Central Lima

It took us about half an hour to get to Central Lima from Miraflores. Lima is a lot bigger than I had anticipated. In fact it is the 5th largest city in Latin America, behind Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro.

Plaza de Armas

Around the Plaza de Armas, many of the colonial buildings are still standing, however earthquakes in 1687 and 1746 left many buildings damaged.

Decorative balconies are a feature of the colonial legacy of Lima. Around the city, in particular the city center, you will notice these ostentatious balconies.

There were lots of school groups in Central Lima. All of them were wearing some sort of uniform. Must say I´m glad my Catholic school days are over.

One of the most interesting sites we saw in Central Lima were the catacombs in the Museo del Convento de San Francisco. You aren´t supposed to take pictures inside the catacombs, but I tried my bestto provide one. As you can see by the quality of the photo I didn´t do such a great job. I was scared of the tour guide! Not to mention all the possible curses from the skeletons buried in there. Definitely not taking any chances.

Just outside the catacombs there was a group of kids were playing a game. Basically they surrounded one another in a circle and two people were in the middle. One of the kids struggles to take a cloth from the other kids while everyone else cheers on. Then if they end up getting the cloth another contender comes into the circle to compete.

Plaza San Martin

When you look around the Plaza San Martin, it seems almost as if you are in Europe. The buildings have a French style and lack the color of other plazas in Lima.

The Gran Hotel Bolivar is the oldest hotel in all of Lima. Today it certainly doesn´t have the splendor of its past, however it is typical to get a pisco sour within the hotel or tea. As soon as we entered we were offered pisco sours by a couple of hotel employees, however their upfrontness turned us off and we decided to get our piscos somewhere else.