her park is right on the other side of Avenida Paseo de la República from the Monumento a Miguel Grau.

I have finally learned that Señor Grau's monument is not accessible to pedestrians. It is on a traffic island between two extremely crowded of the divided Avenida Paseo de la República. Even if you were to survive crossing all the lanes of crowded traffic, you would have to navigate over the barriers blocking pedestrian access to Señor Grau's monument on Señor Grau's traffic island, which is called Plaza Miguel Grau even though you cannot access it.

And speaking of things I learned, if you remember, I have been looking unsuccessfully for ceviche in Lima. Well I found it:

I found it and I won't eat it. A ceviche cart. Given that ceviche is raw fish "cooked" in an acid bath of lime juice, I want my ceviche fish to have been stored at refrigerator temperatures. I don't trust a street cart to maintain proper fish cooling temperatures. You know how they say never to get sushi from a gas station? I would add: never order ceviche from a street cart. Churros, yes. Especially in Lima. Ceviche?  That would be a hard pass.

And once again we run into Christopher Columbus. 

Finally, after a grueling walk of around 550 kilometers, which is nearly the length of five football fields back to back to back to back to back, I arrived at my intended museum destination.

MALI. Not the country in Africa with Timbuktu in it. That would requiring walking much more than 550 km, including walking over open ocean for a significant part of the walk. The MALI is an acronym for Museum of Art of LIma.

From the second floor of the MALI, I could see the Pabellón Bizantino, the Byzantine Pavilion.

I could get no closer because it's behind massive barricades. A large section of the park is walled off, and an admission fee is being charged. I am guessing it is some large celebratory gathering related to this being the last weekend before Christmas. There's a lot of that going around in Lima. This is a town that takes its Christmas seriously, albeit with a massive amount of fun.

Let's tour the museum collection, shall we?

You walk through the collection of Peruvian art in chronological order. This means you start with pottery and, more specifically, the pottery of the pre-Incan cultures in the land that is modern-era Peru.

There are two things about this collection that absolutely defies how I ordinarily view art museums.

That is a hairless dog. The Peruvian hairless dog is a recognized breed of dog.  This, however, looks more like a Chihuahua. Or maybe one of those hideously ugly Chinese Crested hairless dogs which are the size of chihuahuas, but hideous. And the owners dress them up in pajamas because that's what you do when you have a hideously ugly hairless dog.

Anyway, when I go to an art museum and they display handicrafts from ancient cultures, or any less "sophisticated" cultures, I always think it is grossly condescending to equate a woven basket from some indigenous tribe with a painting from the Italian Renaissance or French impressionism. They are not equivalent. Here, the pre-Inca pottery is the star of the museum show. And deservedly so.

I mean, c'mon, just look at that cat. I have totally seen cats strike that pose in my lifetime. It's not shock they were doing that 1300 years ago or whatever.

The thing about the pre-Incan pottery on display here is that these are not handicrafts. These are not the equivalent of the "everyday china" that was unearthed at an archaeological site and declared to be fine art. This is art.

As are these.

There also are pre-Inca textiles on display.

And, of course, we have the obligatory wall of pottery.

Every museum with pre-Inca pottery always has at least one wall of pottery. The MALI is not exception.

Here is an interesting piece. The design is not abstract.

It's a series of interlocking snakes and fish. We know who is going to win that battle.

What this staged to look like one of those Darwinian Descent of Man representations?

We move out of the "pre-hispanic" era and into the "post-hispanic." This is an interesting work from the late 1700's

 

Procesión de Corpus Christi en el Cusco. Corpus Christi procession in Cusco, attributed to an anonymous Cusqueño/

This one I found to be very disturbing:

Trinidad trifacial. The three-faced trinity. I don't think I've seen any prior representations of the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as three faces on one body. Bring back to the cat and dog pottery, please, I say.

We then enter the gold room:

The display tried to indicate that gold was not valued by the indigenous people of Peru, pre-Pizarro and, instead, they valued spondylus shells more. Bullship, I declare. Bullship. We now for certain that the Inca valued gold more than seashells. That's why there was so much gold in Cusco to ship back to Spain. And so much gold in Moche culture. And Mayan culture. Yes, they may have liked the seashells, too. Some indigenous people valued particular feathers. But everybody everywhere has always loved the uncorruptible allure of gold. This was not a Spanish or even a European obsession. It was a global obsession.

This is the Funerales de Santa Rosa. The Funeral of St. Rose.

It is by Peruvian impressionist artist Teófilo Castillo, He completed it in 1918 a few years before his death. Given the popularity of Peruvian Saint Rose de Lima, of course her funeral would have been worth memorializing in a work of art. The use of the impressionist style is a worthy choice.

We now move into the "modern art" section.

And it's not all crap-tasmic, as I was expecting. This is "Portable Alter," a take on the the medieval era alter pieces that one design on the exterior and a different one in the interior to be opened on special occasions. It's by Peruvian artist Joaquín López Antay, It was completed in the 1970s or early 1980s.

I'm not sure why this was in with the "modern" era.

And then we get to something I should hated and didn't: Psicoanálisis del Lanzón de Chavín. The psychoanalysis of the Lanzón de Chavín by the artist Fernando Gutiérrez "Huanchaco." I've stopped labelling the artists now as "Peruvian artists" because all of the artists in this museum are Peruvian artists.

This is labelled an "installation." Normally, calling something an art installation is telling me I am going to hate it. But I don't hate this. It's inventive, clever and respectful of history while having a bit of fun with that history.

This is a recreation of an ancient artifact, the Lanzón de Chavín, a stela from the Chavín culture, which flourished from 900 to 200 B.C. It is an upright stela, but here it appears to be draped over a psychoanalyst's couch, with a loudspeaker blaring. Apparently, the Lanzón de Chavín is exhausted and "burned out" from all the years of being an important national symbol. It works. So I learned something today. Not all modern art sucks.

It's from this decade, which means we've reached the chronological end of the MALI tour. Time to find the next museum. And time to find what is going on in the space next door.

This is the Pabellon Morisco. Don't know much else about it other than it looks great and is behind chainlink fencing.

This is the Monumento a Ricardo Palma.

Ricardo Palma is an important figure in Peruvian literature. Which is why his monument is near an important national library. And that important national library is next to (or contained within) the next museum I intended to visit: El Museo Metropolitano de Lima, the Metropolitan Museum of Lima.

It seemed to be closed.

Why do I say that? In front of the entrance was a small house for children to talk to Santa Claus. And I wasn't about to elbow my way past Santa with a "get out of my way, Old Man, I got museum-ing to do.:

So, because of all of the various activities in Parque de la Exposición, I only could walk the perimeter.

It is, as we know, Christmas in Lima. The city is put on its Christmas finery. The police motorcycles are done up as reindeer (more or less). They are guarded by the Grinch because why not? Since it's still before Christmas Day, the Grinch's heart still would be two sizes too small. Which makes him perfect for police work. I kid. I kid.

There was a tourist train parked in the parking lot.

And the nativity scene had a very wide variety of animals in attendance.

And with that, my Lima and Peru tourism has come to an end. I never made it the Circuito Mágico del Agua, the incredible light and water show another half of a mile to the south because, with the Christmas crowds, it promised to be an absolute zoo there. Next time. And there will be a next time, if life continues down this path.

Perusing Peru: Evening in Lima

The park in front of my hotel. Does it have a name? Perhaps.

I opted for a quiet penultimate evening in Lima.

This is the Palace of Justice, across Avenida Paseo de la Republica from my hotel,

Animal statutes in the park in between, such as this tiger.

The adjacent lion was being used by a family for its photo shoot,

Plaza Miguel Grau:

Named for Miguel Grau. Peruano naval hero.

Abandoned military college building:

Cool architecture. As with these nearby buildings:

I was in the mood for a snack at one point. I was told that, while I was in Peru, I should have a churro. I said we have plenty of churros available back home in Las Vegas. I was told that Peruvian churros are different. So I tried a street churro:

It was indeed very different. This is because, in Peru, the churro is "con manjar blanco." What this means is that the churro is a light fluffy fried donut, the texture reminding me of the "picarones" I had in Chiclayo, but these are even better. The inside is hollow and filled with "manjar blanco," which is basically sweet creamy dulce de leche. And it was only dos soles! That's about 70 cents. You cannot beat that with a stick, which is apropros because, compared to these Peruvian churros, Mexican-American churros taste like a stick. A stick coated in brown sugar cinnamon. But a stick nonetheless. 

Having eaten my churro, when it came time for supper, I was not that hungry. I thought some good Peruvian ceviche would hit the spot, but I could find no place serving ceviche. I even went into a place next to my hotel that called itself a "cevicheria," or ceviche restaurant. And ceviche was not on the menu! Can you believe? I cannot, even. Turns out ceviche is really only a lunch food, and not a dinner food item. Which explains why the restaurants in Chiclayo that appeared to serve ceviche were closed in the evenings.

So I went to China Wok in the food court of the mall next to my hotel. This is a Peruvian "Panda Express," only with a more Peruvian "chifa" version of Chinese food.

I had the "chaufa con pollo," which is chicken fried rice. It hit the spot.

Back to the hotel. The lobby is, of course, well-decorated for Christmas. Because all of Lima is well-decorated for Christmas.

We have the traditional reindeer. Thankfully, in Peru, Santa's sleigh is not pulled by llamas. Although I have seen creches with llamas being the animals in the stable with the manger. But, thankfully, those have only been Christmas tchotchkes on sale for tourists. We tend to eat up that sort of thing.

 

Merry Christmas to all. And, to all, a good night.

Perusing Peru: An American Tourist in Lima's Centro Historico

Feliz Navidad from the Plaza de Armas in Lima's Centro Historico

Tourist sights to the north of me. Tourist sites to my south. Which way should so the solo American tourist go?

North!

First, however, I got a ground level view of the Palacio de Poder Justicia, Palace of Justice.

The first destination was to be the Catacombs, which I heard was must-see tourism in Lima. But, first, before the first, I saw this beautifully looking church:

Iglesia La Recoleta. It was only about two blocks north of my hotel, heading toward the core of the Centro Historico.

And you get there by walking down Jirón de la Unión.

I put that street name into google translate because I was curious as to what a "jirón" is. The official google translate translation of "Jirón de la Unión" is "Jirón de la Unión." Seriously. Not even "Jirón of the Unión." I could live with that because some words just don't translate, especially place names. But "Jirón de la Unión"?

I was walking fast because I wanted to get to the church before it shut down for lunch. I reached what I thought was my desination:

Basilica of Santo Domingo. Or, more precisely, Convento Máximo de Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario. Only I had the wrong church. This is not the right church for the catacombs. I didn't want Santo Domingo. I wanted San Francisco. Which was three blocks away. Major churches tend to be very close to each in the Lima Centro Historico. We'll come back to Santo Domingo.

But, first, the catacombs await.

But there always time for a snapshot of interesting architecture or statuary. This is the building that houses the Ministry of Housing.

And this is a statue of Francisco Pizarro.

He's the one on the horse.

Finally, we reach our intended first stop; the church that has the Catacombs that are available for tourism. And that would be the Basílica and Convent of San Francisco, or, as you would say in Spanish, Basílica y Convento de San Francisco de Jesús El Grande.

San Francisco. Not Santo Domingo. I heard you had to hire a guide to tour the catacombs. I believe I heard that on my trip to Lima two years ago when I did a free walking tour of the Centro Historico. So I hired a guide, Juan, who runs his own tour company, Rimaq Tours. Turns out: you only need to hire a guide to "jump the line" to see the catacombs. Right after I hired him, and we are walking toward the ticket office, an older woman (so old she was probably almost my age) runs up to me, screaming in what I remember to be some combination of Spanish and English (Spanglish?), telling me in very animated terms that I should not hire because this guide is dangerous. I can't remember if she used the English word "dangerous" or the Spanish word "peligroso," which we all know from those yellow safety cones that get put up whenever some place is "muy peligroso."

Much to my disappointment, there ended up being no danger or excitement on Juan's catacombs tour. It was a fairly standard hour-long tour. (It was supposed to be only 45 minutes, but I ask A LOT of questions. I am THAT tourist.) Also much to my disappointment, no photography was allowed. Not even "sin flash." None. But there were a lot of bones. Femurs mostly. And skulls. No saint's bones. The three saints of Lima are buried elsewhere. And where would that elsewhere be? Santo Domingo. Three blocks away.

Photography is allowed in the outdoor courtyard, where professional models are available for fashion photography. That's our model, me, wearing a tasteful white Under Armour golf polo, bought where all fashionistas shop: the Outlet Mall.

And if you ever imagined what I would look as a Franciscan monk, wonder no more:

Yes, I will stick my head in holes where you can look like you are someone else. But only when I am out of the country. I would never do this anywhere in the USA. Too embarrasing.

The courtyard with a church tower in the background:

And me in front of the Basilica of San Francisco.

Those walls were up from church renovation. They are still up. They must be using that same contractor who is doing the California high-speed rail project.

So where to next?

I know what you're thinking. Santo Domingo! But that's a whole three blocks away. There's a lot to see along that many blocks in the Lima Centro Historico. Such as the above: the Casa de la Literatura Peruana. It's an interesting building because it's the old train station. Train tracks actually run behind it. I don't know if trains to. I believe they do, but, nowadays, those would be only freight trains. This is the Americas after all. I did not go visit Peruvian literature in the house where it now lives.

Continuing on:

We're only halfway done with our three-block walk from San Francisco to Santo Domingo and we hit a major must-see stop: the Plaza de Armas of Lima's Centro Historico.

And it's all decked out for Christmas.

Lima as a whole is all decked out for Christmas. Lots of Christmas music everywhere. And lots of Christmas trees everywhere:

So if course there's going to a Tannenbaum Gigante on the Plaza de Armas. 

This is the main Cathedral for Lima. Of course it's on the Plaza de Armas. Where else would you put a main cathedral in Anytown Latin America?

And here is a building with the classic Lima, Peru, style balconies. Right here on the Plaza de Armas.

Christmas arch, which likely is lit up at night, and the Cathedral.

Tree, arch, and Cathedral:

And a ceremonial guard. Because something big is going down right at this time at the Government Palace of Peru, which you may know better as El Palacio de Gobierno de la República del Perú. Security was tight. You had to be a TV news crew with a giant camera to be let inside.

Walking away from the Plaza de Armas, I ran into this man.

The signage below the statue says "Colombo," but, funny, he doesn't look like Peter Falk.

And once again we find Pizarro on a horse:

And a magnificent horse it is.

Befitting a conquistador.

Another interesting and repurposed building is La Casa de la Gastronomía Peruana, the House of Peruvian Gastronomy. It is the repurposed original post office building for Lima, which is indicated by the use of the word "Correo," meaning mail, at the lettering at the top.

The House of Peruvian Gastronomy was a museum of Peruvian food and cuisine. Which sounds like something I really would enjoy visiting. But it was a casualty of COVID. It closed during COVID, and like many great restaurants that I loved, it did not survive the pandemic. Maybe it will re-open. But we're getting far removed from Our Year of the COVID and it's still closed.

And, finally, after that long three-block tour of the Centro Historico, we return to the blue hues of Santo Domingo.

And the blue hues, in a shade that would make a UNC Tarheels' fan weep with joy, is carried over into the church interior.

Here is a side alter dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima:

Here is a side alter dedicated to the three saints of Peru: San Martin de Porres, San Juan Macias and, most importantly, the first Peruvian saint, St. Rose de Lima. You may know her from her hospital in Henderson, Nevada.

This is the main alter:

Very blue. And this is the main alter and the side alter dedicated to the three saints of Peru captured in one single shot:

What once were the convent grounds is now a museum that can be toured. It's more than a museum, however, as it is where all three of the aforementioned Peruvian saints now are buried. 

And here they are in panels of a stained glass window inside the museum.

Because I am a senior citizen, I was able to get admission at a substantial discount price of seven soles, instead of the 15 soles that the younger folk must pay. I'm not too proud to take a senior discount.

You first enter into the First Cloister. Lots of firsts in this post. And there is a Christmas tree.

Feliz Navidad! (It will not shock you to learn that "Feliz Navidad" is the Christmas song I am hearing the most here in Lima. It's not getting played all the time. I am hearing every Christmas out there, except for ones written after 1970. Which means no Wham! "Last Christmas," or sadly, no Elton John "Step Into Christmas," which I actually really like a lot.)

And here is the Christmas tree with the tower of Santo Domingo Basilica peering over the roof line:

This is the old library (with replica monks).

I had forgotten that old books had a distinctive smell. You don't see many old books anymore. But that doesn't mean that "old book smell" has gone extinct. It hasn't. It's just more rare.

This is the chapel of San Martin de Porres, in a very tasteful sage green.

His tomb is visible in the left corner.

I'm not sure what this is depicting. But it has dogs, statuary dogs.

This is the chapel of St. Rose de Lima.

But she is not buried in the chapel. To visit her tomb, you need to crawl down a narrow staircase, underneath the chapel, without much headroom (and I have the bump on my head to prove it.)

This is her tomb:

Let me just say this. You can feel something spiritual, something holy, down there in her crypt. I'm not being sarcastic. And I won't elaborate. Because either you understand what I mean, or you don't. And no amount of explanation is going to change that.

Back to the Plaza de Armas for some souvenir shopping. Arms laden with souvenirs, it's time to head back to the hotel for some rest before the evening.