Lima...

Tomorrow I'll be heading over the mountains and away from the city that has been my week-long temporary home. Although Lima didn't impress me at first, it's grown on me now, with it's gorgeous coast, colonial-era neighbourhoods, freaky museums, and constant warmth...all of which will likely be hard to come by in the Sierra.

The view of the coast from Barranco - southern Lima (those are surfing beaches you see below)

I have enjoyed this week at the International Potato Centre; I have been warmly welcomed by all the staff in my department, who have taken me under their wing and taken me to buy a cell phone, on a guided tour through the agricultural university campus, on a day trip to a beach south of Lima, and throughout some of the more colonial residential neighbourhoods. I couldn't have asked for a better reception here, and it was great to feel welcome from the get-go.

A view of some of the "pueblos jovenes" (shanty towns) that ring the mountains around Lima

Yesterday, I went for a wander around downtown Lima, where I saw the presidential palace, a number of beautifully maintained and restored churches, and a very beautiful - if creepy - Franciscan abbey where Limenos were buried in the past: the thought was that being buried on holy ground (in mass, unmarked graves no less) bought you a closer link with heaven. They have dug up the old graves and now tour groups now pass through the catacombs filled with thousands and thousands of skulls and tibias (the bones which were more likely to make it through the process of decay and disintegration brought on by the liberal amounts of lime poured over the caskets). It was an eerie experience to say the least, particularly because I went during high mass, and above us we could hear the choir chanting and the priest preaching.

Then I went and ate Ceviche - a local dish of raw fish "cooked" in lemon and hot peppers - likely the cause of my stomach problems today...