Looking around Lima

Today commenced a couple of long days of traveling.  Fortunately, we had the latest, most leisurely start of our entire trip this morning, leaving Puno by van for the airport at Juliaca.  (I enjoyed some last views of Lake Titicaca from our hotel before we left.)  We then flew from Juliaca to Lima, where we boarded another van for a bit of a tour of Peru’s capital city, which, depending on your source, is the home to between nine million and thirteen million people.

I have to admit that Lima, from the little that I’ve seen of it on this trip and that I saw during an earlier but equally brief visit roughly two decades ago, probably wouldn’t rank high on my list of the world’s most charming cities.  (It’s a vast improvement over Juliaca, though!)

However, there are some interesting portions to be seen.  The Plaza San Martin is attractive, for instance.  But the Plaza Mayor, or Plaza de Armas, is really quite beautiful. At least it certainly was when we saw it this evening, illuminated after dusk.  It is surrounded by Lima’s Cathedral, the Archbishop’s Palace, the Government Palace, the Municipal Palace, and the Palace of the Union.

The Plaza Mayor or Plaza de Armas is regarded as the birthplace of the city of Lima.  Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conquistador who destroyed the Inca empire, conquered Peru, and founded Lima, designated the location for the plaza in 1535.  Subsequently, the plaza hosted bull fights, served as the city’s main market, and witnessed public executions.  The first heretic to be convicted by the Inquisition in the New World was put to death on the plaza in 1573.  On a happier note, though, José de San Martín proclaimed the independence of Peru on the Plaza de Armas in 1821.

We had hoped to drive by the Lima Peru Temple or even the site of the just-begun Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple, but, given Peru’s difficult traffic and the brief time that we had before some of us had to be at the airport, we could not quite fit that in.

Posted from Lima, Peru