John S. Wolfe

Traveling from Chile to Peru presents an incredible juxtaposition.

Santiago, Chile is refined, isolated, modern, and architecturally beautiful.

Lima, Peru is scrappy, noisy, dusty and crowded.

Santiago has subways; Lima has private minivans stuffed with workers.

Santiago has a hillside park with a funicular, a zoo, an amphitheater below a towering statue of the Virgin Mary.

Lima has a few parks squeezed between one-way streets.

And those streets are congested with honking taxis making their own lanes.

Still, Lima has its charms.

The Miraflores district south of downtown bustles with shops, restaurants, and hotels. There are major retailers along with “pocket” storefronts offering men’s clothes, jewelry and art.

Downtown Lima – dating back to the 1600s – has several large squares. The famous Plaza Mayor boasts the Government Palace to the north (with a Buckingham Palace-like look), the Cathedral of Lima to the east, the Municipal Palace to the west, and now commercial buildings to the south. The architecture is Spanish colonial, dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries. The facades and balconies are incredible.

Several blocks from the Plaza Mayor are the San Francisco Church and Monastery. The sprawling compound was built between 1657 and 1774 in Spanish Neoclassicism and displays incredible original artwork by painters like Peter Paul Rubens.

One room features 12 murals depicting the Stations of the Cross. Another has a Peruvian take on the Last Supper. (Alas, photos aren’t permitted.)

The convent’s library is world-renowned both for its design and its centuries-old books. Below the church are catacombs displaying bones and skulls of some of the 25,000 “elites” buried there.

Most disappointing is the upkeep of the art and structures; it seems no one has the time or money to care for it. So they just wear away, which is sad.

Over the last 20 years Peru has moved away from its recent state-controlled past to embrace private enterprise, international trade, individual freedoms, government that’s more accountable and less inclined toward social engineering, and an independent central bank.

Privatization is improving Lima.

The airport, which former prime minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski once called a “dump,” is now modern, with efficient flows of people and baggage.

The port of Callao, just northwest of Lima, has been updated by its outsourcing to world port manager Dubai World.

And then there’s this oddity: Lima has miles of property along the Pacific Ocean. It’s vacant. Nothing. Rocks. Fences. A road. Puzzling.