Eight Hours in Lima
Kurt and I left San Francisco at 1:30am on July 26th, arrived in San Salvador around 7:30am and then borded a plane to Lima at 8:30am. We arrived in Lima in the early afternoon, perhaps 1pm and would not be catching our next flight until 10:30pm. So we headed for the downtown to check out the Museo del Convento de San Francisco and its catacombs. It was once the main graveyard of the city and you can still tour the catacombs and see the bones of city citizens buried below the church. As well as a great collection of paintings, an amazing library that is disintegrating and the architecture of the church itself.
Photos were not allowed, so we took pictures outside and then toured the downtown.
We had excellent ham sandwiches at EL Cordano, an old bar and restaurant near the president’s house. That’s the cook, behind Kurt’s head cutting our ham.
Then we headed to the central square and the rest of downtown and I bought a great wool sweater and a nice shirt for a fraction of what it would have cost me in NYC
We hadn’t prepared for Lima and were surprised at the poverty of the capital. On the way in from the airport, many buildings appeared unfinished, abandoned or as if they had suffered a disaster. The general energy of the downtown was incredibly calm, which was surprising as they were about to celebrate their independence. The taxi drive back to the airport was one of the most horrific rides either of us had experienced, it was exhilarating and scary, Kurt tried to put his seatbelt on, but it didn’t work. I tried taking some photos, but it didn’t work:
