Today was quite the big day for multiple reasons. Not only did I end up changing my Spanish class to one level up but also the tours we went on consisted of two of the biggest building in the historic district of Lima. Overall we started the day in class as usual with our break down of grammar, conversations, and then culture class. My favorite part of school is usually the conversations because we get to just talk about the different parts of our lives and I feel like I'm learning about my other classmates. We also get to talk with the professora and today my new professora gave me a new recommendation for lunch spot with some amazing Peruvian sandwiches and cakes. After class Gaby and I went on a hunt for San Antonio Paneria (Bakery) and together we found it but were in such a rush to get back to the bus we only had time to try one thing, a delicious puff pastry. No worries though, I'll be sure to go back especially on the days when we have to find our own lunch.
The afternoon flew by quick with three different tours of different national buildings and museums in the city centre of Lima. We started in the Capitol building looking at some presentations of art and getting to sit in the senate chambers. The room was enormous with all an air of regality. The room was once the center of business for the viceroyalties of old. It was explained to us how many of Peru's most important legislation was signed on those very floors. One of the most artistic parts of each room was the glasswork on the ceiling illuminating everyone under a stained glass portrait of Peru's emblem or an angel.
After the government building we snaked our way through the city to El Museo Afroperuano, which works to educate the public of the history of Africans in Peru. Mostly brought by the slave trade blacks had and still have a hard time being recognized as equals to the european, and now peruvian, majority. For example a single drop of African blood in ones family history effectively degrades one to a lower class citizen. However while they may have been forced to work as slaves, this specific class still managed to develop a their own forms of culture, individualized music, instruments, dances and beliefs.
The last place we visited was La Iglesia de San Francisco (Church of Saint Francis). A giant cathedral right off of the Plaza Mayor which appropriately demonstrated the wealth and influence of the church in Lima. Each room in the church contained hundreds of year old artifacts and mounted walls of art depicting major points in the religious time line. The building was designed with massive arch ways and domed ceilings so large that the guide noted there was a bat problem. My favorite portion was the catacombs, once a place of burial for early Lima, now is filled with hundreds of bones from upwards of two thousand individuals of all levels of wealth and power. Extending underneath the base of the church the low ceilings and the piles of organized bones really gave off the macabre feeling of being stuck in a crypt.
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