Lima, Peru - A City of Pure Sketchiness

So after the world's longest flights, Brody and I made it to Lima. The drive to our hotel made Brody's eyes pop - it's most definitely a rough city. Every place is gated or has a foot wide fence that is 12 feet tall with barbed wire on it. The graffiti is rampant. I wouldn't suggest any girl do Lima on her own ever. I'm not even sure Brody could do it on his own either. We stayed at the Hotel Lima which was clean, secure and had hot water. All three as important as the next. 

Lima is a city of 10 million people and it shows. 

Brody and I took a cab to central historic Lima. None of the drive made me feel comfortable. Lima is super rough and sketchy. It's almost like the entire city is decrepit. After we got dropped near the Palas de Armes. We looked at all of the old buildings in that area. It's amazing to see buildings built in 1537 and before. The Palas de Armes was the heart of the 16th Century settlement established by Francisco Pizarro, it was the centre of the Spaniards continent wide empire. The buildings are stunning and contain huge sculptures and great detail. It was the second day of the Peruvian holiday - celebrating independence, so everything was packed with Peruvian tourists. None of the people I saw where white. It it weird to be in a place where no one speaks English and everyone isn't white. 

We also toured La Cathedral de Lima. This church sits on a site designated in 1535 to be the site of the city's first church. The building has been rebuilt several times - 1551, 1622, 1687, and 1726 with the last major restoration in 1940. The alters are spectacular carved wood. The alters were carved in various styles celebrating different deities. 

Since it was day two of Independence Day there were celebrations and traditional dancing in the Parque de la Muralla. During the 17 century the heart of Lima was ringed by a muralla (city wall for those of us who singularly speak English). Much of this wall was torn down in 1870s when the cit was expanding.  You can still see remnants of the wall though. We visited on the site museum which was weird and contained pottery and other random items. 

We also visited some library thing which was entirely in Spanish. 

Step counts: 10,541 over 11 floors and 7.32 km 

AFN