7/4 Packing

Headed off to town with instructions on which bus to catch.  Then we were told at bus stop that was the wrong bus - shared taxi with 2 young women who offered to share the ride. Took a long time crawling through some dingy neighbourhoods but we got there. Found our way to Simon Bolivar Square (well its a change from San Martin). A fascinating private tour through the adjacent Museum of the Spanish Inquisition - Peru was their centre of operations for South America. Apparently they only executed 32 people in 250 years. One wonders how many of them might simply have been delusional rather than heretical. We walked through the underground dungeons - No frills! They also had waxwork exhibits depicting various acts of unkindness perpetrated on the unwilling. The guide said they did not consider the Indians to have souls and they could therefore not be accused of heresy.

Death was by 2 methods, burnt at the stake or this strangling chair.  There is a wheel behind it to tighten the rope.

Torture.  If the victims shoulders survived the first lift.  It was done again with a 50kilo weight tied to his feet.

50 - 200 lashes were inflicted

The rack

The same premises served as a venue to hear charges under the civil administration and the Catholic Inquisition. It later became the senate building and the court room became the Senate Chamber.

We found the Plaza Del Armas and the Governor's palace next door. The police enjoyed my Bolivian soccer shirt.

Main square with Governors palace

Not sure what this building was but it was the most ornately carved - beautiful

We then made the crucial error of lending an ear to a group of scouts who were looking for someone to sing a song with them. There were little knots of them scattered all round the square and as soon as we showed the least modicum of interest (guess who?), the whole mob swarmed us. It turned out that the "song" was simply a series of names of a kangaroo (go figure) Superman and John Travolta. We totally delighted then by doing the kangaroo hop and the Travolta finger and I was only a moment away from my Man of Steel impersonation. We quit while we were ahead.

Our scout group finishing up their outing

We found a taxi quite easily and were astonished how quickly we got home. This was partly the result of access to the freeway, although the taxi lacked seat belts and speedometer. It was a slightly nervous ride. We bought a few snacks for the plane and attacked the pressing issue of packing, weighing and measuring. In short, we are ok on all counts, after cutting a chunk out of the thick plastic base to reduce the height of the biggest bag. this also bodes well for the final flights back from Paris, of which we still have no details. (Air Asia is no longer flying the Europe to Asia legs - so they are seeking to replace our flights)