Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [62]
CERRO SAN CRISTóBAL
This 409m-high hill (Map) to the northeast of Central Lima has a mirador (lookout) at its crown, with views of Lima stretching off to the Pacific (in winter, expect to see nothing but fog). A huge cross, built in 1928 and illuminated at night, is a Lima landmark and the object of pilgrimages during Semana Santa (Easter week) and the first Sunday in May. There is a small museum (admission S1). From the Plaza Mayor, taxis can take you to the summit (from S15) or you can wait for the Urbanito bus (Map; 428-5841; www.urbanito.com.pe; Callao 144; per person S5; 10am-7pm), on the southwest corner of the plaza, which does a one-hour round-trip tour to the summit. Buses run every 30 minutes.
CONVENTO DE LOS DESCALZOS
At the end of Alameda de los Descalzos, an attractive, if forgotten, avenue, is this 16th-century convent and museum (Map; 481-0441; Alameda de los Descalzos s/n; admission S6; 10am-1pm & 3-6pm, closed Tue), run by the Descalzos (‘the Barefooted,’ a reference to Franciscan friars). Visitors can see old wine-making equipment in the kitchen, a refectory, an infirmary and the monastic cells. There are also some 300 colonial paintings, including noteworthy canvases by renowned Cuzco School artist Diego Quispe Tito. Spanish-speaking guides will show you around (for a tip); tours last 45 minutes. Taxis from the Plaza Mayor start at about S10.
East Lima
The city begins to rise into the foothills of the Andes as you turn east, an area carpeted with government buildings and teeming residential districts.
MUSEO DE LA NACIóN
A brutalist concrete tower houses the catch-all Museo de la Nación (Museum of the Nation; Map; 476-9878; www.inc.gob.pe/expo1.shtml; Av Javier Prado Este 2466, San Borja; admission S7; 9am-5pm Tue-Sun), which provides a cursory overview of Peru’s civilizations, from Chavín stone carvings and the knotted rope quipus of the Incas to artifacts from the colony. Large traveling international exhibits are also shown here (often for an extra fee), but if there is a single reason to visit this museum, it is to view a permanent installation on the 6th floor called Yuyanapaq (www.pnud.org.pe/yuyanapaq/yuyanapaq.html). The exhibit, named after the Quechua word meaning ‘to remember,’ was created by Peru’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission in 2003 and is a moving and beautifully installed photographic tribute to the Internal Conflict (1980–2000). Students of contemporary Latin American history: consider this an absolute must-see. (For more on the Commission, see boxed text, Click here.)
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THE STRANGEST SADDEST CITY
Visit Lima in winter (April through October) and you will likely find it steeped – day after day – in the fog known as garúa. It is relentless, a mist that turns the sky an alabaster white and leaves the city draped in a melancholy pall. Interestingly, this otherworldly microclimate has been the source of much literary inspiration. The most famous citation is in none other than Moby Dick by Herman Melville, who visited Lima in the 1800s. It is ‘the strangest saddest city thou can’st see,’ he wrote. ‘For Lima has taken the white veil; and there is a higher horror in this whiteness of her woe.’
Countless Peruvian writers have also chronicled this homely aspect. Internationally renowned author Mario Vargas Llosa cites the fog no less than half a dozen times in his 1963 novel The Time of the Hero, describing the sky as ‘ashen,’ ‘damp gray’ and ‘leaden.’ Likewise, Peruvian essayist Sebastián Salazar Bondy, in his 1964 treatise, Lima la horrible (Lima, the Horrible), describes the mist as a ‘tenacious gar