I awoke refreshed at 10:00 hrs. and opened the shutters to allow light to flood into my dark room. I washed my filthy trousers and T-shirt and donned my Rohan shorts for a sunny walk about in Lima.
First, I went to the Post Office to check the Post Restante again. There were no more letters for me, but they only hold mail for six weeks so any that were quick off the mark may have been returned to sender before I got here.
I bought a couple of postcards, having to pay 20 I/- for each card as they had no small denomination stamps again. I sat in a small bar off the central Post Office corridor with a bottle of Inca Kola, the yellow pop with the taste of bubble gum, and wrote the postcards.
I met the Australian group that I’d been white-water rafting with. They were having fun trying to mail some excess baggage home. I had breakfast in Jerry’s. Excellent, with huge portions as usual.
Next stop was the Museum in the Court of the Inquisition. Under a wonderfully ornate intricate baroque ceiling accused wretches were dragged before an ornate table with a skull on it. They were judged between two simple wooden crosses, one of which had moveable arms which could be manipulated by a hidden operator to indicate the verdict.
Unfortunates who were judged not up to scratch were led along a secret passage where with the aid of racks, whips and hot coals they were persuaded to see the error of their ways.
The rack is a torture device consisting of a rectangular, usually wooden frame, slightly raised from the ground, with a roller at one or both ends. The victim's ankles are fastened to one roller and the wrists are chained to the other. As the interrogation progresses, a handle and ratchet mechanism attached to the top roller are used to very gradually retract the chains, slowly increasing the strain on the prisoner's shoulders, hips, knees, and elbows and causing excruciating pain.
By means of pulleys and levers, this roller could be rotated on its own axis, thus straining the ropes until the sufferer's joints were dislocated and eventually separated. Additionally, if muscle fibres are stretched excessively, they lose their ability to contract, rendering them ineffective.
The advent of the rack comes from British Constable John Exeter who invented the device in 1447 for the torture of prisoners of the Tower of London (initially it was called the “Duke of Exeter’s Daughter”. The operating principles of this sinister mechanism centres on the torque that stretches the joints and tears muscle ligaments.
There were underground cells and pits of small dimensions, smocks that the accused would wear to let the general public know that they were “Disciples of the Devil”, stocks, tourniquets, braziers, racks and devices to enable pouring vast quantities of water into someone. Dummies remained in eternal torment in various positions of discomfort at the mercy of hooded inquisitors. It was not a pleasant display!
I walked through the human mosquito swarm of moneychangers back to the offices of VARIG Airlines. Here I found out that a flight from Asunción in Paraguay to Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil cost $48 US dollars and would enable me to get a Brazil Air Pass.
I then went for a walk along the wide Avenida Garcilaso de la Vega (Avenida Wilson), past the Parque Juana Alarco de Dammert to the Art Museum. I paid 50 I/- to browse around a relatively small display of Peruvian art from pre-Columbian pottery and stonework to modern day random explosions of coloured paint.
Most of the early Spanish stuff was of a religious nature. The Crucifixion, scenes from The Bible, The Virgin Mary and Saints in torment figured highly. There was some more interesting later stuff, especially some sketches of nudes.
Google informs me that the Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI) holds the most representative art collection in Peru, tracing 3,000 years of history from the earliest Andean civilizations until modern times.
Known as the Palacio de la Exposición, the building that is now home to the museum is located at the entrance to the Lima’s historic center and is one of the earliest and most important works built using the new technique of cast-iron construction.
The exhibition was limited because restoration was underway. I continued walking past the Parque de la Exposición, around the heavily guarded Ministry of Transport and Communications, and back along the Paseo de la Republica.
The area is full of tall modern buildings and impressive old buildings and a wealth of statues of mounted men or angels triumphantly holding swords or flags aloft. There is a commonly held belief that equestrian statues follow a sort of code, which essentially dictates how the rider died.
While it seems like it could make sense, all it takes is stopping to consider just how many equestrian statues exist in this world of ours. The idea is that equestrian statues follow a code which signifies how the rider fared in battle by how many of their mount’s feet are raised from the ground.
One Hoof – If one hoof is raised, they were wounded in battle, but may not have died as a result of those wounds.
Two Hooves – If two hooves are raised the rider died in battle.
Four Feet on the Ground – All feet on the ground indicates that the rider survived battles unharmed and died another way.
The idea is purely folk wisdom as it is transmitted today, however it stems from something very real. This code does apply to (some of the) Gettysburg equestrian statues in Washington D.C., although maybe only 1 in 3 actually fits said rules.
The traffic was heavy. I headed back into the centre and wandered around in a few big department shops without buying anything. Jirón Union was packed as usual with shoppers and street vendors selling puppies, lizards, kitchen utensils, books, clothes and lottery tickets. Several people had bathroom weighing scales so for 2 I/- you could learn your weight.
There seemed to be a lot of activity around the Presidential Palace. A mob with video cameras waiting by a side entrance; black Mercedes Benz cars with darkened windows and police escorts, sirens howling; Military Police clearing the plaza and the area around the Palace.
I craved some cerviche and I tracked down some in a small café. On my way back to the hotel I picked up some washing powder and Inca Kola in the big Monastery Supermarket on Union. I washed my sticky T-shirt and checked out my alarm clock. The radio was playing some of The Clash songs.
I had a shower and went for a final stroll around central Lima before returning at 21:00 hrs. to settle my bill, which was for 5 nights at 140 I/- per night, a total of 700 Intis. I packed up my gear ready for departure early tomorrow. It seems to be hotter than ever in my room and I had a fairly sleepless night.
Between 22:00 hrs. and midnight there was shouting and banging from the direction of the Plaza de Armas. It sounded like a small riot or demonstration.
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