Throwback Thursday: Central Lima Edition

(Ya, I know it’s #transformationtuesday and #throwbackthursday. Titles are hard.)

Uneventful is the last word I would use to describe any part of the time I’ve been in Peru. Today was no exception.

Today, Hannah and I went on a quick trip up to central Lima to sight-see, as we both had today off and Hannah hadn’t gotten a chance to see many other places in Lima besides Villa el Salvador. To say it started off rocky, would be an understatement. First, I did a perfect 10/10 A+ face plant while catching the Metropoliano. I’m still sort of confused about how this happened because 1. I’m pretty sure I’m not a clumsy person and 2. I wasn’t even running. I think that I literally took one step and that was that. Oh, well. Hannah reminded me that I should be lucky to have fallen on sand/dirt and not cement. Thank you, unpaved roads? Once we got on the bus, we hit morning rush-hour traffic. Because we had to be back in Villa by around 1-2pm, we left at 8am. So for about a half hour, somewhat still covered in dirt, hands stinging from the fall, I stood in a ridiculously crowded bus that was going less than 20mph. Things were not looking up, that’s for sure.

But all of a sudden, traffic dispersed and we were on our way. Just like that. We hit the freeway and were into central Lima before 10am. Thankfully, the Metropolitano has a stop that is literally blocks away from the Plaza de Armas, which is where Hannah and I were wanting to go. Today was my second time there, since I went with my aunt and uncle two weeks ago. But nonetheless, I enjoyed being able to have a little more freedom this time.

We went to the Convento de San Francisco as well as the Basilica Cathedral of Lima. On the tour I took with my aunt and uncle, the guide talked briefly about it but we never went in. This cathedral is one if not the most important cathedral in all of South America, as Francisco Pizarro laid the building’s first stone. He’s also buried there. We could have gone to see his tomb, but it was a little expensive so we opted for just a tour of the cathedral, which by the way, is nothing to scoff at.

There are 15 smaller cathedral/shrine like rooms that wall the basilica. Each one is dedicated to a saint and beneath it, there are tombs of benefactors and other important people associated with the church/society.

Apparently one of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo’s fingers is in that thing. 100% True.

Before we left Plaza de Armas, we were able to see the changing of the guards in front of the presidential palace. The entire ceremony was almost an hour long, but it was really quite interesting. The police block off any traffic that would go through the street that runs right in front so that people can watch. The band played maybe three or four songs and I thought it was over. Then more uniformed men walked out from two passage ways from the palace and did their thing.

The ride back to Villa was a fraction of the time it took to get to Lima. Once we got back, we headed up to the lavandería to pick up our laundry. Did I mention that I have to get my laundry done for me? Ok, so that sort of sounded like it was a problem, but it really isn’t. Who doesn’t want someone to do their laundry for them? The only catch is that they don’t wash underwear so you have to do that by hand. But that really isn’t too bad.

So, considering I started the day face-first in dirt, I think everything worked out pretty well.