Lima, Peru - Jan 20 - 22, 2008

Day 1 - Jan 20, 2008

Our first day we hired a private tour via email based on many recommendations. First we tried to contact Renato, but he was going to be on vacation so he suggested his cousin Abel. They both charge $9 USD/h. We hired Abel for the entire day and he took us all over the city.

Prior to the tour we had breakfast in the hotel which is included. Our hotel is located in miraflores district which is supposed to be a rich neighborhood. Candice loved the fresh papayas and papaya juice. We tried a fruit we had never seen before. It sort of looks like a pear, but tastes like a melon. Later Abel told us this is a pepino.

The most common stop for tours is Plaza de Armas. This is in historic Lima. Being a Sunday, we were lucky enough to catch part of sunday mass. The cathedral was built in 1564 and has lots of old artwork. It was quite an experience just being in the cathedral during mass full of locals.

We then walked around the square. They apparently have a changing of the guards cerimony every day, but we missed it. This happens in front of the Presidential Palace which is in the photo I posted earlier.

We continued to San Francisco cathedral and convent. This is where the franciscan monks live. It was built in 1674. Again there was mass and we managed to catch parts of it. You could see steps under grates in the church which lead to the catacombs. You could even see the skulls and bones from the church. We took the catacombs tour which only cost 5 soles ($1.75). We got a tour of the convent where they had a library full of books from the 15th to 17th century. Mostly written in latin.

The catacombs is not as big as the one in Paris. Candice had never been to a catacombs before. Walking under the church and seeing all these human bones and skulls in dark cramped corridors was quite spooky. We saw many other things in historic Lima, but I´ll stop here for now.

We also tried chicha morada for the first time. Abel explained that it is a local drink made of purple corn. The flavour is quite distinct and we ended up drinking this at lunch time as well. Over lunch we drove out to the coast and stopped in Lovers Park, then off to a fancy Peruvian seafood restaurant where we enjoyed Peruvian dance and song with lots different types of food. We tried ceviche which is pretty much raw fish with lemon. Not something we would eat again. Also had our first pisco sours which every tourist is supposed to try while they are here.

In the evening we went back to Lovers Park and got some really nice pictures of the sunset over the pacific ocean.



Day 2 - Jan 21, 2008

More pepinos for breakfast. We met the 6 other people from our tour in the lobby as we waited for the official GAP city tour. I knew it was only going to be a short 4h tour that is why we booked Abel the day before. We probably got more historic infomation from this tour, but it didn´t take us to as many places as we went the day before. Our 6 new friends who are all from Minneapolis area were a little dissapointed. We had a nice peruvian lunch with them before parting ways for the day. Local lunch is about 7-9 soles (<$3). This included starter, meal, dessert, and juice.

We then walked down to the coast and stopped at Larcomar Mall. This is an outside mall built into the side of the cliff which overlooks the ocean. Very modern and a mix of american and local shops. We tried some peruvian candy which I thought was chocolate, but turned out to be something different. Not very good.

In the evening I had my first cervezas of the trip. Crystal Cervezas is definitely refreshing in the Lima humidity.

Day 3 - Jan 22, 2008

We started the day shopping in the indian markets with our new friends. Mike & Anne, Jay & Marcia, Gary & Mary. They may all be retired, but they joke around like a bunch of teenagers . This will be a fun tour with them.

There were lots of nice crafts in the indian markets. We didn´t buy anything since we´ll be back in Lima for a couple of days after our tour. Lots of items made from alpaca wool. The group then took a break where Candice first tried Inca Kola which really just tastes like cream soda.

We then parted ways again with the group and headed to the local food market. Just seeing and smelling all that meat hanging out with no refridgeration was a little stomach turning. Candice still had the urge to buy passion fruit from the fruit market side. 2 for less than $1 (3 soles). We spent the afternoon walking through the busy streets finding peruvian lunch and enjoying inca kola again.

Our limited spanish is getting us by for the moment. Not many people speak english even though they learn it in school. I guess that´s like us learning french in school.

This is our final day in Lima before we head out to the Amazon Jungle. Tomorrow we fly to Puerto Moldonado and trek into the jungle where we´ll stay for the next 2 nights.