Downtown Lima

Downtown Lima

I figured out last night how I was going to fall asleep while midnight traffic in Lima is horrendously loud.  Thank god for earplugs, they are complete lifesavers!

Anyways, we went to Downtown Lima today, which is just 30 minutes outside of Miroflores.  There was so many insane architectural buildings in the area, i can't even begin to imagine how they managed to build all these historical buildings, while earthquake proofing them back in the 1600s!!!!

We visited a famous church, whose name I cant recall, but we got an entire tour of the church and learned a bunch of history about catholicism and its significance to the people in Peru.  We also got a chance to go down to the catacombs of the church, which is where if I got the right idea, is where the priests and monks are burried? Correct me if I'm wrong! But what's interesting is that they also display like a junk load of bones of dead people when there was an earthquake a couple of hundreds of years ago.  And when I say a junk load, I mean like it's a 12 metres deep well, AND a couple of rooms of bones.  ( Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures of our time at the church, because they strictly prohibited photography)

Afterwards, we went to see San Cristobal, which is literally a giant mountain in the middle of miroflores, with houses all along it.  People in Peru used to use the mountain as to look out for any invaders or pirates who are trying to enter a city.  But now, it's used as a religious area.  Right on top of the mountain, there's a white cross.  The people of Peru believed that if they prayed and went up and down the mountain 3 times, their prayers would come true. 

After that, we went to have some Peruvian food at a restaurant called Pappas: Pollo y Parillas.  I forgot to take a picture of my food, but it was delicious! they've managed to make chicken taste pretty darn good.  We also had Peruvian food for dinner, I had the Sopa a la croalla, which is a soup with beef, vermicelli and an egg.  That was pretty delicious too.  Apparently, Peruvians take pride in their food, and I'm starting to see why.  And here's the kicker: everything is SUPER CHEAP. Dinner and Lunch were both only 21 sol, which is around $7 Canadian!!! and also cab rides are pretty much no more than 5-10 sol !!!

Although it's only been my 2nd day here, it feels like I've been here forever.  I can't wait to discover more about the city, here are a few pictures from today!

Plaza in Downtown Lima

Balcony with one of the oldest and the nicest church in Lima

Presidential Palace

First bar in Lima, and also where the first crime was comitted

Church that we took a tour in

San Cristobal

I can't remember the exact name of this, but it was the first wall in Lima, kind of like a fortress

there was a show outside one of the churches where men and women in traditional costumes dance around to renact the coming together of Spanish and Peruvian peoples  (I took a video of this, I'll show you guys when I get home!)

Well, that's it for now!

Adios, -m