Lima Through the Ages

As 22 hour journeys go the one from London to Lima was pretty good. The highlight of the connection in Madrid was that it was perfectly timed to get some food in the lounge before watching the whole of the Madrid v Barcelona game in the lounge. At 7am on a Sunday morning even the streets of Lima are free of traffic and being able to check in early to our hotel meant we could recharge before exploring the city.

A few hours were enough to see buildings from three eras of its history and to sample the local cuisine for which the city is increasingly renowned. Someone went as far to describe it as the gastronomic capital of the western hemisphere which would mean it has already got better food than anywhere in the USA. Thinking about it I suppose that is quite possible!

First stop was Huaca Pucllana, a large temple complex in a residential area, built around 1500 years ago containing a huge stepped pyramid made of abobe (main ingredient mud) bricks. Some of it has been restored over the last 30 years by rearranging the bricks found but much is in incredibly good condition. While the near desert weather conditions don't cause much damage it is a tribute to these ancient engineering standards that they have survived so many earthquakes intact. The site gives an insight into some of the life of the culture of the Lima people and the Wari who succeeded them around 700 AD a long time before the Incas arrived.

The temple complex also features a fine restaurant with a terrace overlooking the archeological site, where we escaped the heat to enjoy lunch - although the time difference meant that our bodies thought it was dinner.

Then a rather rickety looking taxi sped us forward a thousand years in architectural terms to the colonial and nineteenth century buildings of the old city centre. There is not a huge amount to see but, as in Argentina, one can work out how wealthy the colony must have been when it broke from Spain in 1821.

We soon moved on again via a more modern taxi specially selected by Suzanne to our hotel in beach-side Miraflores where we completed our journey through time to the 21st century.  The impressive Larcomar leisure development sits built into the cliffs overlooking the surfing beach. All along the bay for miles work on the beach has begun as if the city has just realised that the seafront has potential beyond the traditional fishing that dates back beyond the days of the construction of Huaca Pucllana.

The beach at Miraflores

So ancient, colonial and modern sit together in Lima but the Incas for which the country are famous seem to be absent. We are going in search of them next, to the highlands around Cusco.