Today was our first day exploring Lima. We booked a city tour with a local company, Haku Tour through Viator our GO TO travel destination for tours. Our guide Amedeo was amazing. So knowledgeable and a fun personality. We were joined by 2 women from Phoenix, 2 guys from Florida and a single girl from Pennsylvania. It was a nice group of first time Peru Visitors.
We started off in the city center and walked through streets that had mansions built in the 1800’s which were now turned into retail markets. Filled with locals shopping. We continued on to the Plaza de Armas which had the Presidents Palace, the Mayors Building, and the main Cathedral all surrounding the local square. Unfortunately due to the many protests in the last several months, it was s barricaded off by the local police, because of the new president elected, we were unable to go into the square. But we walked around it and it was beautiful.
We stopped in a little chocolate shop, and sampled some Peruvian chocolate and pisco liquors.
Wr continued on to the Saint Francis Monastary, built in the 1600’s. It’s one of the oldest in Peru and famous for it’s catacombs. We were given a tour inside and saw it’s library which houses 25,000 books that are hundreds of years old and even had some Gutenberg bibles, the choir room, the priest’s chambers and finally the catacombs. In the 17th-18th centuries it was the only burial place in Lima. The monastary was was built using baroque, moorish and spanish design elements, making it very unique with the many types of decor and architecture. At one point it was home to over 2000 Fransiscan Monks. Today there are only 28 monks who still live amongst these walls. It also had many beautiful mosaics and paintings and the most famous one being the Peruvian Last Supper. Depicting Jesus with his apostles and enjoying Peruvian dishes such as potatoes, chiles, and cuy (aka guinea pig).
The catacombs we’re underneath the church itself, and at one point had over 20,000 bodies buried there until they stopped in the early 1800’s. They were rediscovered in the mid 1900’s and then made into a museum with many bones and skulls still there.
After our tour we enjoyed our first authentic Peruvian dinner at the Huaca Pucclana pyramid. We invited Kim who was on the tour with us to join us. It was so nice to make a new friend and enjoy a fantastic meal overlooking this amazing site. Located in the middle of the city, it’s built with clay blocks between 200-700 AD. It was an amazing view, with delicious food and lovely company.
