Lima, Peru (Wednesday, February 28)

After a night’s sleep interrupted occasionally by port noises such as some vehicle’s backup alarm that sounded way too much like an alarm clock, we prepared for an all-day tour ashore. 

With almost 90% of the passengers disembarking today, we had been warned to allow 45 minutes to catch a shuttle bus to the main gate.  We dutifully descended to the pier at 7:45 AM.  We were pointed to a shuttle bus.  We stepped aboard.  It was almost empty.  The doors closed.  We were on our way, arriving at the main gate before 8:00 AM.

A note about the main gate – El Arco - it is not a gate.  Apparently once upon a time there was a gate there, but now it is just the aforementioned (see yesterday’s blog) sleazy parking lot.

Repeating “Espero mi amigo!” (“I’m waiting for my friend.”) like it was a mantra, we broke free of the press of taxicab drivers surrounding the shuttle bus.  Today Oceania had a tent set up with some chairs in it and a couple of representatives on duty, so we waited there for our 8:30 pick-up.  

One particular cab driver would come over to us periodically to tell us our friend was not coming so we should let him take us somewhere.  I finally told him that if my friend did not come I would be so angry that I would take the shuttle bus back to the ship.  After that, he left us alone.

Alfredo, a guide we found using Tours by Locals, arrived 5 minutes early.  With him was Eduardo who would be our driver.  Introductions, handshakes and off we went.

The drive from the port to the center of Lima took us about an hour.  By the end of it, we were impressed with Eduardo’s driving skills.  In Lima, driving seemed to be a competitive sport played with seemingly total disregard for traffic laws on roads badly undersized for the volume of traffic they carried.

Our first stop was Santo Domingo Monastery where we visited the church and I got to climb to the top of the bell tower.  

One of the ceilings

View of main church from choir loft

Before there were teleprompters, there were huge hymn books the entire choir could see.

In the bell tower, looking down on the first level of bells

Is he really going up there?

View towards St. John Cathedral

Santo Domingo's courtyard

Rimac River in background is water from Andes that enables Lima to exist.

Tiles from Seville, Spain

The courtyard was an oasis of tranquility shutting out the noise of the city.

The library

A beautiful room unless back in the day you were here for an appointment with the Spanish Inquisition.

Pam with Alfredo

Leaving Santo Domingo, we walked past the central post office with its arcade of shops. 

Emerging by the presidential palace, we admired the home of one of Francisco Pizzaro’s trusted aides.  The house has now belonged to that family for 500 years.

Proceeding along the side of the presidential palace towards the Plaza de Armas onto which it fronts, we found the plaza closed.  It was cordoned off with a police presence that suggested it was not closed for cleaning.  From talking to a police officer, Alfredo found out that a demonstration was expected…well maybe.

This plaza would normally be packed with pedestrian and street traffic.  A bit spooky seeing it so empty.

I’m still a bit sketchy on who exactly was going to demonstrate, but reportedly it was farmers protesting the importation of dairy products from New Zealand and elsewhere.  A rally had been called several blocks away.  If enough people showed up and the animation of the crowd rose to an acceptable level, they would march on the palace shouting their demands.  If not, everybody would just go home as they did the previous day.

Alfredo told us that marching on the palace or congress was relatively common.  Usually it was just a lot of noise.  Last Christmas, when the current president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski pardoned a former president found guilty of corruption involving the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, things got ugly.  

We walked about the edge of the plaza.  

On one side is the cathedral (church), on another the palace (government) and on a third administrative offices (people).  The fourth side is private businesses.  Alfredo told us this is a common layout for the “plaza mayor” (central park) in South American cities.

Presidential Palace in the background.

When we got to the cathedral side of the plaza, we were allowed to walk inside the cordon along with a small group of other people.  We could not go into the cathedral.  This was not a major miss for us having been in it on a previous trip. 

The front steps of the cathedral

Protest! What protest?  

Passing through one of Lima's oldest restaurants - Restaurante Cordano - along the way...

...we walked on to the Monastery of San Francisco where we visited the church.  There was a huge queue of people waiting to get in; a queue we catapulted to the front of thanks to having a licensed guide. 

Alfredo explained that the 28^th of each month is a “saints day” that draws massive numbers of worshippers and petitioners seeking divine intervention.

The shrine by the front door.  A cellphone picture as proof of presence?

The main altar

The coins on the skulls suggest that some people have trouble distinguishing catacombs from wishing wells.

After leaving the church, we rendezvoused with Eduardo and the car.  We drove to the Barranco District where we walked around a bit admiring the architecture and seeing the Bridge of Sighs.  Unlike the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, this bridge got its name from sighs of love. (Gag.)

The last stop on our tour was Miraflores, like Barranco, an upscale neighborhood but more modern and more expensive with high-rises lining the ocean-front cliffs.  Residents of the high-rises were not seeing much out of their windows today.  The fog hung just offshore and overhead on the cliff. 

We drove along the shore road, then ascended to the top of the cliff where we visited El Parque del Amor (Love Park) to see the El Beso (The Kiss) by the famous Peruvian sculptor Victor Delfin ...

 

...then took a walk though the upscale, cleverly designed Larcomar shopping mall buried into the side of the cliff.

Returning to El Arco shuttle bus stop, we said good-bye to Alfredo and Eduardo, They had given us a good tour. 

We were soon aboard SIRENA, diligently avoiding the swirl of confusion as 600+ newly arrived passengers moved around the ship getting oriented and settling in.

We went through a routine evolution of the safety at sea lecture and lifeboat drill.

As evening came, the fog grew steadily thicker.  SIRENA pulled away from her berth a few minutes ahead of schedule, probably at the recommendation of some port official or port agent.  Twenty minutes after we departed, with the fog 'thick as a brick' and with darkness falling, the Captain of the Port closed it to all arriving and departing ships.  We had narrowly missed being stuck there for the night.

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I have once again slipped behind on my reporting of ports of call.  Tomorrow is a sea day, so I hope to get somewhat caught up.