Peru - Day 1 - Lima

We got up just in time for the hotel's breakfast. They had a lovely selection of fruit as well as my fave - buns, meat and cheese. The hotel is quite charming. Our room looks out over an open courtyard with a fountain.

The lobby and bar area are nicely decorated and there is a gift shop with lovely jewelry. I only browsed as there are a lot of days ahead of us.

After breakfast we for a map of the area and headed on foot toward Kennedy Park, about a 20 minute walk. There are artists displaying their work. Lots of it is traditional Peruvian scenes, but I was surprised to see some funky abstract work as well.

The park is known for housing many cats, and we saw many. People were petting them and playing with them.

There was an outdoor Zumba type of exercise class going on with maybe 40 people which was very interesting to watch.

We then walked toward the ocean.

There is a mall called Larcomar. It was filled with people and we looked but it was very high end stuff.

Many of the stores and restaurants were the same as back home so why bother. I didn't want to eat at a chain, so we stopped in at a chicken place with a nice view of the ocean. Elaine's chicken was quite pink inside so she sent it back. Mine should have been sent back. I wondered if it would make me sick but I was lucky.

We walked back to the hotel and were very saddened to see a police car and a small crowd of people gathered around. A man lay on the road nearby and I was confused that no-one was helping him. But then I saw a sheet covering his upper half. I had no idea what happened. So sad.

At 2 o'clock at our hotel, we arranged to meet a representative from Haku Tours to take us to the old part of Lima for a tour called "The Kings and Queens Tour".  There were 5 of us altogether, a nice small group.

We visited several beautiful squares and our guide told us a lot about the history of Lima and Peru.

We also visited a church and a mausoleum underneath. There were a lot of bones and the history behind the deaths was quite gruesome. The church itself was very beautiful but no photos were allowed, horror of horrors! I did manage to sneak a few in at any rate.

Another stop was at the oldest bar in Lima and we stopped in for an explanation of Peru's national drink, the pisco sour. We could have ordered one but I declined as I knew it would make me even tireder than I already was!

After the tour was over, we had about an hour to wait until our first GAdventure group meeting. Our guide was very thorough. There are many Canadians on this tour, 4 other from Alberta and 4 from Ontario.

We walked quite a ways for supper. I wasn't all that hungry so I had a beef strip sandwich recommended by our guide.  I walked over 16,400 steps today and the equivalent of 24 flights of stairs! That's partly because our hotel room is on the 3rd floor and there is no elevator.