Shopping in Lima

Lima is a good place to buy traditional Peruvian handicrafts. Miraflores has several handicraft shops around Avenida La Paz or in the large emporia on Avenida Petit Thouars 53-54, a block from the Miraflores roundabout. One of the best is Kuntur Wasi, Calle Ocharan 182, which has an English-speaking owner.

Equally good is Antisuyo, Javier Tacna 460, Miraflores, an indigenous cooperative that sells artifacts from all over Peru. A good place for fine crafts and indigenous painting is Agua y Tierra, Javier Diez Canseco 298, Miraflores. Alpaca III, Avenida Larco 671, Miraflores,
has a fine selection of woven or knitted alpaca goods, as does Royal Alpaca, Centro Commercial, Pasaje El Suche, Avenida La Paz 646, Miraflores, and Inkantations, Avenida Larco 1180, Miraflores. All these shops offer a whole range of silver and gold artifacts, locally made woven textiles, alpaca sweaters, ponchos, rugs, coats and blankets.

Prices are similar to those paid in the Andes. Lima also specializes in arpilleras, native pictures of typical Peruvian life, made by local women. Miraflores has a daily crafts market in Parque Kennedy, open 1700-2300. Probably Lima’s biggest arts and crafts market is Feria Artesanal, Avenida La Marina and Avenida Sucre in Pueblo Libre. This market is open daily 1200-2000, sprawling along Avenida La Marina from the sixth block.

For more up-to-date shopping, visitors should head to the new Ripley department store on Parque Kennedy, Miraflores. Lima’s best bookstore, Crisol, can be found in Ovalo Gutierrez, Miraflores. Also in Miraflores, the US-style shopping mall in Miraflores, Larco Mar , has ten-pin bowling, a multiplex cinema, snack bars, restaurants, discos and live music. The mall is situated right on the cliffs overlooking the sea. The biggest shopping mall of all, Jockey Plaza, Avenida Prado Este, Surco, is open daily 1100-2100 and has many top designer shops, such as Guess, Benetton and Tommy Hilfiger.

On the whole, shops are open 0930-1230 and 1500-2000. At present there is no way of getting back the 18% sales tax, other than buying goods at the international departure lounge of Jorge Chavez Airport.

Tourist attractions in Lima

The Historic centre of Lima, located in downtown Lima and the Rimac District, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988 due to the large number of historical buildings dating from the Spanish colonial era, a small number of which have now been restored. In particular, the monumental Plaza Mayor, with the 16th century Cathedral and the Presidential Palace, and the catacombs of the Convento de San Francisco are popular with visitors.

Several sections of the Lima City Walls can still be seen. These fine examples of Spanish medieval fortification were used to defend Lima from attacks from pirates and corsairs.

The city also has a number of fine museums, notably the National Museum of Anthropology, Archaeology, and History and the Rafael Larco Herrera Archaeological Museum, both in the Pueblo Libre district.

Many small beaches, which are heavily visited during the summer months, are located by the southern Pan-American Highway. The most well-known ones are located in the districts of Santa Maria del Mar, Punta Hermosa, Punta Negra, San Bartolo and Pucusana. Also, the district of Ancon, located north of the city, has a very popular beach resort. (more…)

Transportation in Lima

Lima has an extensive bus system, which connects all of Lima’s main streets and avenues. These buses are commonly known as micros or combis. Although very cheap and convenient (they stop virtually everywhere), they are often poorly mantained and the smaller buses run at excessive speeds.

Taxis vary in quality of service and price. They can be stopped at any street, or private taxi companies can be called to pick up passengers at a certain address.

Numerous inter-urban bus companies offer transportation to other cities in Peru. Quality varies depending on the price, from luxury express buses to uncomfortable and crowded micros.

Nowadays Lima’s mayor is working on a new bus system called Metropolitano where all busses will have exclusive lines; it has been told that new busses must be acquired by the companies working in the metropolitan area, this busses will be bought from a Chinese company, the same company that sells busses to Italy. The mayor’s hope is to see a new massive transport system in the next few years. (more…)

Commerce and industry in Lima

Lima has substantial textile, paper, paint, and food products industries.

In recent decades, Lima has rapidly expanded and the city has seen much unregulated development. In the last decade, air pollution has risen to alarming levels, as no restrictions are allowed on the age or efficiency of motor vehicles. Leaded petrol is still widely used.

The “Estadio Monumental “U”", located in Lima, is Peru’s largest and most modern stadium; it seats eighty-thousand spectators.

Commercial services in Lima have increased drastically since the mid-1990s, malls are starting to be built everywhere. Examples of this are Primavera Park and Plaza, Parque Canepa, Minka Mall, Plaza Sur Mall and Megaplaza Norte, located strategically in Los Olivos where a a new middle class is quickly rising. Old malls are being redesigned, such as Lince’s Risso Mall , Camino Real in San Isidro or San Miguel’s Plaza San Miguel. (more…)

Education in Lima

Universities

The city has the largest concentration of higher-education institutions in the country. The National University of San Marcos, founded on May 12, 1551 during Spanish colonial regime is the oldest continuously functioning university in the Americas and considered by many peruvians “La decana” in the sense of “dean of universities” across Peru.

The Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru is the oldest private university (established on 1917). Other notable private institutions that are located in the city are Universidad del Pacifico, Universidad San Martin de Porras, Universidad de Lima, Cayetano Heredia University and Universidad Ricardo Palma.

Other state owned universities also play key roles in teaching and research, such as the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria and Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina.

Libraries

Founded by Jose de San Martin, Peru’s oldest and most important library, the National Library of Peru is located in downtown Lima. As it has suffered wars and earthquakes throughout history, a new location for the library is being built in the San Borja district and is scheduled to be finished in early 2006. This modernization program aspires to turn the library into one of Latin America’s most modern libraries.

Districts of Lima

The Lima city proper is comprised of thirty districts in the Lima Province. Each of them is headed by a mayor, although the Metropolitan Lima Municipal Council (Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima), led by the mayor of Lima, also has authority in these districts.

The historical downtown of the city is located in the Lima District, which is locally known as Cercado de Lima. This is where most vestiges of Lima’s colonial heyday remain, as well as the Presidential Palace and the Metropolitan Lima Municipal Council.

The upscale neighborhoods of Miraflores and San Isidro are among the wealthiest in the city, and most of the better hotels and other tourist destinations are located in them. The latter district is also an important financial center that is noweadays far more important in Lima’s daily business life than the Cercado. The districts of La Molina and Santiago de Surco offer quieter, upscale residential areas with several gated communities.

The traditional middle-class districts such as Jesus Maria, Lince, San Borja and Magdalena del Mar surround the “rich” districts.

Barranco, south of Miraflores, is known as a bohemian neighborhood and has earned recognition for its population of writers and intellectuals.

The most populous districts of Lima lie in the north and south ends of the city. Their population is comprised principally of immigrants from other regions of Peru. Many of them are poor people of indigenous origin who arrived during the mid and late twentieth century after being displaced by terrorism, agrarian crises, and general economic frustration. (more…)

Geography of Lima

Physical setting

Lima has a land area of 2,672.28 km². It is located on mostly flat terrain in the Peruvian coastal plain, within the valleys of the Chillon, Rimac and Lurin rivers. As in the rest of the region, the extreme dryness of the climate means that away from the river valleys and irrigated areas the local terrain is absolute barren of vegetation.

Climate

Lima’s climate can be said to be quite peculiar, as besides the aforementioned dryness, it surprises for its mildness: despite being located in the Tropics and at a near sea-level elevation, temperatures are far from torrid, with maxima ranging from 26°C in February to 19°C in August, with an all-time record high temperature of 32°C (90°F). Corresponding minima are 15°C (59°F) in August and 20°C (68°F) in February, with 8°C (46°F) being the lowest ever recorded.

On the other hand, relative humidity is very high, and the fog associated with it shrouds the city from May to November. Rainfall is all but unknown, usually occurring only in El Nino years, the yearly average of 0.7cm (0.03in) being the lowest of any large metropolitan area in the world. All these climatic phenomena have a common cause, which is the presence of the cold Humboldt Current just offshore.

Lima is the largest city in the Western Hemisphere, and the second largest in the world after Cairo, that is located in a desert.

Demographics of Lima

The Lima Metropolis ranks among Latin America’s largest urban concentrations, with a population of 6,954,583 in city and over 8 million in metro (2005 census), which features a very complex mix of racial and ethnic groups. Traditionally, Mestizos, Peruvians of mixed Spanish and Amerindian descent, have been the largest contingent, making up much of the middle class.

However, political and economic instability during the latter half of the twentieth century created unprecedented poverty and violence in the Andean highlands, forcing hundreds of thousands of campesinos of full-blooded Amerindian descent to migrate to Lima, thus greatly augmenting the Lima’s population. Unlike other ethnic groups, many of them speak primarily Quechua or Aymara, rather than Spanish. While a number of Amerindians eventually attain middle class status, others still live in shantytowns, locally known as pueblos jovenes. These areas often lack such basic services as electricity and running water.

Europeans, the economically dominant segment of the population, are mostly of Spanish descent, but there are significant numbers of Italians, German and others. Afro-Peruvians, initially brought to the region as slaves, are yet another important part of the city’s ethnic quilt. Finally, during the 20th century, Lima also gained signicant Asian communities, particularly of Japanese and Chinese ancestry. The former constitute the largest Japanese concentration in South America after Sao Paulo.

History of Lima

The city was founded by conquistador Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535, naming it Ciudad de los Reyes as the location was decided at Epiphany, the January 6. Lima, its original name, however persisted. It is uncertain where the name originated, but it is thought that it derives from the Aymara word lima-limaq, (yellow flower) or from Quechuan rimaq (talking). In the oldest Spanish maps of Peru, both Lima and Ciudad de los Reyes can be seen together as the names of the city.

Lima became the most important city in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, which encompassed nearly all of Spain’s possessions in South America during the colonial era (mid 1500s to early 1800s).

In 1746, many important and monumental buildings were damaged and or destroyed (later repaired) in an earthquake.The City of Kings’ cultural patrimony and incomparable, beautiful architecture remained prevalent. Its architectural and political importance in Latin America were equalled only by Mexico City.

In 1996, the Japanese embassy hostage crisis took place in Lima, an affair which received global media attention. It ended on April 22, 1997 when Peruvian Armed Forces commandos stormed the building by carrying out a frontal daytime attack after tunneling underground into the embassy to rescue the seventy-two hostages. One hostage died of medical complications, two soldiers and all fourteen kidnappers were killed in action.

Foundation

The city of Lima, capital of Peru, was founded by Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535 with the name City of the Kings. Nevertheless, with time its original name persisted that comes from the aymara language, (lima-limaq or yellow flower) or from quechua rimaq, that is “talkative”, by its river, the Rimac. In early maps of Peru it is possible to see the two names displayed jointly.

A Tribute to Humanity

In 1988, UNESCO declared the historic center of Lima a World Heritage Site for its originality and high concentration of historic monuments constructed in the time of spansish presense.

The Balconies of Lima

On the structures of the historical center of Lima, there are situated more than 1,600 balconies of the colonial era. In order to obtain its conservation, the Municipality of Lima invited to individuals and companies to adopt a balcony in order to conserve them as if they were new. The abundance of these balconies adds to the particular harmony and originality of this part of the city.

The Colonial Extravagance

At the time of the Viceroyalty of Peru a work of art was created, a magnificence, a granditure and a legendary royal life.

The authority of the viceroy, like representative of the Spanish monarchy was particularly important, since its appointment supposed an important ascent and the successful culmination of a race in the colonial administration.

The entrances to Lima of the new viceroys were specially lavish. For the occasion, the streets were paved with silver bars from the doors of the city of Lima to the Palace of the Viceroy.

Principal Monuments

Archbishop Palace

The first major church began construction in 1535. Pope Paul III turned it into a episcopal seat in 1541. In 1547 Lima was elevated to an archdiocese, which turned it by a short period, in the more extensive ecclesiastical circumscription of the world. The patron of the episcopal seat is Santa Rosa of Lima.

House of Aliaga

This house was constructed in 1535 on a sanctuary that existed before colonial times. From this date, that agrees with that of the foundation of the city, it has been inhabited permanently by the descendants of the first proprietor. One is the oldest mansion of the city and one is in front of the Government Palace, in a lateral street. Their halls, extensive and luxurious and their inner patio, have all the characteristics of the most important mansions of the historical center of Lima of the viceroyal time. Given the perfect state of conservation, in special circumstances, this mansion usually shelters certain cultural events.

House of Oidor

In this house, one of oldest of the city, lived the Oidor, that was named by the Spanish monarchy to act in the colonial administration. The Oidor had by functions to cross the administered territory to control its government. In this sense, it advised to the viceroy as a consultant.

House of Pilatos

This is one of the oldest houses of Lima, constructed in 1590 by a Jesuit priest called Luis Opening. The name of this large house was given by the Spaniards who arrived and stated the similarity of the house with that existing one in Seville.

Goyeneche House

This is one of the most outstanding houses of the historical center, constructed in the middle of the eighteenth century with French influence. One is in its original state with its balconies a typical characteristic of colonial it Lima.

Riva Aguero House

This house was constructed in the eighteenth century by the Riva Aguero family, whose last member, the intellectual Jose of the Riva Aguero, donated it to the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. At the present time Aguero is used like headquarters of the Riva Institute, conserving an interesting historical file and a library being simultaneously used by the local Museum of Popular Art of the PUCP.

The Cathedral

The Cathedral, which has become one of the main symbols of the city, started countruction the same year the city was founded; 1535. Since then there have been numberous remodilations. The Basilica Cathedral of Lima displays a form architecture that makes it unique in all of South America, of the style of the viceroyal time. The banches of the cathedral are of the finest quality as well are the of the benches of their Choir. The Greater Altar is covered with gold bread and has images of the viceroyal time. Within the Cathedral, are the ashes of the founder of the City of the Kings, today City of Lima, Francisco Pizarro. Every year, in the month patriotism, is celebrated the mass Te Deum in gratefulness by the independence from Spain. A custom retaken by the Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, is to give the mass all Sundays at 11:00 a.m. In 2005 the current mayor of Lima, Luis Castaneda Lossio, created the project of illuminating the cathedral with new lights.

Church and Convent of Santo Domingo

It took more than five decades delay for the construction of the church and the Convent of Santo Domingo, because the project begun at the same time as the foundation of Lima and the end of the sixteenth century marked by the end of it. The church is composed by three naves with a carved choral ashlar masonry in cedar wood. The church is crowned by a large cuple. The interior displays images from the first years of the City and also an image of Our Lady the Virgin of the Rosary, which first arrived at the Rimac Valley, Patron of the city, has deep relation with the Peruvian saints and by its remarkable devotion that was coronated in the year 1927 in a unique event in the religious history of the country. On the other hand, the convent, like all, has interesting claustros and in this case, with Sevillian style patios their typical tiles. Its capitulary room is of the baroque style. It is here, in 1551, that the National University of San Marcos was founded, the first in the Americas. The temple of Our Lady of the Rosary (original name of the church of Santo Domingo) was elevated to the category of basilica in 1930, and in its interior is the Altar of the Peruvian Saints, which is visited annually by thousands of residents of Peru and by many foreigners. (more…)

Introducation of Lima

Lima is the capital and largest city in Peru, as well as the capital of the Lima Province. It is the cultural, industrial, financial, and transport hub of the country. The city is located in an area encompassing the valleys of the Chillon, Rimac and Lurin rivers. It lies on a desertic coast adjacent to the bay in the Pacific Ocean where its port was built and named Callao.

Founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, Lima is also known as the City of Kings. For more than three centuries, Lima was the most important city and the greatest metropolis in South America. More than four centuries have passed since its founding as a Spanish city, and Lima has become an expression of Peru’s mestizo heritage, with nearly one-third of the nation’s population living in its metropolitan area.

The city covers most of the Lima and Callao Metropolitan Area. Peru’s capital, Lima, is a vibrant city whose grandeur may be faded but still lives on. Once the heart of Spain’s South American empire - christened by its founders as the ‘City of Kings’ - modern Lima is a huge metropolis crammed with culture and a history that goes back to the Incas and beyond.

Situated halfway down Peru’s desert coastline, Lima looks out on the Pacific Ocean, with the foothills of the Andes at its back. The main square of its historic centre, with its Spanish colonial mansions graced by latticed wooden balconies, was recently declared a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.

Despite lacking the glamour of Rio or Buenos Aires, Lima has much to offer the sightseer - beautiful churches, museums, pretty seaside suburbs and a few remaining Inca ruins - but is also a gateway to the marvels of Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca and the Amazon jungle. However, the primary sense of Lima that visitors get from walking around the city is that much of the population is merely surviving, scraping by in a variety of ingenious ways. Even in the richest districts, signs of poverty are never far away.

In the main business district, it is not uncommon to see bailiffs strip a failed business of its belongings, piling unwanted items into a sorry heap on the pavement, while businesspeople, caught in traffic, are entertained by jugglers and fire-eaters or accosted by dozens of street-sellers offering paper napkins, plastic coat hangers and even the odd fake gold Rolex. The hardship of life in Lima may account for the Limenos’ philosophical outlook and their black sense of humour. In a city where political and financial turmoil is the norm, it does not do to take things too seriously. A popular belief in miracles and religious mysteries must also help.

Lima is a capital that has outgrown its boundaries. A town originally designed for tens of thousands now accommodates nearly eight million - one third of the country lives here. As Peru’s economic powerhouse, Lima attracts over one thousand newcomers from the provinces, every week, drawn by the dream of finding work and relative security. Shantytowns continue to grow outside the city and the upper classes have abandoned the city centre for the seaside suburbs of Miraflores or San Isidro. With their skyscrapers and international banks, these are now the main business centres, while the nearby Barranco is a hub of Lima nightlife. (more…)