Museos & Downtown Lima (Part 2)

The second floor of the museum was 'La Luz del Indigenismo', translating literally to 'The light of the Indigenous'. This floor contained dozens of photographs and sketches, depicting the lifestyle of the indigenous peoples of the area. I'm afraid by this floor I wasn't feeling very well at all, and didn't have quite so many deep and probing thoughts.




The final floor of the museum was the most difficult to view. It was a collection of photographs depicting the effects of the activities of 'The Shining Path'. The Shining Path group is an organization in Peru (now known as a terrorist group) started in 1960 by a professor of philosophy. The group grew until 1980 when they began to act publically using militant means. In 1992, the founder was captured and the majority of the conflict died down. However, it is still an active group in Peru. Due to the readership of this blog, I won't go into detail about the events that took place from 1980 - 1992, nor about the photographs at the museum. Suffice to say, it was heart-wrenching to see the photographs and read the captions; similar to visiting the Hiroshima memorial in Japan. The amount of pain, death, and destruction that human beings can cause always amazes me in the most terrible of ways.

After this museum, Reini headed home and Lisandro and I moved on to downtown Lima. I love the old buildings in the center of Lima. Even some of the homes and shopping streets have retained the look of decades and centuries ago.



The statue of a man on the horse is at the center of Plaza San Martin. Jose San Martin was a key person in the independance of South America from the Spanish. We continued walking and saw the Presidential Palace at Plaza Mayor. Beside the Presidential Palace was the Mayor's offices (the large yellow building). Outside the Presidential Palace, both inside and outside the gates, were guards. There I am, standing in front of the Palace. Unfortunately, my eyes were closed. But you get the idea.



Our last visit of the day was to the Museum of the Inquisition at Plaza Bolivar. The building was the site of the inquisition from 1570 - 1820. The inquisition was charged with finding and removing those guilty of heresy and blasphemy. The site was very interesting, including a room for eliciting responses and cells for holding prisioners. I wasn't feeling well at all, and missed most of the talk. It was very a very interesting building, though. After that I was visibly ill, so Lisandro and I jumped into a cab and I went straight home.

As I said, after some medicine and rest, I felt much better! I was glad, as I had planned to meet Giovanna the next morning.