We started our morning bright and early in Cusco catching the 7:30 flight to Lima. We arrived in Lima at 9:30 and I had a list of things I wanted to do. We headed out in search of a way to get to our first stop. While talking to a taxi driver in the airport he offered to take us to see all the sights of downtown Lima. I asked him how his English was because I did not want to spend the morning speaking Spanish. He assured me it was coming along and that the tour would be 100% in English. However the minute he knew that we spoke enough Spanish to get by he switched to Spanish. I have to admit, I understood most of it. I came back to Paraguay feeling super accomplished for how much Spanish I had spoken in Peru and totally bummed that while back in Paraguay I was going to still be totally lost because I can't understand the accent here.
Anyway, back to the morning tour. We started in the Plaza de Armas. There were several big events anticipated that day, so all this stuff was set up for the big hoop-la later that night. 
We quickly headed over to start to tours of the many Peruvian Catholic Churches in Lima. If I remember correctly this is a picture of the residence of the presiding Bishop that lives in Lima. |
| Cleaning Christ. All that gold gets dusty you know. |
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| Catacombs |
Next we headed to the Catacombs. This is the only picture we got because you can't take picture down there. It was very interesting. Through the entire tour Shawn and I kept saying, "Isaac would love this! He would get such a kick out of this."
I loved all of the pigeons outside of this church. It was like being in a movie.
This was the residence of the President of Peru. There are 3 different kinds of guards that guard the House of Pizarro you can see the first kind at the doors, there are also a set just inside the gate that are in military fatigues, and police just outside the gate.  |
| "The Last Supper" --- Note the Guinea Pig is the main course. I can only wonder what is going through Jesus' mind in the picture. Suggestions are welcome below. |
This is by far the weirdest thing we saw while in Lima. This is the actual head of Santa Rosa De Lima, the Virgin that they worship. Where is the rest of her body you may ask? So did Shawn, it is in her church a couple of kilometers away. 
Although the sky was over cast and it was misty, it was still wonderful to see the ocean. We have really missed living so close to the water. 
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| This gives new meaning to getting a PhD. |
So while eating lunch I noticed this very cute older couple sitting with a Peruvian mother and daughter eating lunch. It was very cute to watch because I could tell that the mother was a poorer native. She was clearly eating a Pizza Hut personal pizza for the first time. I over heard the little girl say to the couple, "I think she likes it." I offered to take their picture and chatted for a minute, exchanging where we were from and what we were doing in Lima.
Next Shawn and I were off to check out the shopping. After about 30 minutes we decided we wanted to hit a museum. Shawn headed up stairs to Starbucks to get a wi-fi signal and I decided to head back and talk to this couple I could see were still sitting at their table.
I spent the next 20 minutes of so listening to the most beautiful story. This couple had come to Peru 9 years earlier to see Machu Picchu. While in Cusco they had gone into a travel agency to book train tickets to go to Aguas Calientes. The gentleman noticed a little 2 year old playing on the floor and was missing his grandchildren began to play with her. The left with their train tickets for a few days later.
Within the next few days the older gentleman became very ill from altitude sickness and was put it the hospital. His wife went back to the travel agent to see if they could change their tickets. Later that night the travel agent and her daughter came to visit the couple in the hospital. They visited a few more times before he was released and on the last day the mother asked for a favor. The following day was Godparents day in Cusco. Her daughter didn't have any godparents and would he mind standing in so that she would have godparents in the parade? What an honor! So from that time forward they have been this little girl's "honorary godparents." They have kept in touch through email etc, but now they had come back to Peru to visit their honorary goddaughter and her mother.
After hearing his story I asked him if he had any idea of a good place to spend the afternoon and he suggested the Larco Mueum; and so we did. The Larco museum is a museum of Pre-Columbian art. It has over 45,000 pieces. *Please note he did warn me of what was to come, but we went anyway.
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| Headdress, necklace and earrings The more important you were the bigger ornaments. |
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| These hole were drilled to add decorations. |
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| Storage room |
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| Shawn and funny statue guy doing the same pose. My hubby is so funny. |
So the following is what the nice gentleman warned me about. To be fair to see this stuff you have to leave the actual museum and follow the signs that are clearly labeled "erotic pottery." I really didn't know what to expect.
About 2 minutes after Shawn and I walked into this room a tour group of about 20 older people walked in. To me this stuff was funny to look at, especially the pottery of skeletons getting it on with other skeletons, or non skeletons, take your pick. But there is this prime age where stuff like this is even funnier; like up late at night watching stupid comedy funnier. If I were to guess I would say it is between 14-18 and 50+. You should have heard these old people giggling and commenting. "Gee, she doesn't seem to like that at all." "Which one is the women and which is the man?" "Well, we have never done that!--- Maybe we should." "How did they think this stuff up back then?" Of course we are hearing this between a chorus of, "Hahahahaah, come look at this." "Wow, only in my dreams (giggle, giggle, giggle)."
As I sat and listened, and waited my turn to get pictures the embarrassment of the comments, (okay I'm sure the content had something to do with it) pushed my sweet, innocent husband right out the door. I'm sure sitting there listening to Senior Citizens plan their activities for the evening was just a little to much for him.
I did have to giggle as I read the descriptions of each piece. 'Sculpture stirrup spout bottle depicting anal intercourse between a man and a woman in ventral position.' I wondered at what kind of events do you display these bottles. Is it an everyday over the breakfast table, "Honey could you pass me the anal intercourse bottle?" Or did you save it for special occasions like the in-laws coming to visit. "Could I pour you some tea for our pitcher's penis?" I would imagine it would keep the conversations at the dinner table interesting. And judging from the size of that pitchers penis give young boys a complex at a very early age.
Soon we headed off to the Parque de Reserva, or Parque de las Aguas. I was so excited to do this and I have to say it did not disappoint. The fountains were amazing and the show was awesome. This was by far the highlight of your day in Lima
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| Many of the people there called this show, "Bailando agua." Dancing water. |
After the colored, dancing water they put a mist up and projected pictures into the water. They showed traditional dances from Peru, flowers, and flying birds. It was so amazing. The kids would have loved it!
After the show we finished walking around the park. This water fountain was a game. The game was to try to get to the center and back without getting wet. The dad and daughters you see standing there made it to the very last ring and then got soaked when they tried to cross. It was pretty funny to watch.
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| The tunnel |
