Zooming Through Lima

Before I move into Pucallpa for the next month, I took a quick dash through Lima compliments of Cesar, a local chauffeur I got connected with thanks to JenGuss. He scooped me at the bus station and for $5 per hour whisked me through breakfast, two museums, two malls and finally the airport parkng lot.

The first stop after breakfast was the Spanish Inquisition Museum. It wasn’t large or detailed, but it did have life size figurines re-enacting various forms of torture employed by the Inquisition.

Next we headed to the Museo Larco, or Archaeological Museum which is gorgeous and totally worth the $10 to get in. The pottery and jewelry collections are extensive. It’s also set in a lovely garden and has a modern, fancy restaurant-café attached to it. I have tons of pictures from the museum that I will make into a separate gallery for anyone interested in seeing some of the pieces. The erotic pottery exhibit was the most interesting and surprising. The pieces depict everything from sex between animals, to necrophilia, to venereal diseases, to masturbation, to breastfeeding, to hermaphrodites. Crazy.

The ancients didn’t mess around when it came to jewelry either. The nose ornaments and earrings are so big they made my face ache just looking at them. The gold and silver work is intricate and gorgeous. No wonder the Spanish were so eager and greedy to get at their riches.

After the museums I returned to the one cookie shop I’ve found in this country and treated myself to a chocolate chip cookie at the Cookie Factory at LarcoMar mall. It was a gorgeous day and I thoroughly enjoyed my outdoor lunch and stroll.

From there it was on to the airport and on to the jungle. I can’t wait to see what Pucallpa is all about!