November 21, 2014: Touring Historic Lima
	Return to the Index for Our Stay in Lima

Today, we are going to spend most of our time in two Lima museums. First, we'll visit the Castillo Mineral Museum located back at Plaza San Martin. Then we'll head over to the Larco Museum of Peruvian Culture to have lunch and tour through this major museum. We'll finish the day with an evening walk in the park south of our apartment.

Plaza San Martin

For our last day in Lima, we began by heading back into central Lima to Plaza San Martin (a place we visited yesterday); the Castillo Mineral Museum is located nearby.

We began, of course, by again walking up Avenue Balta, past Parque Kennedy and Miraflores Central Park. We took a few additional pictures of the cats in Parque Kennedy and of Miraflores Park, including the church by Parque Kennedy that was, apparently, the source of the first of the cats that now occupy the park. We also photographed one of the old buildings that we passed on the way to the transit station we'd started from yesterday.

Today, of course, we knew how to use the ticket machines so we were down on the platform quickly. On the platform and on the bus into Central Lima, We took some additional pictures to add to yesterday's; there are clickable thumbnails below for them:

As we did yesterday, we left the central station and walked north on Carabaya Street to Plaza San Martin. As we were walking up Carabaya, we came to an intersection where there was another street performer reminiscent of the dancing couple we'd seen in Quito a week ago. This time, the performer was a single person in costume with a dummy attached to him/her so that it appeared there were two people dancing. But the method was the same; when the light on Carabaya turned red, the performer would come out into the crosswalk, do his dance routine and then solicit donations from the stopped cars. Maybe these kinds of performances are some South American custom- who knows?

Also along Carabaya, we passed the Edificio Encarnacion, which is apparently just an office building along the street, but one with an interesting name. It didn't appear to be religious in nature, as one might have assumed, and I've been unable to find out much about it.

As you saw yesterday, the walk from the Central Station to Plaza San Martin was about four or five blocks, and we were there pretty quickly after getting off the bus. Just before we got to the Plaza, Fred noticed and photographed a whimsical balcony above us.

I'd hoped today's weather would be better, but it was still overcast, so our pictures again today reflect that. A representative public space in Lima, the plaza is named for Peru's liberator, José de San Martín, and the central monument commemorates him. The monument was designed by the Spanish sculptor Mariano Benlliure, and shows San Martin during his voyage across the Andes. Today, Fred got a closeup of the statue of San Martín.

The location of the plaza previously was home to the San Juan de Dios hospital which was torn down in 1850 and replaced by a railway station, which in turn was torn down between 1911 and 1918. The Plaza as we see it today was inaugurated on July 27, 1921 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the independence of Peru.

The design, ornamentation, furnishing, and gardening of Plaza San Martin was designed by Manuel Piqueras Cotolí. The benches and handrails were constructed out of marble and the paving, of granite. There were also four water fountains, bronze streetlamps, and flower-filled gardens.

Here are clickable thumbnails for some of the pictures I took this morning of this beautiful plaza:

The construction of the buildings that surrounded the plaza occurred at a gradual pace. The Colón Theater and the Giacoletti buildings were the first structures to be built and were erected in 1914 before the construction of the plaza. The other buildings were later built in stages. The Hotel Bolivar was built in 1924 and the other buildings surrounding the plaza were constructed up through 1940. You can see some of these buildings here, and you can see Avenue Nicolas de Pierola leading northwest from the Plaza here. The plaza maintains uniformity with respect to its buildings' facades, with the overall appearance primarily baroque in a neocolonial style.

The Castillo Mineral Museum

Our first destination was just off the southwest corner of Plaza San Martin; it is the Museum Andres del Castillo. The Museum Andres del Castillo was inaugurated in November 2008. It’s housed in the recently restored Casa Belen, an historic mansion which origins go back to the 17th century. The museum displays mainly a unique collection of crystallized minerals from Peru, interesting pieces of the Chancay Culture, antique Peruvian textiles from different cultures and prehispanic utensils for yarning and weaving.

Coming in through the front, we found ourselves in a beautiful, wood-paneled atrium; this was officially the only place in the museum one could take pictures, and so we did so.

This museum is a family memorial to one of its members who died in a skydiving accident in 2006 involving a unit of Peru's National Guard. Perhaps we might just read the dedication we found in the atrium of the Museum:

"Casa Belen, house of Science, History and Culture is named Andrés Del Castillo Rey (1985-2006), in memory of our dear son who was a brilliant student of Mining Engineering. It is my wish and also of her mother Veronica that his name is remember in order that he serves as an example for future generations. We have built this beautiful Museum as a contribution to the development and knowledge of Peru. In the Mining Room, we display the most important crystallized mineral collection of the country.  The Chancay Ceramics were present until a few years ago only in gardens, now they appear in a preferential place, where its great variety stands out. We have an exhibit for the first time of the way of life and clothing of old Peruvians. The fundamental objective of the Casa Belen is to become a living Museum, open to all the people of Perú, it can be used for artistic presentations that include popular music; presentation of classes in the study and conservation of ceramic and textiles; in summary we aim to maintain the spirit of promotion of the arts in all its forms." Guido Del Castillo

Before we head into the Museum proper, I want to include here three more pictures of the lovely entrance hall:

In the pictures above, you might notice some colorful artwork on easels behind us. These turned out to be fanciful paintings done by a Peruvian artist (I did not record who) but they were really interesting. You can see a close-up of one of them here.

The museum is basically a large main hall with smaller display rooms to each side. The main hall had an intricate, multi-leveled coffered ceiling with rows of windows that let in a great deal of natural light. In the main hall are display cases for many of the museum's specimens. Most everything in the main hall was done in shades of white and grey, better, I suppose, to showcase the bright colors of many of the specimens. The exception was the beautifully-tiled floor, whose border and main pattern set off the displays very nicely. You can see a different view of the coffered ceiling here, and of the main displays here.

The collection of minerals presented here were all collected in Peru; the country has a large diversity of minerals and mining is one of the primary industries. Peruvian mines are famous for the frequency with which museum-quality specimens are unearthed. These are amazing specimens, with forms and combinations of colors contributed by the different chemical elements that formed them, turned by physical and chemical laws of nature into real works of art, impossible to be imitated by human hand.

There were a couple of signs around stating that photography of the specimens in the main hall was not allowed, and I guess I can understand that if the museum were crowded, flash photography would be distracting. But I wanted to come away with at least a few pictures from the main hall, and so I turned my flash off and snapped some pictures of a few of the specimens. There are clickable thumbnails below for some of these pictures:

The main hall was pretty much in the center of the building; left of it was a hallway leading to offices and various function rooms. To the right of the main hall was another display room for smaller specimens. These were arranged in display cases along the long wall, with artwork above. You can see one of these display cases with its multitude of small specimens here.

Back in one corner, there was a closed room where the fluorescent minerals were on display, and here we could take pictures. With the normal lights on, the room was pretty nondescript- just a small room with a few display cases. But when the normal lights were switched to black fluorescent lights, the specimens came alive. Click on some of the thumbnails below and you'll see what I mean:

Peruvian minerals was the main focus of the exhibits here at the Castillo Museum, but there were some additional rooms towards the back of the building that contained exhibits of Peruvian sculpture and pottery.

These exhibits were quite varied; you can use the clickable thumbnails at left to see a few of them. Way back in the rear of the building there was a little cafe in a bright, open room lined on one side by a large planter containing cacti found in Peru. The little cafe wasn't open (or open yet) but I sat down to enjoy the sunshine coming in through the ceiling skylights.

Eventually, the other guys found their way back to where I was, and I snapped a picture of the three of them. You can see that picture here. The Castillo Museum of Minerals was very interesting, and the building was architecturally interesting as well. When we were done, we went back out to Plaza San Martin, since it appeared that the weather had cleared.

The Grand Bolivar Hotel

When we left the Castillo Museum, we turned left outside to walk north along the west side of Plaza San Martin to find the Grand Bolivar Hotel one block north. You learned about the Plaza yesterday and also above on this page, so there is not much more to say about it. With the sun shining, though, the Plaza looked much different, and here are some clickable thumbnails for a few of the pictures we took:

I also made two movies as we were walking to the Grand Bolivar, one just after we left the Castillo and one as we were walking alongside the plaza. You can use the players below to watch these movies:

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The Gran Hotel Bolívar, is a historic hotel located on Plaza San Martín in Lima, Peru. Designed by noted Peruvian architect Rafael Marquina, it was built in 1924 and was the first large, modern hotel built in Lima. I found I was quite close to the actual building so I had to walk across to the Plaza to get a good picture.

The Grand Bolivar Hotel

The Hotel Bolivar was part of a series of buildings meant to commemorate the Battle of Ayacucho, a decisive military encounter during the Peruvian War of Independence. The hotel was built on a plot of 40,000 square feet of state property; the Peruvian architect Rafael Marquina designed the building, which opened on December 6 of 1924. This building, like all the later buildings around the Plaza, used the new, modern technique of reinforced concrete. The architect also selected many of the furnishings used in the hotel.

In 1938, the architect was recommissioned to add two more floors and 150 more rooms; his redesign kept the hotel looking seamless. Oilman John Mecom bought the hotel in 1961 for $2 million. The Hotel Bolivar was declared National Monument by Supreme Resolution 2900, of December 28, 1972. We followed Greg and Yoost into the hotel, and as we were walking through it to find the bar/restaurant, Fred and I took some pictures in the skylit atrium:

A great deal of forethought went into the design of all the buildings surrounding Plaza San Martin. This structure, like the others, utilizes the unifying style of Spanish Baroque, giving a Neocolonial aspect to the entire Plaza. In the 1940s and 1950s, the hotel attracted Hollywood movie stars such as Orson Welles, Ava Gardner, and John Wayne, where many also discovered the local cocktail, the Pisco Sour, served in the hotel's main bar- where we were heading.

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We went through the main bar and found a table outside on the balcony overlooking Avenue Nicolas de Pierola, a very busy street that runs northwest from Plaza San Martin. There was a lot of traffic noise that interfered with my movie of us at our table, but you can use the player at right to watch it anyway.

We had something to drink and some small snacks while we chatted and plotted out route to the Museo de Larco. Fred and I took a few pictures here at our table, and there are clickable thumbnails below for some of them:

When we were done eating, we left the hotel by a side entrance out onto Avenue Pierola where we got our last look at Plaza San Martin before hailing a taxicab for the ride to the Museo de Larco. As we were riding through Lima in the cab, Fred was snapping the occasional street scene. Here are clickable thumbnails for some of his pictures:

Of course, Greg, who was in the front seat, was chatting up the taxi driver in a combination of Spanish and English, while the three of us sat in back watching the scenery go by. I, myself, was a bit amused that, apparently, here in South America there are no restrictions on using the GPS screen to access television and other content while you are driving! Our taxi driver kept glancing down at some kind of Peruvian talent show.

I couldn't see a great deal, sitting in the middle in the back, so I had to rely on Fred to take pictures. I did get one idea for a movie, though, and you should use the player below to watch it:

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At one point, the taxi drove by what from a distance looked like a construction site but which was actually an archaeological excavation.

Not all of Peru's archaeological sites are in the hinterlands; some are right in the city of Lima. One of them, the Archaeological Complex "Huaca Pucilana" was an administrative and ceremonial center of the Lima culture, a society that developed at the Peruvian Central Coast between 200 AD and 700 AD. Located in today's district of Miraflores the "Huaca Pucilana" was built around 500 AD, and is one of Peru's most important ancient monuments.

A few years ago, a similar site was unearthed somewhat northwest of Huaca Pucilana, and it was this new site we passed in our taxi. Fred got a couple more pictures when we asked the drive to slow in front of the site, and you can click on the thumbnails below to see them:

The ride to the Larco Museum, situated in a residential area about a mile inland from the coast and some two or three miles northwest of our apartment, took about 25 minutes.

The Larco Museum of Pre-Columbian Art

The Larco Museum is a privately owned museum of pre-Columbian art, located in the Pueblo Libre District of Lima. The museum is housed in an 18th-century vice-royal building built over a 7th-century pre-Columbian pyramid. It showcases chronological galleries that provide a thorough overview of 4,000 years of Peruvian pre-Columbian history. And it is well known for its gallery of pre-Columbian erotic pottery.

When the taxi let us off at the entry to the museum compound, we went in to the ticket office to purchase our tickets for the museum and grounds.

I want to break our visit here into four sections of pictures. First, we'll take a look at the outside of the museum; the plantings around the building and the sunken lawn, especially the bougainvillea, were very, very colorful. Next, we can take a look at the restaurant which is on the lower level on the north side of the sunken lawn, and at the pictures we took during lunch. After that, we took a tour through the separate collection of erotic art that is housed in the building next to the restaurant, again on the lower level on the north side of the lawn. Finally, we will tour through the Larco Museum itself.

To begin our visit, you can click on the two thumbnail images below. The first picture is the entry to the museum complex from Larco Park next door, and the second is the entry courtyard and the sign directing us to the ticket desk:

Now that we have our tickets, we can begin to explore the Larco Museum. We are going to have lunch in the restaurant that is here, but before we do that, I want to take you around the outside of the museum building to have a look at the beautiful plants and flowers.

The Outside of the Larco Museum: Plants and Flowers

We begin taking a look at the outside of the museum on the patio right outside the ticket office. Beginning here, there were colorful plants in pots and climbing the trellised walls.

As you can see behind Fred in the picture at left, there is a ramp that goes up from the ticket office and gift shop to what we found was the open patio in front of the actual entrance to the museum. Before we head up the ramp, use the clickable thumbnails below to take a look at some of the pictures we took of ourselves and the flowers on this side of the museum (and see if you can spot the tabby cat):

Actually, we spent quite a bit of time outside the Larco Museum- wandering the grounds, having lunch, and so on. All around the grounds the foliage and flowers were pretty spectacular.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

The flowers along the ramp on the way up were just spectacular. Most of them were bougainvillea, but there were other types of plants and flowers as well. I've gathered together all the good pictures we took of these plants and beautiful flowers here at the Larco Museum and put them into a slideshow.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at right and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

From the ticket office/gift shop, we headed up the ramp. Actually, I was following the other folks up as I had stopped to take some of the flower pictures you've seen already.

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I'd gotten halfway up the ramp when I thought that the walk up would make a good movie, so I went back down a ways and walked up again, this time filming my progress up the ramp and around and onto the broad, high patio just outside the actual entrance to the museum. You can use the player at left to walk up the ramp with me.

After I completed that movie, I went back to the corner of the museum building and took a picture looking back down the ramp to the ticket office and gift shop that you can see at the bottom.

At the top of the sloped ramp, we turned to the right to come onto the patio outside the front of the museum. Walking a few feet, you could turn and look back at the top of the ramp. Directly ahead of us, again looking north, there was another ramp that descended to the level of the restaurant and lawn below, and I took a picture of that flower-lined ramp. In a while, we will be eating lunch at the bottom of that ramp in the restaurant off to the right, and I'll take a picture looking up the ramp then. Walking a bit further onto the patio, Fred got another view looking back towards the top of the initial ramp and the turn we made, and you can see that view here.

The Front of the Larco Museum

At the top of the ramp, we found ourselves on an esplanade in front of the main entrance to the Larco Museum. This open area was bright and sunny, and there were bougainvillea on the walls and many other plants, including a number of cacti in pots along the wall of the museum and out along the walls of the esplanade where it overlooked the lawn below.

We planned on going down to the restaurant for our lunch, but before we went down the stairs at the east side of the patio, I thought I would take a couple of panoramic pictures from this vantage point. The first one I tried took eight pictures, and shows the entire patio area from the top of the ramp up all the way around to the east corner and the front of the Larco Museum- almost 360°. That view is in the scrollable window below:

For the other panorama, I wanted to take in the lawn below the esplanade, the restaurant and the building containing the exhibition of erotic art. This was just a combination of three pictures, and you can see the result below:

Lunch at the Larco Museum Restaurant

The next order of business was to get some lunch, and we planned to eat at the Cafe del Museo Restaurant. The restaurant, as well as the collection of erotic art, were down below us across the lawn.

The Cafe del Museo Restaurant

The restaurant is on an open patio, but there are plastic sheets than can be let down when the weather is cool or if it is raining. They were down at the moment, but some of them were rolled up during our lunch. Fred and Yoost took a couple of closeup pictures of the restaurant area from the esplanade before we headed down, and you can use the thumbnails below to have a look at them:

We went down a set of stairs and ramp to the lower level and over to the restaurant side of the lawn. From there, we got good views of the lawn and museum; click on the thumbnails below to have a look:

When we got to the lower level, we were at the east end of a trellis-covered walkway that ran along the outside of the building housing the erotic art collection. We'd be sticking our heads in there after lunch. Along the walkway there were benches to rest on and lots of ferns hanging down on both sides of the trellis. At the west end of the walkway, we turned to our right and entered the restaurant proper. The walkway continued, but now there were restaurant tables along it and some dining parties already at lunch. You can see that portion of the restaurant here.

We had a very good lunch; all of the meals we ordered were excellent- especially the soups. We were sitting at a table at the west end of the main room of the restaurant, and while we were waiting for our meals to arrive, I got up and went to take a picture looking up the flower-bordered ramp that we had viewed earlier looking down from the esplanade above. We took a few good pictures during our lunch, and you can use tehe clickable thumbnails below to have a look at them:

Before we head into the collection of erotic art, there is one more photograph I want to include here. You may remember that I took a photograph during the Celebrity-provided lunch in Quito of an interesting way that the restaurant had of identifying men's and women's bathrooms. Well, when I went to use the facilities, I found two unmarked doors- one on the left and one on the right- at the end of a short hall. The only identifying information were two clay figures mounted on the wall between the two doors. These turned out be very much in keeping with the theme of the museum of erotic art next door to the restaurant. If you'd like to see the figures, and aren't easily offended, then just click here.

The Exibition of Pre-Columbian Erotic Art

The hall adjacent to the restaurant displays the selection of archaeological objects found by Rafael Larco Hoyle in the 1960s, as a result of his research on sexual representations in Peruvian pre-Columbian art. His research, and many images of the objects he found, were published in his book, "Checan" (1966).

We took many pictures in the three galleries of the exhibition, and I am going to include the best of them here, along with explanations where available. Before you proceed further, however, you should be aware that Pre-Columbian art incorporates detailed representations of male and female genital organs, as well as scenes in which men and women participate in sexual acts. If you think that you might not want to look at the images in this section of my photo album, then you should skip over them and go directly to our tour of the main Museo del Larco. To do so, simply click the link immediately below:

However, if you would like to continue with this section and accompany us through the galleries of erotic art, then click the link below:

Just in case you chose the wrong selection earlier, here is one more chance for you to skip over the pictures of Pre-Columbian erotic art. To skip directly to the tour of the Larco Museum of Pre-Columbian (non-erotic) Art, please click the link below:

However, if you would like to continue with this section and accompany us through the galleries of erotic art, then click the link below:

Just one more step. Federal regulations require that visitors to web sites that display "adult" content verify that they are 18 years old or older. Please select one of the options below:

I Certify I am 18 Years Old or Older

Darn it! I'm Not 18 Years Old Yet.

Larco found that the variety of erotic pottery went way beyond simple representations of men and women; many of the creations also involved beings from other worlds, including deities and the dead. Some scenes depict mythical episodes, while others have ritual significance. These sexual depictions are associated with other themes, such as agricultural production, funerary rites and sacrifice ceremonies.

This gallery displays a selection of the archaeological objects Larco collected. Rafael Larco, honest with his readers and aware of the complex nature of the field he was tackling as he sought to arrive at a coherent interpretation of this unique artistic tradition, concluded his work by saying:

"As we come to the end of this book on one aspect of the archaeological panorama of Peru for which our only source is erotic vessels, readers are free to explore for themselves the vast field of suggestion." (Checán, p.128)

This gallery provides us with a clearer understanding of the world view of the societies of ancient Peru. At the same time, it offers a unique and fascinating opportunity for the study of sexuality, free of our own myths and prejudices.

NOTE:
We took a huge number of pictures here in the gallery of erotic art. You may not want to see a lot of them, so in this section I will show you just a few that are representative and then put the rest of the pictures in a slideshow at the end of this section.

Forty years after Larco Hoyle's book was published, the classification and interpretation proposed by Rafael Larco is again displayed in this hall, together with some new perspectives that have resulted from more recent research. These new perspectives enrich Larco's early but accurate recognition of diverse meanings within a group that at first sight might be seen as homogeneous.

There have been various interpretations of "erotic pottery", but the one that is most widely accepted today is its relationship to a larger system of representations that includes, among others, themes that can be observed in detail in the other galleries of the Larco Museum.

From our modern and westernized perspective we tend to classify all representations of nudity, the genital organs or sexual acts as erotic images. However, we are required to attempt a different approach to sexuality in order to appreciate such representations in the cultures of ancient Peru.

As you can see so far, the pottery and ceramics were pretty explicit, and from our point of view in a more prudish time, many would focus solely on the images and fail to consider them in light of the cultural milieu during which they were created. What we might consider a subject only to be dealt with behind closed doors, the Pre-Columbians saw as in integral and essential part of their belief system and culture.

Larco Hoyle recognized the complexity of the field he was dealing with, and tried to offer a coherent interpretation of this particular artistic group. He concluded his book "Checon" by stating:

"The task I set myself to discuss in this book has been only one aspect of the life and culture of the Machicas and other peoples of pre-Columbian Peru - that related to their sexual life as shown in the pottery found in their tombs - the only source of any information on it... As the erotic pottery was not modeled to stimulate the senses, it is a study I have carried out as an archaeologist."

In pre-Columbian art there are, for example, detailed representations of male and female genital organs which allude to the concept of duality. There are also representations which symbolize fertility and the origin of life, in which men and women participate in sexual acts with beings from other worlds, such as deities or the dead.

There exist representations which obviously narrate episodes from myths, as well as sexual acts with clear ritual connotations. In order to understand these, it is important to consider the larger context of pre-Columbian artistic representations in general. In this way we are able to see that sexual representations are related to other themes, such as funerary practices and sacrifice ceremonies.

This exhibition enables us to arrive at a better understanding of the world view of the societies of ancient Peru. At the same time, it is a unique and fascinating opportunity to approach the subject of sexuality, free from our own myths and prejudices.

In Andean Art, and perhaps in art in all cultures and at all times, there was a direct relationship between the subjects depicted in the artwork and the view that the culture had of their natural surroundings- their "cosmovision". Even today, and even with subjects not related to larger themes, we always marvel when an artist seems to get the "feeling" of his subject.

In Andean cosmovision, three worlds interact. In the erotic art of the ancient Peruvian cultures, we can appreciate these interactions.

The World of the Gods

The god Ai Apaec copulates, giving origin to life. He inseminates the woman, the earth, and from this union the first fruits are produced. This union is performed at specific moments during the agricultural calendar, such as when the time for irrigating or planting begins.

The World of the Living

In the earthly world, humans join to procreate. The union between man and woman makes new life possible. In this world, the animals also copulate and in this way they insert themselves into the cycle of life.

In somewhat of a departure from other cultures, however, the third element of the Andean cosmovision, the dead, consists of beings that are far from molding in the ground.

The World of the Dead

The dead are depicted as sexually active beings that interact among themselves and also with the living. The sexual activities in which the dead are involved are non-procreative. The objective of these acts is the emission of semen, the fertilizing liquid, which must be offered to the earth. Living men and women also perform sexual acts that do not lead to procreation; these types of sexual interaction symbolically link the world of the living with the world of the dead.

We saw just about all there was to see in the erotic art collection. While we'd seen pictures of some of these items before, the sheer number of them was overwhelming- particularly considering that each of these items had to have been unearthed from an archaeological dig or from a tomb. It makes one wonder how many other objects there must be- of all types.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

I said above that I would put the bulk of our pictures of the Larco Museum's collection of objects into a slideshow; there were simply too many of them to have you click on innumerable thumbnails and close innumerable windows if you wanted to see any great number of them. The slideshow will make it easy for you to see all our pictures of the collection.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at right and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

The Larco Museum of Pre-Columbian Art  

From the Erotic Art Collection (If you bypassed the tour of that collection and have had second thoughts about doing so, it is not too late to have a look at the many pictures we took in the three galleries. To take the tour, just click here.), we came back up the stairs to the entrance to the Rafael Larco Herrera Museum of Pre-Columbian Art.

As it turned out, we spent a great deal of time in this most interesting museum and we took lots of pictures. To supplement those pictures, I recorded descriptions and the narrative from various plaques throughout the museum. All this information has led to a web page section that is quite large. In the interests of keeping my photo album pages of reasonable size (so that they load fairly quickly and are not too hard to navigate), I want to put the photos and narrative for the Larco Museum of Pre-Columbian Art on their own page. To get there, all you have to do is click on the link below. At the end of your tour through that museum, there will be a link to bring you back to this page so you can spend the last part of our last day in Lima with us.

Well, we all thought that the Larco Museum of Pre-Columbian Art was incredibly interesting, and if you walked through it with us, I am sure you will agree.

Now it is time for us to head back to the apartment, where Yoost will be leaving for the airport and his flight back to Amsterdam while we will do some walking around this evening before we, too, head to the airport.

Our Last Evening in Lima

We left the Larco Museum and walked across the street to an area called Larco Park to wait for the taxi that we had called.

In that park across the street, there was a pleasant fountain, and that's where we sat down to wait. Yoost and Greg were, I think, in the gift shop. After about fifteen minutes, a couple of taxis pulled up and Greg and Yoost appeared and we all piled into one of them.

I have no idea what route we took back to the apartment; traffic was horrendous and the taxi driver was always weaving in and out or taking side streets to try to avoid some of it. Almost all of the pictures we took out the taxi window didn't turn out well, although I did get one picture of an interesting monument as we drove back.

Once we were back at the apartment, we futzed around for a while while Yoost got his stuff together. Our host's driver arrived about five, and we bid goodbye to Yoost as we saw him off to the airport.

We ourselves got our stuff in some semblance of order, hung out for a while, and then Fred and I went out for an evening walk.

From the apartment, Fred and I first walked down Balta to the ocean, and then crossed the street into Parque Amor, the first in the series of parks that go north along the shore towards the lighthouse that is a few blocks up the ocean shore, high up on the cliffs. I made a movie as we walked along, and you can use the player below to watch it:

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As it turned out, the evening was very pleasant, although a bit overcast. But this had its own benefits, as we were treated to a very nice sunset over the Pacific.

Here are some different views of the sunset, if you're interested:

The way Lima is situated atop the 80-foot cliffs is interesting; most oceanfront cities, like Miami or Los Angeles, sit low near water level, so there are no drop-offs at the beach. Lima is more like San Francisco, though, where when you drive over to the beach you might park relatively high up and have to hike down to water level. Of course, developers in Lima put highrises right by the ocean.

Here are clickable thumbnails for some of the picturees that we took as we were walking along through the parks towards the lighthouse and back:

The walk was really pleasant, and the evening a nice one. I found myself wishing we could have gone further up or down the shore, but time was not unlimited.

We came back south from the lighthouse, back to Parque Amor where we came back to the sculpture called "El Bezo" (The Kiss). As I'd read online, at night the sculpture is lighted, and you can see what it looks like at right. We stopped here near the sculpture so I could use my camera extender to take a selfie of Fred and I at the sculpture.

The last thing we did on our walk was to go down towards the beach. To do that, we had to go back up Balta a block or so to find the first set of stairs down into Parque Carossio. This brought us to the road that we could take to go down towards the shore, underneath the lighted bridge above us.

We took the road back down underneath the bridge over the ravine towards the shore. When we got down to the base of the park road, we found that we were still a good ways up from the beach. Since it was getting quite dark, we satisfied ourselves with the walk under the bridge and the few pictures we took down at the base of the park road. You can use the clickable thumbnails below to see the last of this evening's pictures:

Back at the apartment, we did our packing and just relaxed until about 11:30 when our host's driver showed up to take us out to the airport for our 2:30AM flight back to Dallas. As it turned out, the flight was delayed almost two hours, but since we had the First Class Lounge to hang out in, the time passed fairly quickly, and by 5AM on my 68th birthday we were in the air and heading home to Dallas- after an amazing trip to a part of the world we'd not come close to before.

You can use the links below to continue to another album page.

	November 21, 2014: Touring Historic Lima
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