Friday 10.10.14 – Lima, Changing of the Guard, Manolo, Magic Water

After breaky, we went out to get money again and a coffee before taking a taxi into the main Plaza de Armas to see the Changing of the Guard. We arrived with plenty of time to take a slower look around the Plaza, take some photos of an exhibition of “trees”, there were fibre glass ‘trees’ around the Plaza, that had been painted/decorated by artists, to support the push for more trees to be planted for all those that have been cut down for years.

The Government Palace.

Mayors house to the right, city buildings to the left.
Fountain in the centre. The only original item in the
square, buildings lost to earthquakes and rebuilt.
On one of the national holidays, the fountain is
filled with Pisco Sour, which is popular with the
locals.

Just hanging around with helmets and shields.

The Mayor's House, complete with intricate
balconies.

One of the trees, protesting oil
companies in the Amazon.

The Archbishop's Palace.

Wooden Balconies. Most were lost in Earthquakes
and haven't been rebuilt.

Some of the intricate carving, up close.

We moved to the fence of the Palace to wait for the ceremony, chatted with some police, who indicated that we could stand up to the fence. We waited at least 40 minutes, during which time, the 4 guards that were standing there, marched with precision goose stepping off the forecourt and disappeared. 

He stood stock still.

Long hairy thing down the back of
the helmet.

Our new friends, complete with
a bashed around old rifle.

And me.

Lamp post.

The original guards marching off.

Getting ready to go together.

Good hip flexors mandatory!

and off they go.

A good lean up to goosestep around the corner.

We were then asked to move back to the street, we were going to have to watch the whole thing through the bars – it started with a beautifully dressed Brass band, marching around the square, and coming to stand on a raised area right on the fence in front of us. The band, had plenty of brass, flutes, piccollos, cymbals, zylophone, cow bells, drums etc.

They played many songs, before marching around the square again and back to the edge of the square to accompany the actual Guard Changing Ceremony.

Unfortunately, watching through the bars was OK, but really no good for photographs.

There were many soldiers, goosestepping slowly around the square, with flags, in time with the music. Lots of pomp and ceremony, but disappointing as it was behind bars.

The band marching.

Standing on the raised platform, right in front of us.

The soldiers marching out with
flags

Trying to get a sense of it.

Another rifle wielding guard.

Stunning handing fern.

We walked then to Plaza San Martin, checked out some shops along the way and looked at the amazing architecture. Many of the buildings look quite dumpy at ground level, but when you look up, they had amazing facades and verandahs. A whole range of influences, Colonial, Spanish, Moorish, Inca etc…many of the non government buildings are dusty and decrepit. Those owned by the Government are well maintained and kept very clean, it is lovely to see the old buildings being so lovingly cared for.

These money changing guys were
in every area of the city. Blue vests
in Miraflores, yellow in downtown.
They had wads and wads of cash in
their pockets, and in their hand.
Always have their money out counting.
We didn't actually see anyone using them.
On some corners, there could be 3 or 4
of them.

In the pedestrian street between Plaza de Armas
and Plaza San Martin. The cakes here look so
plastic, so much fake cream.

A bit obsessed with the amazing balconies.

Church in the mall.

San Martin statue in the centre of
the square. Not the statue of a
woman holding a plaque at the
front...

...can't recall who she is, but the sculptor was asked
to put a crown of flames on her head. Lost in
translation. The word for flames is similar to llama
evidently, so she has a llama prominently sitting on
her head.

Street view in Plaza San Martin.

Plaza San Martin.

Teatro (theatre) on the corner.

Had a good look around San Martin Square, we went to Hotel Bolivar, to ask the concierge to arrange a taxi, he quoted 30 soles…we figured we could do better and negotiated our own cab for 15…not bad for a couple of non Spanish speakers from Oz. 

We headed back to Miraflores for lunch at Manolo Café, to try Churros, which we had read about in the Lonely Planet. The guy sitting next to us, was born in Buenos Aires, grew up with German parents and German nanny, then moved to Canada and has a family there. He was working in Lima. He spoke good Spanish, German and English is his third language, he gave us the lowdown on food to eat and places to see.

Suzie with our Manolo Churros.
These one are filled. Choc, Caramel
and Vanilla. With a lovely juice.

Mmmm which one to tackle first?
Which is the best one to leave till
last? Always want to finish with the
best flavour.

Back to the hotel for a rest/blog before heading into Circuito de la Magica Agua. – magic fountains at Parque la Reserva. The fountains are lit by night and there is also a sound and light and laser show. We got there in daylight to check out the place, then the colours started to come to life as night fell, we had fun trying to take pictures, before the main show at 7.15. The light show was good, but not for pictures. We loved the fountains though.

The first fountain we came across.

The indigenous fountain.

Kids in the fountain. Water has died down. Note
the big kid in backpack on left.

Water starts up and changing size, shapes and
colour. The kid in the backpack is dry, standing
between the water spouts, the other kids are there
to get wet, very wet.

Ta da - look I'm not wet!

Starting to get dark and the
colours are coming.

Another of the 12 fountains.

Us in silhouette in front of pyramid, that put me in
mind of Da Vinci code. 

Back to the first fountain and now dark.

And again. This one really had a lot of different
phases. It had a lot of mist coming off it when we
arrived, it had soft phases, low phases, high etc, etc.

Back home to Miraflores, after finding a cab and negotiating our price. Back to Manolo for dinner of Corvina (a fish our friend at lunch recommended) for me, Peruvian Chicken and rice for Suzie and all followed by plain churros and chocolate dipping sauce. DEEE- LISH – US.

Me dipping into our second lot of Manola Churros
for the day.

Back for shower and bed.