Lima–2014 January 16

First stop today, the Botanical Garden that is part of a school of medicine, with a very nice building that you see as you approach the area.

Pink building Courtyard with archways Rounded back of building Cylindrical section of pink building

And here are some pictures of the plants.

Stand of cactus Cacti Red flower cactus bloom blue flowers Purple flowers closeup of red rose Very small red bottle brush plant long view of shrubbery in garden pathway through garden Purple flowers in front of large green leaf Closed yellow blooms Yellow cactus bloom “cups” on cactus Four-lobed red flowers orange flowers w. yellow center tiny cactus cups

I was planning to take a bus back to the main drag in order to get to the Parque de la Reserva, but am glad I walked instead. It was actually faster than taking a bus, as the traffic was incredibly snarled. Everyone was driving with their horns going full blast. Once back at Paseo de la Republica, I headed toward the park, which is near the stadium.

Old building between two large modern buildings with walkway between them Memorial w. flags of several countries Stadium with large sculpted torch on side Old church near stadium

The park has one of those shows with the fountains, but that was at 3 p.m. and I did not want to stick around for three hours, so here are a few pictures of the park. I got someone to take a picture of me, and here I am with a tree growing out of my head!

Fountain with precolumbian figures Waterway with bridge Me at park, with tree appearing to grow out of my head

I caught one of the buses back toward the hotel and got off near the Huaca Pucllana. (“huaca” means a sort of monument, usually something revered.) I passed a building with some interesting sculptures. The Huaca itself is in a semi-residential neighborhood.

Abstract sphere sculpture Abstract yellow humanoid sculpture Stone sculpture that looks like a row of the backs of people's heads Vegetation climbing walls of house White balcony above tree with orange flowers

I decided to go with the English-speaking tour guide, which was interesting, as his English was a bit shaky, so I might actually have understood as well with Spanish. In any event, he did a good job of showing us around the place. If you look at the bricks, you’ll see that the ones on the bottom look to be in bad shape; those are the originals. The ones that look perfect are restorations. The first picture shows an unrestored area of the huaca. Forty years ago, the area was just thought of as one huge hill where people did motocross racing. Then they started discovering artifacts and started excavation, which is still in progress. In the last picture, you see a handprint; the bricks were hand-made from mud and ground-up shells.

Unrestored area; large dirt hill Bricks of old precolumbian site Wall with original, damaged bricks at bottom and pristine replicas above. Long view, interior huaca interior area View from top of huaca View from top of huaca Long view of terraces Yellowish (original color) bricks Long view of terraces view of corner of “building” handprint in brick

There’s also an area where they have animals such as guinea pigs, llamas, alpacas, and alpaca/llama crossbreeds that are, like mules, infertile.

Black guinea pig with white stripe around waist and down nose Resting llama Resting brown alpaca White hybrid alpaca/llama

They also have plants like quinoa, corn, and lúcuma (the green globular fruit). Lúcuma is best eaten as a frozen confection; I had a lúcuma ice cream bar today and it was very good. They also had coca leaves, but I did not take a picture for fear of running afoul of some insane drug law somewhere.

corn growing inside huaca Green globular fruit of lucuma

The guide also showed us a replica of a burial site. He was talking about how people made sacrifices to the gods to avoid earthquakes, and if you were to come to them and tell them about tectonic plates, they wouldn’t understand you and would probably kill you as a heretic. I commented to some other people in the group, “Sort of like what would happen in Texas today.”

replica of burial area; wrapped bodies

Lunch

I stopped at an empanada shop and had a rice with chicken empanda with some local drink called Inka Kola. It looks like Mountain Dew; I have no idea what Mountain Dew tastes like, but this stuff was fizzy and sweet. For dessert I had an empenada with chocolate and banana.

Yellow soda in plastic bottle Empanada showing rice inside

Wall Art / Building decoration

The first picture is a courtyard that looked very appealing.

Courtyard with tree and red flowers Artwork of fish on front of restaurant red and gold geometric design on front of building Series of arcs painted on front of building Wall art; upper half of face Wall art; colorful coyote/fox-like creature.

Signage

The first one is just weird; the text reads “The soda cracker you weren’t expecting.” The last one is a traffic light with the “time remaining” indicator at an angle. Made it hard to read until I figured out which way was up.

Woman with amazed expression; text: “The soda cracker you weren't expecting” Sign with graffitti-style lettering “Madero Rojo” (red wood) “Don't walk” timer misaligned at an angle; 36 seconds reads like 9E

Feral Cats

The botanical garden also has a colony of feral cats; I arrived just at feeding time, and exchanged information with the person who was giving the cats their food. The last two pictures are Kennedy Park cats that I just couldn’t resist getting a picture of.

semi-alert orange cat on bench Old calico cat Five feral cats at food bowls Sleeping orange and white cat white cat asleep on bench Resting tabby cat resting brown and white cat Tuxedo cat with black “beard” staring at camera Long-haired tabby looking away from camera alert black kitten in tree orange/white kitten asleep in grass