Our Day in Lima and Miraflores

08.05.2009 75 °F

Breakfast at Hotel Bayview

The day got off to a slow start thanks to our late night arrival. Breakfast in the hotel was nice and gave us a chance to plan our day. We started by walking around the district where our hotel is located, Miraflores. Lima is a city of 8 million people and there are 43 distinct districts, each with their own mayor. Miraflores is known as the tourisim district and is relatively nice and safe.

Chris planning our day at the hotel

We did some sightseeing and shopping and got an impromtu tour of the local Miraflores municipal palace. The town council holds its meetings here, and the inside of the building had paintings and murals by famous artists. Lunch in the Calle de las Pizzas was delicious, with each restaurant owner vying for our business.

Parque Kennedy in Miraflores

Trying to navigate the streets of Miraflores

Beautiful stained glass inside the Municipal Palace

Impromptu meeting held by Maggie in the Town Hall of Miraflores

Our tour guide, Andrea, met us at our hotel after lunch, she was great. The tour took us to el parque de amor overlooking the Pacific. The park had a giant statue of a couple embracing and mosaic benches with poetry from famous spanish poets.

Maggie and Becky in front of El Beso in the Parque De Amor

Maggie and Jen overlooking the ocean.... nice headphones!

We then headed across town to see many interesting plazas and the San Francisco cathedral. The cathedral was great, but the catacombs were a little eerie for several reasons....

Plaza Mayor, Downtown Lima

Cathedral San Francisco

Walking through the Catacombs, all of those holes were filled with various bones

Was described as artistic?

A trip down the expressway was intresting as well. Every driver here is in his own race to get somewhere and with very few traffic lights it can be quite chaotic. We also saw a unique idea for advertising on the freeways.