Adventures in South America: Lima, Peru

1900 Hostel is in an old mansion across from the Lima Art Musuem on Avenida Garcilaso de la Vega.  

Despite its impressive lobby, exterior, and history, the hostel was our least favorite of the four we stayed in in South America.  For example: there was no Wifi, our room lacked a fan that worked, we had to pay extra for towels, and the sheet on my bed was too small, and came loose with the slightest touch. 

Lima was quite the city, hostel notwithstanding.  It seemed to be by far the largest of the South American cities we had visited (although I think it is roughly the same size as Bogota).  Also, it was much hotter, because it is in the desert, even though it is also on the Pacific coast.

We got in late and went to bed fairly quickly.  

The next morning we took one of many minibuses that ran in front of our hostel to the Pacific Ocean beach below the cliffs of Miraflores, Lima's most upscale neighborhood.

It is not the most beautiful beach ever, but it was certainly an enjoyable way to spend the late morning, and the water was much warmer than I expected.

From the beach we walked up into Miraflores to get lunch.

We found a restaurant serving seafood, and started with Peru's most famous dish, ceviche.

From Miraflores we caught another minibus back to 1900 hostel and showered and rested for an hour or two.  From there we walked northward to Plaza Mayor, Lima's historical and political centre.

By now we were wearing out of touring, so we did little more than walk around, poke around in souvenir shops, and I mailed a postcard.  Then we walked back to the hostel, stopping at this bluest of churches, and drinking an Inca Kola:

The next day we slept late and then caught a full-size bus that took us on an approximately two hour trip south of Lima to the ancient ruins of Pachacamac.

Pachacamac was a religiously significant site for ancient people long before the Incas came along, and, when they did, they simply included it in their own religious practice. 

Archaeologists continue to work on the site:

And Middle Eastern and Peruvian government representatives apparently found it worthy of a fairly significant visit and press conference:

Otherwise, we had the place mostly to ourselves.

We had a gorgeous view from the Pachacamac pyramid, including the Pacific Ocean:

And another old bull fighting ring:

Another interesting spot was an old grave site, littered with human bones, including this jaw bone:

On the way out we found enclosures with llamas.  We have no idea why they were there, but they were fun to interact with if nothing else.

From Pachacamac we caught the bus back into Lima, where we ate dinner, and then hit up something called the Magic Water Circuit, a collection of impressive water fountains in a public park.  There's a show with lasers projected onto the fountains with music playing and it's all quite something.  

And that was the last site we visited in Lima, as we headed off to the airport to catch our 2 am flight to Toronto.  Our quick adventure in South America was over.

You can see more photos from Lima here.