Day 2 in Lima- Dodging cars is a way of life!!

Day 2 in Lima was somewhat less crazy than day 1, or perhaps our minds were adjusting to the insanity. After breakfast and a lazy start to the morning we taxi’d across town to the Museo de la Nacion. Located in a massive concrete block of a building, the exhibits traced the route of civilization in Peru from earliest times to the present with displays of pottery, jewelry, paintings and textiles. Separate exhibits displayed artifacts and burial sites from local archeological digs while one described the final revolt of the Inca against Spanish Rule in.

  Our next stop on our city circuit was the Plaza Major or Plaza de Armas in the city centre. Stopping in front of the Cathedral, we were directed by two Policia Touristica in the direction of Bario Chino (Chinatown) where 5 dollars will buy you a 3 course meal that will feed 2.

  The next stop, the Monasterio de San Fransisco ( dedicated to Francis of Assisi and Francis Solano. kept us busy with a one hour tour of the building and catacombs.

  Constructed in the 17^th century, this fairly massive church has been partly destroyed and rebuilt after several earthquakes, the most recent being in 1974. Restoration seems to be a never ending project with work progressing daily, The tour began in the library, featuring some 20,000 antique books. Examples of illuminated texts from as far back as the 16^th century were on display. We then followed our guide through the original choir, where the monks would sing and pray for hours at a time, down ancient cloisters with walls  decorated with frescoes and old paintings and intricately carved ceilings. In one room a series of large paintings from the Schools of Reubens and Van Dyck featured the Stations of the Cross.  A final stop in the catacombs was somewhat creepy- a massive collection of skulls and femurs, the final remnants of the thousands (70,000) of priests and commoners buried there in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. In one mass grave the skulls and femurs were arranged in rings of concentric circles. It gave me an image of an All You Can Eat Buffet at a Cannibal Café!!!

  Departing the Monastery we headed back to the Plaza de Armas where we spent some time taking photos of the Cathedral and the various palaces before moving on to the next square, Plaza San Martin for more photo ops. Tired and footsore by then we hailed a taxi and headed back to Miraflores and our hotel where we began the arduous task of repacking for the next leg of the journey. Supper was seafood at a restaurant on the main drag, pan fried  Sea Bass and a mixed seafood pasta – our most expensive meal of the trip 100 Nuevo Soles ( about $38 in total) Quite reasonable compared to a similar dinner in Canada.