Lima is perched high on the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. The bright blue sky is filled with paragliders taking advantage of the winds. We stayed near an ocean front park and walked there everyday. Seafood was the focus of the restaurants. I tried octopus for the first time… we went back to the restaurant again because it was so good.

When visiting cities we often take city tours to get to know the places we visit. On our Lima tour, Michael tried to join up with the Polica but after the picture they sent him on his way. One of the officers asked him what part of Peru is he from.

Built in 1535, the Plaza Mayor is the oldest public place in Lima. The most important buildings in the city are located on the plaza including the Governor’s Palace, the Municipal Palace and the Cathedral of Lima. At the Municipal Palace there are twice daily ceremonial changing of the guards.

No visit to Lima is complete unless it includes a tour of the Monastery of San Francisco located in the Cathedral of Lima. The library with more than 25,000 antique texts, includes the first Spanish dictionary published by the Royal Spanish Academy and a Holy Bible from 1571. It was disturbing that these historic texts were not at all preserved.

Below the Monastery and Cathedral is the Catacombs of Saint Francis which were discovered in 1943 and are estimated to contain the remains of 25,000 people, though some experts say the number is closer to 70,000. From 1500-1800 people of Lima paid the Catholic Church large sums of money to have their loved ones buried in the catacombs on sacred ground under the church. Although the dead were initially properly buried in graves, as they ran out of space the caretakers began digging up the skeletons, separating the bones by type and storing them in deep wells. The bones were separated by type to save space. Churches all over Peru had catacombs like this until the President put an end to it in the mid-1800s.

Our time in Lima was dictated by our flight to Ushuaia for our Antarctic expedition. We liked Lima as it is clean and easy to get around. Our tour guide said that it never rains in Lima so the weather was beautiful every day.