Boulevard in Lima
A bad feature about Lima is that the same street has a different name for each block. This was the old Spanish custom and it makes it necessary for the visitor to buy a plan of the city to memorize the nomenclatures of the principal blocks. In recent years the municipality has tried to remedy this custom by giving a street one single name, but the old appellations still cling and probably always will. The Calle Union, Lima's main street, is not so called by the ordinary native, and its different blocks are known as Palacio, Portal de Escribanos, Mercaderes, Espaderos, Merced, Baquijano, Boza, San Juan de Dios, Belen, Juan Simon, and so forth. Its principal sector, Calle Huallaga, is known respectively as Judios, Melchormalo, Virreina, Concepcion, Presa, Lechugal, and San Andres.
Calle Union presents much life. It begins at the Plaza de Armas and is about a mile long, terminating at the Zoölogical Gardens. On it is the city hall, several theaters, the Merced church, the Forero palace, and the penitentiary. It is the main retail street and is always much crowded. Huallaga is a busy street with antiquarian shops, banks, and wholesale offices. On it is the Hotel Central, the Bank of Peru and London, the Concepcion market, the Concepcion church, and the police headquarters.
The Concepcion market is the largest that I have ever seen. Its ground area, covering a whole block, is about the same size as the Tacon market in Havana, but it is higher. There are many queer vegetables, herbs, and fruits offered for sale which are unknown in Europe or in North America. The potato, whose origin is Peru, is sold in this market, not in the raw state as in our markets, but desiccated. The natives soak them in water, sun dry them, and put them for sale in this fashion, for this way they will keep indefinitely. In the meat department cats crawl over the loins and spare ribs while whippets snap at fly-bedizened bones. I attempted to take a time exposure of the place but a gawky overgrown boy walked in front of the camera, spoiling the picture. A cuff on the ears from me which sent him spinning against a basket of eggs nearly caused a small riot.
The Bank of Peru and London is the largest bank building in South America. It is a three-story white structure built in a classical style of architecture. There are several other large banks.
The Plaza de Armas lacks much of the charm of the plazas in the Chilean cities. It is planted to palmetto trees, which I think always look out of place outside of their wild native state. On the north side of this square is the one-story-high capitol building. Somewhere in its patio is the spot where Pizarro was murdered. The exact place is not known on account of the many alterations that have taken place in the building. His skeleton rests in a white marble sarcophagus in the cathedral.
This cathedral, whose stately and magnificent pile was described by me in a previous book on South America, ranks as one of the largest religious edifices in the world. Its twin towers, one at each side of a broad façade, rise majestically into the heavens and are visible from a great distance. Its spacious nave and aisles are crowned by a ribbed roof, whose ceiling is painted in symmetrical designs in pink and azure. Many mendicants loiter about the interior, and when the sexton shows you Pizarro's skeleton, they all solicit alms for such trivialities as holding the candle to view the remains, opening the door of the chapel, and so forth. In the chapel where his remains repose is an altar of pure silver brought from Cuzco.
Façade of San Augustin Church, Lima