Lima, Peru 🇵🇪

Nicki and Liam are in town today and so we arrange to explore together.  This includes taxi negociations and it’s been a while since I have been in a city where you can’t just walk to key sights.  First stop is the Plaza de Armas which sits at the heart of Lima’s historic center. This is the spot where Francisco Pizarro founded the city in 1535. A fountain serves as the square’s centerpiece, with key buildings framing the plaza.  One is the Palacio de Gobierno, official home to Peru’s President, where we are headed to watch the changing of the guard at midday.  As we arrive there are road closures and clearly a celebration starting.  There are groups dressed in different traditional dress and a mounted guard band.  The guards are actually playing ‘despacito’ which amazes me, fortunately this popular song moves on to more serious tones for the changing of the guard.  It is a length process with a slow high kicking foot march, entertaining enough but we are distracted by the loud and lively icon procession coming out of the Catedral de Lima.

I am not sure what the celebration is for but it was fabulous to watch the different groups in a procession with religious icons and doing their dances.  The most bizarre was the masked men carrying dead baby llamas on their backs whilst whipping each other round the ankles.  It is all very colourful and everyone seems to be enjoying watching the procession.  We are getting hot and hungry so I find a traditional sandwich spot where I have Chicharron filling, almost a hog roast! Just needs apple sauce and stuffing.

Nicki and Liam have the next destination as a cat park.  Somewhat skeptically we catch a taxi to Parque Kennedy where it indeed is home to cats.  A mix of abandoned and a feral population keeps us amused via a cat spotting game, I don’t think there are as many as the guys expected but they loved playing with the little kittens.  We wander down the main Larco street to the Peruhop offices where we can bag a free T-shirt and I can book a tour for when Steve arrives.

After all the excitement we are flagging but a couple of scoops of ice cream serves as a pick me up as we walk to Larcomar.  We visit a few shops and of course Paddington bear, a gift from the people of the UK (well he is from darkest Peru!).  

I manage to show them a few bits of street art on the way back to Barranco but Nicki is clearly hobbling post the 18km run they did yesterday… we all take a rest before going to dinner nearby.  I go home and pack ready for the bus tomorrow whilst they visit the fountain show.  It looks lots of fun, so one for the list when I come back.