Lima The Gray.

Lima sits on the Pacific coast a few hundred miles below the equator, so its climate never varies much. During the day it's in the low 70s, at night the mid 60s. They call it Lima the Gray because the weather is always cloudy, but it never rains (1.5" per year). The air is humid, though. Which means the plants are very, very happy and the produce is spectacular. The cold Humboldt current sweeps northward along the coast, making the waters off Peru the most prolific in the world.

That means a lot of fishy goodness in the justly famous Peruvian cuisine.

We were expecting a quaint, Latin American capital. We were not expecting a sprawling, modern city of 10 million where most of the colonial architecture has been buried beneath sleek glass and steel high rises.

From the window of our hotel in Miraflores, one of the more tranquil and charming neighborhoods in Lima.

Cultural activists were able to save some of the city's ancient treasures, however. The Huaca Pucllana is a huge adobe and clay pyramid built from seven staggered platforms. In Quechua word “pucllay,” means “game,” so Huaca Pucllana means “a place for ritual games.” It was an important ceremonial and administrative center for the Lima culture, which developed in the Peruvian Central Coast between 200 AD and 700 AD.

The complex is quite large, but it used to be much, much bigger. The rest is buried forever beneath the expanding metropolis. 

After the hot and dusty climb to the top, we descended to a little oasis of lush coolness where a couple pisco sours waited.

Much more on our new-found love for pisco sours soon.

The next day, we visited the Larco Museum, a privately owned museum of pre-Columbian art. The museum is housed in an 18th-century palace built for the viceroy over the ruins of a 7th-century pre-Columbian pyramid. It has a fantastic collection spanning 4,000 years of Peruvian pre-Columbian history. It is especially known for its gallery of pre-Columbian erotic pottery from the Moche culture.

The museum grounds are incredibly colorful.

The Moche cosmology is reflected in this unique piece. The three triangles at the top represent the three worlds: the celestial world inhabited by the gods and symbolized by the green-eyed bird in the center, the terrestrial world inhabited by humans and animals symbolized by the fierce feline on the right side, and the underworld inhabited by the dead symbolized by the stylized serpent on the base.

The Moche culture valued art highly and had a caste of artists who made their living creating a huge array of ritual vessels depicting, well, just about everything.

Whimsical animal figures were very popular.

Some getting-to-know you rituals have never changed.

The erotic pottery depicts just about every possible sex act very matter-of-factly.

The Spaniards were predictably scandalized.

Also popular were pots depicting the disfigured and deformed.

For the Moche, the dead weren't gone, they were just living in their underground world where they were still available to provide the living with their wisdom.

The ceremonial costumes in silver and gold were quite elaborate. Imagine them decked with colorful feathers.

Animals were also wrought in gold and gems.

The museum was a lovely intro to Peruvian history and culture. Next on the agenda, Peru's many fusion cuisines and an extensive course on the making and savoring of pisco.

P.