Lima - life in the big city

Normally we're not fans of big cities when we travel. They all seem the same. But Lima grew on us a little and the city had a few cool sites. First was the monastery of San Francisco. Even though we're also not big fans of churches (Latin America has A LOT of them and you can tire of them all after a while), this one had something extra that we were interested in: catacombs! After a tour of the monestary and some cool history of what it was like to be a Franciscan Monk, we headed underground. We were soon greeted by the sight of deep piles of femurs and skulls from 25,000 bodies! And if this weren't enough, someone at some point in history went to the "artistic" effort of arranging them if various patterns: sometimes rows of femurs all aligned and then arrays of skulls, and one circular holding area where the femurs and skulls each formed alternating elegant concentric circles to fill the entire holding space.

After that, we took advantage of being close to Chinatown to indulge in what was the best Chinese food we have had ANYWHERE. Who would have thought we'd find it in Peru...
It was a nice change from the Peruvian food.

After lunch, it was off to the Musuem of the Spanish Inquisition. Yes, Lima was one of three cities in the Americas that was host to the Spanish Inquisition tribunals. The tour started in the actual room where the trials were held. From there, we walked past displays that provided history, toured the prison cells and showed some of the examples of the tortures that were delivered to people who were found guilty of not being good Catholics (including those who practised forms of Christianity other than Catholicism) and made to repent. About 30 people were punished to death in Peru (much much less than in Europe, where it is estimated that 1000-2000 people were executed). Being burned at the stake was a typical method.
The Inquisitions, however, only had jurisdiction over baptized Christians. This saved the indigenous people of Peru from being tried. The Spaniards viewed the indigenous people as being equivalent to animals and without a soul, thus they were not held responsible for their wrong-doings.