December 1, 2017

     Arriving in Callao, the main port of Peru and Lima’s port for two days visiting Lima. The facility is an industrial port so passengers need to be shuttled from the ship to port entrance and during the two days a shuttle organized by the ship takes people into Lima.  The journey is about 45 minutes, unless more during rush hour in this city of 10 million people.  The Peruvian flag has two broad red stripes and a middle white stripe, like the Canadian flag, but the coat of arms of Peru is in the center.
    Callao (pronounced Cah-yow) was used as the assembly point for shipping silver and gold back to Spain via the mule trails across the Panama Isthmus.
    This morning the temperature was 64 F (18 C) with cloudy skies that gradually thinned during the day.  From the ship, as we walked Deck 11 and 12 before breakfast, the mountains looked as if rain was falling, but the hills to the side of the ship had sun shining on them.  We also watched as about a dozen market stalls were being erected on the pier.
    Our tour was called Treasures of Colonial Lima which included San Pedro (St. Peter) Church, the main city square, the Wall Park and San Martin Cultural Center.   Lima is in an earthquake zone and since 1991 the colonial city center has had the designation of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage. The tour guide’s name was Vanessa, she gave us just the right amount of details about Lima.
    Lima gets very little rain and is located in a desert area. It is cool due to the influence of the Humboldt current flowing north from Antarctica.  For seven months of the year more days are cloudy than not due to the drizzle that shrouds the region. The main economic categories are Mining, Agriculture and tourism. During the 19th and early 20th century the immigrants to Peru were mainly Chinese, Japanese and Italian.  Their influence is still seen today. The Chinese restaurants are known as “chifa”.
    Historical records of earthquakes exist since the Spanish arrived in Peru. The most devastating one was in 1746, but earlier earthquakes had caused major damage to buildings that were either destroyed or needed major repairs such as the cathedral. About 90% of the city was destroyed in 1746.  The Spanish gradually built structures to withstand the earthquakes.  Major earthquakes over 8 on the Richter Scale occurred in 1868, 1940, 1970, 2001 and 2007 with destruction along the Peruvian and northern Chilean coasts.
      As we drove to the first stop we travelled through parts of Callao and Lima and took pictures of streets and squares.  The bank ATMs are mounted on the exterior walls of the banks open to the elements. Lima was founded in 1535 by the Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro.  We passed through San Martin Plaza and Plaza de Mayor on the way to the first stop, San Pedro Church which was established by the Jesuit missionaries. The interior is designed in the Baroque style of the 17th century. It was consecrated in 1638.  The wood is mahogany and black cherry
and there is an abundance of gold leaf covering wooden carving in the side chapels. Today there was a special service at noon for women police officers that started just after we returned to the bus. The next stop, through the busy Friday afternoon traffic of central Lima, was Parque de la Muralla (Wall Park) where some ruins of the old city wall have been preserved. We walked through the courtyard of San Francisco Church and Convent that was started in 1542 and consecrated in 1673.  The city wall was built to protect the city from pirates – Dutch, English and French.  From the park there is a view of the Remac neighbourhood on the side of St. Christopher hill.  It is one of the poorer neighbourhoods. Originally a squatter’s town, it now has water and electricity. 
   Our next stop was Plaza de Armas (or Plaza Mayor), laid out by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, the founder of Lima. The style is 16th century Baroque.  Located around the square is Government House, a former palace; Congress House, the Archbishop’s Palace connected to the Cathedral of Lima, with a large wreath above the entrance; and the yellow Town Hall and Municipal Palace with its second-floor balcony decorated for Christmas with a nativity scene.  The site was the location of ancient Inca buildings.
   The last stop was at San Marcos Square and San Marcos Cultural Center.  The square had a tall red modern building. There was a lovely Carrera marble fountain outside the building. We toured the restored Spanish style multiple courtyard San Marcos Cultural Center including its chapel with intricate painted ceiling and murals. The chapel was built in 1606 and illustrated by indigenous artists who were trained by Spanish artists.
   It was time to return to the ship and we drove through the streets of central Lima seeing squares with buildings from the 1920s and 1930s where the influence of French architecture is noted.  We passed the Justice Palace, the 1921 Italian Art Museum and posters advertising the visit of Pope Francis in mid-January 2018.  We returned to the ship at 3 pm and looked at the goods in the little market that set up on the pier this morning. There were colourful items such as Alpaca fibre sweaters and scarves as well as purses, pot holders, aprons, blankets, jackets and leather belts.  We had a light lunch and read the news from Canada.
    Our whole table arrived for dinner, but there were fewer people eating in the dining room this evening.  We chose Panzanella salad, spring rolls and Lobster ravioli for appetizers and Vegetable Wellington for the entrée.  Desserts were Chocolate Lava Cake and Crème Brulé.
   We all went to the show that featured comedian Jonny Loquasto. The theater was only half full as some passengers stayed in Lima for dinner or had left the ship for three days to go to Machu Picchu.
   Even though the ship is in port, the casino was open after the show and busier than ever.
   Then at 10:30 there was a Peruvian Folkloric show, performed to a full house of over 900 passengers. It featured dancers from Inkamerica Dance Group who danced traditional indigenous dances as well as a dance that looked like a mix of Peruvian and Flamingo dances.  There was a four-piece band playing Peruvian music and for a few dances the music was provided by a harp and a violin.  The performance ended with a standing ovation.

Final steps for the day 12,089

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