Itinerary

Tue 5
	Breakfast
09:30	Tour of the "City of Kings".  Visit the Historical Centre of Lima.  See the Plaza Mayor, where the Government Place, the City Hall, The Cathedral and the Archbishop's Palace are located.  After visiting The Cathedral, proceed to the San Francisco Monastery and the Casa Aliaga, America's best preserved colonial mansion, in continuous occupancy by the same family since 1535.  Drive through the residential districts of San Isidro and Miraflores.  A magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean and the beaches.
12:30	Lunch at La Carreta Restaurant
14:15	Drive to the Pueblo Libre district to visit the Larco Herrera Museum, which houses an extensive pre Inca pottery collection and erotic art pieces.

Well today was my first official day on my trip.  It was incredible.  Lima and Peru has such wonderful history.  It was such a wonderful day I don't know where to start.

I got picked up in a tour van with the rest of the people I would spend the day with.  I was the only English speaking person on the bus.  Everyone else spoke Spanish.  Needless to say I felt out of place.  But my tour guide - VICTOR - was wonderful.  He was an older gentleman who would translate for me.

We drove through the oldest and original part of Lima to the Historical Centre.  I think Rod would love driving here.  As I noticed before and now experienced today, there are no rules.  The lanes are narrow and everyone cuts in front of each other.  The pedestrians cut people and cars off.  It is totally crazy.

The streets in the Historic Centre are a little narrower than what I've noticed so far.  Amazingly the streets are in good condition - no pot holes.  They are very clean - no litter but have a very poor feel to them.  Everyplace has these huge rundown walls with bars over all the doors and windows.  In some of the open doors you can see the poor conditions and how badly things are run down.

The architecture is amazing.  Most of the first floor (ground) is all the same.  The second floors have beautiful balconies and windows.  It truly is amazing.

The one mansion (Casa Aliaga) we did go into, looked horrible on the outside.  You were first met with these two huge wooden doors.  Once you step through the one door, it is just incredible.  The floor and stairs were made of marble.  The handrails were incredibly carved and you walk up to a landing with no roof.  This mansion was built in 1535.  It has over 75 rooms and we only saw a small few.  The original family still lives in it.  This place has survived countless earthquakes and years.  It is lavishly decorated and the family has kept centuries of furnishings in mint condition.  There are lots of portraits of the family displayed as well.  The tiles on the walls and floor are very beautiful.  Uncle Ken would just love them.  Each room has a skylight and there is a lot of stained glass.  Very impressive.

We also visited two monasteries as well.  Both had beautiful courtyards with flowers and trees.  It was very peaceful.  Both monasteries had tiles on the walls - these were imported from Spain.  The paintings and religious symbols are truly magnificent.

We drove through some newer parts of Lima - San Isidro and Miraflores.  We got to see the Pacific Ocean and of course it was beautiful.

We had lunch at a very posh restaurant.  Everything was fine linen.  You sure saw the upscale side of Lima.  I sat at the non-smoking table with Antonio and his mother Lolita.  Both were from Spain and spoke no English.  Lunch was interesting as we did communicate a little.  Antonio's mom was teasing him.  It was fun to watch and try to communicate.

After lunch we drove to a private museum.  This collection was found on one farm and was over 39,000 pieces.  It was amazing.  The ceramics depicted life that had happened about 200 AD.  Everything was incredibly in priceless condition.  The rooms were stacked to the ceiling with shelves of pottery all in perfect condition.  Each pot that had a face on it had a different look.  Each piece showed the way of life around 200 AD.  It showed how they lived, what they ate, how they fought.  Truly amazing.  Unfortunately I could not get any pictures as they did not allow them.  They also sure did like their sex.  Peruvians are definitely sexual people.  The pottery and erotic art pieces were very explicit yet beautiful at the same time.

It was a very interesting and exciting day.  The temperature was nice and warm but very humid.