The coast of Peru is a desert, which is down to the cold Humboldt stream preventing nearly every rain. Still, in wintertime it's often foggy. Villages may only be found in regions with rivers flowing into the sea, but only ten of the forty rivers in Peru run water throughout the year. The Rio Rimac is the river making life in Lima possible. On the landside the spurs of the Andes surround Lima.
Peru has 24 million inhabitants, 8 million of them live in the city of Lima, their number rising steadily. New inhabitants build simple sheds on the bare slopes of the Andes or the desert at the outskirts of Lima (picture 17kB). Usually after a few years, the government builds roads, and new areas are getting connected to the water and electricity network.
We arrived in the evening and had a nice view from our hotel to the Palace of Justice (picture 16kB). There was light rain the days before we arrived, but luckily it stayed dry with some sunshine during our visit. But the weather was very sultry and because of the pollution the air was very bad.
On our city tour, we saw many beautiful buildings like the Columbus theater (picture 21kB), which still have their carved balconies from the Maures (picture 28kB). The cathedral (picture 17kB) is next to the Palace of Government (picture 16kB) on the old main square, the "Plaza de Armas". Inside is the tomb of Lima's founder, Pizarro (picture 43kB). On one corner of the square is Pizarro's monument (picture 24kB). Today, the place with most traffic is the "Plaza San Martin" (picture 43 kB) with the monument of the Argentinian general.
Miraflores, the most beautiful Lima's suburb, which is located at the seaside (picture 17kB), has a "Lovepark" (picture 30kB). A giant monument (picture 22kB) shows what happens in the intimate bays at night.
Should you ever come to Lima, then make sure you take some time to visit the gold museum (Museo de Oro del Peru y de Armas del Mundo). I can't show any pictures as it's not allowed to take fotos or to make videos. The museum shows very interesting gold, silver and copper artwork, as well as textiles, mummies and ceramic art - most exhibits stem from preinka time. Unfortunately, the museum is private. The explanations given are neither detailed nor in another language other than Spanish. In addition, the museum houses the exhibition of "Weapons of the World" where armors and swords are shown.
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last update: 28.10.2001