To Lima 27-28 Jan

In the morning we rang a hostel in Lima to book a room so that we wouldn't have to look for one in the dark when we arrived. Then we set off on our way south again expecting to arrive at around 6pm.
Again we passed through miles and miles of desert with the occasional green oasis filled with Yucca, maize, rice and sugar cane. However the 600km didn't take as long as we thought because the final 200km were on dual carriageway. What a difference it made not to have to queue up behind lorries carrying rediculously large loads and going at rediculously slow speeds (some as low as 25km/h) to overtake. We arrived in the outskirts of Lima at around 3.30pm and reached our hostel about one block from the sea at around 4.30pm. Our first impressions of Lima were that the roads were really badly maintained compared to the ones we have experienced; that the drivers haven't got a clue how to use indicators (they indicate left then turn right and vice versa); that to drive in Lima you need a 3rd hand that is continuously pushing the horn; and, that the mini buses that they have here, whilst less smokey than those in Quito, are much more dangerous to drive around as they nip in and out and stop absolutely anywhere.
Our hostel was a mini fortress and all the surrounding properties had amazing spikey fences and some electric fences, it made us a little nervous but we wandered around to find somewhere to eat and felt no fear at all!

On Thursday we took a taxi to the centre, it was a terrifying journey lasting only about 15 minutes (thankfully), as our driver forced his way through traffic and launched himself into fast flowing lanes. We got out in the Plaza de Armas, with the Cathedral on one side and the Government building on the other, for some reason the square was full of painted cows, I don't know why but they were great anyway! We got told off for going too close to the railings outside the government building. We were told that since a protestor handcuffed himself to the railings it was now prohibited to get any closer to the railings than one paving stone. In one corner of the square was a group of very bored looking riot police, and round the side of the government building was an APC and several police cars. I asked one machine gun weilding policeman if they were there because of the threat of terrorism... but in fact, he told me, it was because there are elections due in a few weeks and there have been protests and marches on the government buildings!
We wandered around and visited the Inquisition Museum in the original Inquisition court building. This was the court only for Non Indigenous citizens, these 'sinners' had to be denounced 3 times before they could be brought to trial; they were given a lawyer if they didn't have one and the only torture allowed was stretching on the rack, water torture (where they pour water in the mouth) and the stocks. The sentences ranged from death penalty (burning or strangulation) and whipping to a prison sentence or having to attend mass or help the poor. However in the indigenous court the tortures and sentences were much worse, burning the feet, cutting out the tongue, chopping off the hands to name but a few of the tortures. Also the records show that only 8 people died from the torture in the court we visited but there were no records kept for the indigenous court and estimates are that 100s or thousands probably died from the tortures there.
We then headed south and westward through the historic centre of Lima. The old buildings here are very similar to those in Quito except that they seem to be more ornate and they have some amazing wooden casement windows, some with incredible carving.
We visited the museum in the National reserve bank that had a great collection of pottery from all of the different cultures in Peru, it allowed us to compare all the different styles in one place and see the evolution of the styles. There was also an incredible gold collection; to view it we had to actually walk inside the secure box with the huge safe door and a policeman armed with a machine gun. There were cups, earrings, nose rings and funerary masks and chest plates. Many of the pieces were cut from millimetre thin sheets of gold, others were moulded around wooden or ceramic moulds and some were made in 'jewelery style' with bending and hammering.
Our 4 hour wander finished with another taxi drive (much less scary this time) back to our hotel. After a bit of a rest in our hotel (and a bit of tennis watching Oz semi finals), we went for a wander down to the sea a block below the hotel and then on to find a restaurant. We hadn't experienced even a spot of bother, so I don't know whether we were just lucky or whether the dangers of Lima had been exagerated.