October 29, 2021
While in Lima I figured I’d better do something other than
just paragliding and wandering around Miraflores. So why not go check out a bunch of bones in
some catacombs?
I decided to take on the challenge of riding the bus to get
most of the way to the Basilica
of San Francisco. One of the great
challenges of travelling is learning how to navigate a city’s public transit
system, especially if the local language is not your native tongue. To keep it simple, I walked about 6 blocks
from my Airbnb to Arequipa Avenue, just past the John F. Kennedy Park. I figured that this would simplify things as
I just needed to take a bus about 4-5 kilometres down that road and I’d be within
a kilometre or two of the church. Yesterday
I attempted this, but I was foiled when I attempted to board a bus and the driver
motioned with his hand down across his face stating “Face shield”. Damn, I left that back in the room. Upon returning to my room I saw that it looked
flyable as I say a wing in the air so I went for a flight instead of journeying
to the catacombs.
Today I was prepared.
I paid my 3 soles (about a dollar) to the driver and he handed me a
card. There was a turnstile just inside
the bus with a screen beside it and I needed to tap it with the card and return
the card to him. This seemed a bit odd…here
we are double masked plus a face shield and yet every passenger who was paying
cash handled the same plastic card.
Seems like a bit of a flaw in the attempt to minimize the transmission
of Covid…
I got off the bus near the Palace of Justice which was an
impressive building. It was a super busy
area with many lanes of traffic buzzing with cars and buses. Walking along a street called Jiron Lampa, I
could see why it had its name (lampa meaning lamp) as there was a plethora of little
stores with chandeliers and a variety of lamps.
That morphed into these large 4-5 storey, mostly windowless, government
buildings. Outside one of them was a
line of people which must have extended for 2-3 city blocks. Most people were holding manilla envelopes
and I found out later that they had lost their jobs and were filing complaints
with the government…or something to that effect.
I loved this fruit vendor's speaker on his modified motorbike:
Reaching the Basilica, there was a short middle-aged woman
at the gate and she asked me if I would like a tour guide. I was skeptical at first but she had a
lanyard with a plastic ID card showing that she was an official guide and it
would only cost about $8 for a 45 minute tour.
Sure Miriam, let’s go. We started
with the Basilica and unfortunately photos were not allowed in the majority of
the church. Miriam claimed that it was
because it was still an active convent, but I didn’t see any monks so I didn’t
quite get it. In fact, the whole place
was pretty quiet, there were two other guides with a total of maybe 10 tourists
in the place.
A major earthquake in 1907 caused a lot of damage to the
Basilica and Miriam pointed out what had to be rebuilt. There were some impressive and ornate wood
carvings in the main part of the church, many of which had an Arabic influence. As to be expected, there were many paintings
depicting saints, the downfall of Jesus, the last supper etc. The last supper, a massive painting created
in the 1600s, was interesting as it had a Peruvian twist to it such as some
local dishes on the table including cooked guinea pig! I have to admit that I found the paintings to
be rather dark, not just in colour but in content. Catholicism
and Christianity in general does have a rather macabre side to it with how Jesus
was treated with the crown of thorns, the crucifixion etc. I’m not religious but if I was, I think I
would choose the colourful and happier flavour of Hinduism.
Okay, time for the catacombs. We descended some worn stone stairs and wandered around half a dozen rooms, most of which had some skulls or arm and leg bones piled in some sunken square sections in the floor or embedded in the walls. Supposedly there are the bones of some 25,000 people but the majority of them must be buried underneath what we could see as it seemed like we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Near the end, there was one sunken bit with bones and coins strewn about. Miriam explained that some Peruvians think it is good luck to throw money in there, just like many cultures do with wishing fountains. There was one skull that had a hole about two by three inches in size. I couldn’t resist. I fished a coin out of my pocket and attempted to hit the jackpot. Missed by about 6 inches…damn.
I have to admit that I was underwhelmed by the catacombs but perhaps that’s because I’m spoiled and visited this amazing church near Prague back in 1996 while backpacking after university. It was in a town called Kutna Hora and is called the Sedlec Ossuary. I mean, check these pics out:
The chandelier, hung down by jaw bones and skulls:
In the bottom right hand corner, a bird is plucking out the eye of a skull:
After the tour I decided to take another street back towards
where I could catch a bus and I just happened to stumble upon the historical centre
of town. It was a beautiful square surrounded
by some impressive buildings including the Government Palace, the Cathedral of
Lima and the Municipal Palace. I
wandered around for a bit then started heading down a pedestrian only lane
lined with shops back to the bus stop. I
had to giggle a bit on the bus ride back in that the driver spent the entire
time talking on the phone…safety in action!
It’s quirky experiences like this that make me love travelling.
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