Lima And The Coming Of Mom And Z 09/08/07 to 09/12/07

Ok, we got to Lima, the capital of Peru, a city of 8 million people and a lot of trash. It sucks that wherever there is poverty, there is pollution. Both things are bad (obviously), but there is definitely a relation between the two. I guess you can't blame people for having the biggest worry of putting food on the table and pushing the rest of the problems to the side. But anyway, Lima, ¨The City of Kings¨ was founded shortly after the quick elimination of the Incas by the Spanish and became Spain's capital in the New World. You go Francisco Pizarro and your murderous gang of conquestadors!As the story goes, once the Americas were discovered, 2 of the world's most richest countries wanted a piece of the action. So the problem settled it's way on to the desk of the most powerful man, the Pope. He pointed his finger on to a spot of the unfinished map and basically to the east belonged to Portuguese and to the west of that finger was now Spanish territory. Funny, huh? Of course, frontiers were constantly redrawn, and then again and again. But that's how the story goes.

Lima is a sad city. Not only because of the economic troubles, but also because of it's sky which is covered with clouds for 9 months of the year. Depressing and cold! Yes, cold even while Lima is just about 600 miles south of the equator. Well, we stayed in the historic center of the city in which still remain many beautiful examples of Spanish architecture.
Anyway, we were here for Mom & Rich, so we got to work on finding a place. While looking for a cup of coffee, we found this guy...
A cool, older gentleman who took us from hostal to hostal until we found Hostal España, a beautiful little place with the best neighbors:
That day was anxiously anticipated since the parents were coming that night. So after the preparations were made, we headed to the airport.
The drivers who crowded around us as they were holding signs of their own were astounded by the beauty of ours, laughed and whispered. Yeah Baby, Mom and Z are a comin'!! Finally, after dozens of people came out, it was impossible to not notice the smile of mama and the lost look of Richie as they strolled out of those doors. They made it!

After hugs and kisses, we packed them into a combi, a minivan which seats about 10, but holds triple the amount of people, and headed for the hostal. Not until the bus broke down on the way and after a few bangs on the side of the truck, it was back on its way again. After a little settling in, we finished the night with wine and fruit as deserving of the greatness of our guests... and of course conversation. The following morning, we hit the streets. We visited Iglesia San Francisco and its catacombs that supposedly stretch for miles underneath the city connecting it to various important buildings in the area and also being home to over a 100,000 bodies of people who were buried there.

Spookily standing over a pit of nicely arranged skulls and bones, never afraid!

"Rich looook...NO LOOOK!" Yes mom is here. Amazed at everything, looking at the world as through the eyes of a baby. And that is so beautiful! The church is beautiful as well with wood carved ceilings that took 40 years to make, paintings, reliefs, Portuguese tile, and a lot of priceless Jesuses everywhere. It is incredible to imagine, the money, time and lives that goes into these places of God, while so many people starve and die of sicknesses and slavery. At least the first 2 apply to almost any religion. Hey, this is the stuff that runs through my mind sometimes. Am I a cynic? Hey look at that! A solid cast iron sink over 200 years old! I wanted to swipe the grated drain in the middle of the sink for my boss, but then thought better of it. Yes, I may be crazy to be taking pictures of stuff like this, but think about it. How long did it take to make? How many hands and things were washed in it? What had this sink seen that you and I can never imagine?
We just did a lot of walking around the city, from small markets to parks, to just watching Peruvians going about their business. And of course, most Peruvians are nice, even the ones guarding the Presidential Palace.
The guys are so obliging that they even let me hold the machine gun. Mom! Look what I can do!

We strolled the city streets looking at old buildings, laughing and eating fried chicken ( a Peruvian specialty). Yes, chicken and fries is the most popular dish in Peru. Also found this antique plane. Richie loves planes and mom loves Richie.
The nest day we checked out Museo de Oro. The Museum of Gold is the pride of Lima. Its a private museum that is owned by the family of this guy who spent his life collecting gold artifacts from Peru's archaelogical cites and guns. So many guns, swords, daggers and other weapons that would make your head spin. A lot of guns, Russian guns, French guns, German guns, American guns and so on. You get the point. Here are some pics of guns and swords:

Samurai swords and armor galore. I love samurais! Of course picture taking is not allowed, but we're rebels. Walking around the museum makes you wander at all the art and work going into these weapons. Priceless materials going into them like ivory, gold, extict woods. All of that to kill people. A piece of our history nevertheless.

Here is my princess teaching a knight a thing or two. Then we descended into the vaulted basement of gold. Here are Richie's favorite pieces:
Those pieces were obviously the best, and there were others which were really cool as well:
Mom and mummy! And with that, we put Lima behind us as we descended south towards Ica and its giant sand dunes. Stay tuned...