P Day in Lima City Center (i.e. the "M" word)

Grandpa Mike finally persuaded Grandma Evie to go see some museums in the city center on a Saturday, our preparation day. Actually, Grandma Evie only agreed to visit one museum which she got to pick (compromise is essential to a successful missionary companionship).

Grandma Evie picked this place, the Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco.  The church and monastery date from 1774 and has been an important part of Lima's history. Along with the normal beautiful paintings and architecture,  it also has an old library with over 25,000 old books, including the Royal Spanish Academy’s first Spanish dictionary and a 16th-century edition of the Holy Bible printed in Antwerp. Of course, you can't look at any, but the library with shelves to the ceiling full of dusty old books looked like sort of place people in movies go to look for old magic incantations and potions. Also under the cathedral is a spooky labyrinth of catacombs with skulls and bones of around 25,000 bodies buried there. We got to walk through the catacombs.

But even with all this going for it, we really didn't enjoy it all that much. The tour guide's English was hard to understand and he hurried us through because tour groups kept stacking up. Besides, we realized we had seen this before with Dave and it hasn't changed much in eleven years. So we walked out and sat down on the steps in front of the church to rest (tried of standing) and to decide what to do. Then this happened:

There were several groups of school kids on field trips waiting to go through the convent and church. One brave girl, with two shy ones behind, came up to us and asked, with a carefully practiced phrase in English, if they could take a picture. We said sure and asked her to also take a picture with my phone. Then they all wanted to talk with us, mostly in Spanish but also trying out some English words they had learned. Eventually, some of the boys in the class joined. Before long we found ourselves surrounded by these kids, joking with them about the United States, where we were from, grand kids, their school, football and food, and taking pictures. They also got to read our name tags and asked about the church. One of the girls was a member.  After awhile, it was their turn and they left to go on the tour and then came over another class and then another. This, not the convent with the catacombs and cool library, was the most enjoyable part of the day. Here are some pictures.

Conspiring Men

After all these kids and having rested on the steps we decided we were hungry and then had to decide where and what to eat. We found a place on google maps with good reviews that was about a hundred yards away. We headed off in that direction, but didn't make it that far and instead decided to eat at this place we saw on the way.

The restaurant is on a corner with doors on each street. This is taken from one door looking through to the other. We sat at a table in the middle. While we were eating groups of people kept walking through one door and out the other taking photos of the place and no one seemed to care or be surprised.

Turns out this bar and restaurant has been around since 1905, with the same decor, one of the oldest and most famous in Lima. Importantly, it is just a few feet from the government palace and all Peru's presidents and important politicos have been patrons. This is where conspiring men over the years have met to determine the future of Peru. Also, the food was really good.

Dancing in the Street

We walked a block of so over to the Plaza de Armas, the main square, where it would be easier to get picked up by an Uber car. On one the streets off the square a group of young dancers were performing some traditional folkloric dances of Peru to traditional music (although some of it sounded more pop and than folk). Watching them for awhile was great way to end the day in City Center, even without seeing another museum. Here are a couple of short clips.