So, after a night flight back to Lima, the first thing that Lewis the Lion did when he arrived in the next new hostel was to go to sleep! Travelling at irregular times of the day could certainly be very tiring. Although he still managed to stay awake to have an interesting discussion with the taxi driver on his way from the airport who told him that Lima, Peru’s capital city, was the second most inhabited city in South America after Sao Paolo in Brazil.
However, when he awoke, he wanted to dust out the cobwebs by going for a little walk along the coast. And dust the cobwebs out it did as there was a chill in the air with a cool breeze. Lewis the Lion admired the dedication of the surfers in the water below.
Lewis the Lion checks out the Lima beaches
Even though it was overcast, Lewis the Lion imagined what this coastal capital was like during the summer months? After all, there was even a sensible chart reminding sunbathers of maximum time lengths of exposure to the sun on a sunny day. He thought that this was a great idea to help protect your skin.
This gauge shows you how long you can stay exposed to the sun
He also enjoyed the coastal walkway that had playgrounds for children, outdoor gyms for adults and tennis courts. There was even an enormous shopping mall built into the cliff face. Lima seemed to be a cool place to hang out, that’s for sure and Lewis the Lion was just sorry that he didn’t have more time to stay here.
The next day, Lewis the Lion was conscious that he only had one day to explore Lima’s main city centre so he tried to cram as much in as he could together with Helen, Gemma and Karim – the friends he had made on Easter Island.
Helen shares a last meal with her friends in South America
First of all there was a post office stop to send off some parcels and postcards.
Lewis the Lion at the Peruvian Post Office
That in itself was interesting for Lewis the Lion as he noticed that there was a shrine to Our Lady, Jesus’ mother. He was reminded that Peru is a Catholic country with lots of devoted followers.
A shrine to Our Lady and Jesus
Next was a lunch stop at a ‘Chifa’ restaurant. You can read about that in Lewis the Lion’s blog on food in Peru.
Lewis eats at a Peruvian ‘Chifa’ – Chinese restaurant
The friends then caught a special bus into the centre of Lima
Lewis waits for the metro-bus in Lima
where Lewis the Lion could see the impact of the Spanish conquest five hundred years ago.
Lewis the Lion stands in Lima’s main square
Like so many buildings in South America, there is a certain grandness about them and they often surround beautiful fountained squares (plazas) which have monuments to past leaders, e.g. the Spanish Conquistador, Francisco Pizzaro or General Martin.
Lima’s Plaza de Armas is surrounded by grand buildings
A statue to General Martin
The central part of Lima reminded Lewis the Lion of his time in Buenos Aires on Calle Florida as there were many pedestrianised zones.
A pedestrianised shopping street in Lima
There were also signs encouraging people to take pride in their city by helping to look after it, e.g. ‘Keep your city tidy,’ or ‘Avoid sounding your horn.’ Lewis the Lion thinks it’s always important to look after your environment wherever you are and so was happy to see these signs displayed. He also noticed that he had just missed Lima’s special day of celebration on 28th July. However, the city still looked really pretty as there were the Peruvian red and white flags still lining the streets.
Signs remind people to keep their city clean and tidy
What was strange about a certain section of the city was that all of the shop signs were black. Even the familiar golden arches of McDonald’s fast food restaurant were black!
All the shop and restaurant signs are black
He didn’t have time to figure out why? Maybe you can?
Lewis the Lion stands at the entrance to the San Franciscan Monastery
That was because he was hot-footing it to a rather special monastery and museum: the San Francisco Monastery.
The San Franciscan Monastery and Catacombs
He had heard that this was Lima’s first official cemetery and inside were Peru’s first catacombs. This has nothing to do with cats or combs but rather a place were the dead are laid to rest and then the skeleton bones are collected together. Even though this sounds quite morbid, Lewis the Lion was intrigued to find out more?
Lewis the Lion wasn’t allowed to take any photos inside the monastery but he will tell you about it instead.
The monastery itself was a beautiful building, even if it had been effected by various earthquakes over the years and had subsequent additions to the building. In particular, Lewis the Lion thought its library was a magical place with lots of dusty old leather-bound books. It was how he imagined the library at Harry Potter’s school, Hogwarts,might have looked!
In the cloisters were wonderful frescoes under the archways, some of which had only been recently discovered thanks to tumbling concrete during an earthquake.
The visit also led Lewis the Lion into a room which had a familiar looking painting. Like the painting he had seen in Cusco Cathedral, here was a picture of The Last Supper with a Peruvian twist. Jesus and his disciples had guinea-pig on the table! This painting also depicted the devil hiding behind Judas.
Lewis the Lion was then led to the part of the museum that he’d been most eager to see: the catacombs or the burial site for thousands of people. Beneath the vast church were crypts containing skulls and bones of perhaps 70,000 people! Skulls and bones were displayed in transparent cabinets. He also learnt that these bones dated as far back as the 16th Century and mainly belonged to the monks who lived in the monastery above. Surprisingly he learnt that the last part of the skeleton to disintegrate is the skull and thigh bones (the femur) and so many cabinets displayed just hundreds and hundreds of thigh bones. He also learnt that the archeologists are still discovering sections of the crypt that they didn’t know existed and so are still sorting out the many thousands of bones. What a fascinating place to visit: Lewis the Lion had never seen anything quite like it in his little life! He was reminded of his own mortality and how it’s important to live each day to the full and with gratitude.
There’s even a Lima version of Monopoly
With this thought in mind, he was delighted to see a familiar looking board game in a shop window as he wandered through the streets of Lima: Monopoly! Only this one was a special edition version for the city of Lima. He’d seen some of these in various cities across the UK before.
If you were designing a special edition version of Monopoly for your town or city, what places would you include in it?
