No mucho

Saturday, April 29, 2006

El Desarrollo Urbano

Today Taylor and I took and excursion to Lima Centro. My first goal was to see the changing of the guard at the government palace, and we arrived just in time. The changing of the guard is a 20 minute band concert, followed by a few minutes of ceremonial guard-changing. Although the whole thing was kind of long and hot at high noon, it was still cool. Below is a shot of the guards playing:

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After the changing of the guard, we visited an exhibit on books at the train station-turned-cultural center, enjoyed ceviche and refreshments at a classic old bar, and then went to explore this new park by the river that I learned about via a Lima food blog I stumbled upon this morning. The city of Lima recently restored a section of the old city wall facing the river and turned a garbage dump into a beautiful city park. Here's a picture:

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The whole thing was really nice and well done, and it was interesting to see the Lima version of urban redevelopment/revitalization through public investment in open space and cultural places--complete with prominent plaques saying which politically ambitious mayor was responsible for the improvements.

Next we decided to take a bus up to the top of Cerro San Cristobal, which overlooks the city center and features a large cross on top. It can't compare to the Cerro San Cristobal in Santiago and since it was hazy/starting to get foggy we couldn't quite see the entire expanse of the city, but the ride up alone was worth the trip. We started in the Centro and got a mini-tour of the old city sites, and then we crossed the river and our guide told us all about the colonial history of the Rimac district--where the aristocrats sent their mistresses to live, apparently. It was cool to see another old part of town that I probably wouldn't have visited otherwise. At the base of the hill are some pueblos jovenes--shanty towns, although by now they are pretty developed, if still poor--which our guide kindly informed us were populated by people from the highlands fleeing both terrorism and the terrible economy that resulted from the policies of the president in the late 1980s--who just happens to be running again right now. Hm, I wonder if our guide was supporting the other guy...

The views from the top weren't really photo-worthy, but here's one of the backside of the hill with some pueblos jovenes below:

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Our last stop in the Centro today was a delicious meal at a cafe that's owned by the same celebrity chef who's flagship restaurant we went to after my coworker's wedding. Yum yum. I'm quickly becoming a yet another huge fan of the Lima restaurant scene, but that's for another post...

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