We decided to go to the Museo de la Nation which we could catch the bus and then walk to. That was fine, but it was hot (again). So walking 2km down a six lane major road in the sun wasn’t all that pleasant. When we got there it wasn’t so much closed, as you couldn’t get in. The power was out and everyone was outside. After about 30mins we decided to bail and head into the city. We’d noticed that there was a train line beside the museum, so decided to try that out, guessing it should go into the city. We tried to buy a ticket, which should have been S/3.00, however S/6.00 wasn’t enough. Finally worked out, after the lady behind the counter talked constantly in Spanish into a microphone that we couldn’t hear, that we had to buy a card first and then add value. Considering that there is only one rail line in Lima and not close to where we are staying, we chose not to do it. Walked back to the main road and flagged down a local bus. Again, not knowing Spanish or how the local buses worked, we guessed that one might go down the road to the other road where we could catch the other bus. It worked out fine.
Got into the city, but took the B line bus instead of the A line bus. This dropped us on the opposite side of the city to where we wanted to go. So we had to walk across the city, feet were a bit sore by this stage and it was hot. We stopped and had lunch at a local chinese restaurant.
We went to the Museo de la Inquisición which is where the Spanish Inquisition was once housed and did its business. Entry was free but we had to wait for the tour as you weren’t allowed in otherwise. The tour was in Spanish, which we don’t understand, so was rather pointless. We wandered around by ourselves. It has some fantastically morbid models depicting torture techniques.
Next stop was coffee. Good. As we were walking through the city we walked past a photographic exhibition which featured ‘typical’ ‘rural’ Peruvian life and a thought provoking collection of photographs about the mid-late 80’s and 90’s conflict between the government and the revolutionist ‘shining path’. The exhibit is part of a city wide photographic exhibition, with different things on at nearly every museum.
Next stop was the Parque de la Cultura and the MALI (Museo de Arte de Lima). MALI is in a beautiful old building, but its collection is in storage whilst it is being renovated (they’re up to the second floor).
So we got to see some exhibitions. In the park were some fantastic arty aerial shots of different bits of city life.
A wander further was the El Circuito Magico de Agua (Water Park) which features many water fountains shooting water into the air, some of them were to music. At sunset, they turned on the coloured lights. It was nice to sit and watch the water and also to people watch for about an hour. We were a bit knackered and slimy to really appreciate it, but it was worth the visit.
Back to the hotel and a rest before dinner.
Our feet hurt.
Dinner. We thought we would like something simple like a pizza or pasta for dinner. The first place on the corner was open, lights on and a person behind the counter. However after walking in she waves at us and tells us that they closed at 9pm. It is 9.05pm, go home and turn the lights off.
The next Italian place was two blocks down, Café Italiano. By the name you would expect that they would have something Italian. There was spaghetti with six different sauces (on page eight of the menu), but no other type of pasta. We eventually found the one pizza on the menu hidden at the bottom of page four. We should have stopped at the place selling hamburgers and chips.
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