September 1-2, 2021 Ajijic, Mexico to Lima, Peru.
It was more of a hassle than expected getting through airports with the multitude of Covid restrictions. We boarded our flight to Mexico City thinking we might be sent back from there. We had some difficulty finding and filling out an online health questionnaire for Peru. In Mexico City, we had 2 and ½ hours to figure it out. They booked us through to Panama City and then Lima. We were told we needed double masks on the plane to Peru and they recommended a face shield too. Although it wasn’t mandatory on the plane or airport. We had both of our backpacks thoroughly searched and swabbed down. We passed.
Our flying journey began at 1:10 pm and we arrive in Lima at 12:40 am.
It wasn’t too bad. Going through immigration was fairly easy. We answered all the questions right and had all of our docs in order.
Senor Victor was waiting outside the airport to pick us up. He drove us to the El Farolito in the district of Miraflores. Got to sleep by 2:30am. Martin our fabulous tour guide, arrived at 9:30am to take us on a city tour. We first drove by some adobe ruins in town called Huaca Pucllana. They have it closed off as they are reconstructing it. Next we headed to the beach. We stopped at El Parque del Amor.
Sculptures at Parque del Amor
Plaza de Armas
We enjoyed walking through Lima, appreciating the architecture and beautiful cathedrals.
We walked around looking at the cool sculptures overlooking the beach below. It was overcast but still lovely.
We found a place called Beso Frances for some coffee and crepes. That was delicious!
Larrys favorite new shop
Martin took us to the Lima Chinatown. He said that Chinese food is very popular in this city. Chinatown was very colorful with markets, vendors and performers in the street. Someone advised me not to carry my cell phone in my back pocket. Noted. We went to a nice Chinese restaurant for our very first meal in Peru. I had 2 Cusquena cervezas for my meal. Yeah!
Lima’s Chinatown
Our first meal in Peru was Chinese food. I took my calories in with Beer!
Our fabulous guide was Luis (Martin) Quiroz Gallegos
Martin found another cab and we drove into the heart of Lima. What a fascinating and beautiful old city. We visited the Plaza de Armas and the government plaza. We walked through the street and studied many different types of architecture from the different periods. The Congreso de la Republica plaza was closed off to the public but we got a picture of the Lima sign in the far background. They had some demonstrators and the policia manning barracades. We never saw anything go on.
Some police presence because of demonstrators
We walked more after lunch and had an excellent tour of Basílica y Convento de San Francisco de Lima. It was a huge church, monastery and cemetery in catacombs below. I found this place fascinating plus we saw tons of bones.
My favorite stop. An old Monastery, museum and catacombs. We got to see skeleton bones under the church!
We ended our tour around dinner time. We relaxed at the hotel and went to sleep early. We were both tired from the travel day and short sleep. We need to be up by 3am for tomorrow’s adventure…..Not sure exactly where but we need to take our luggage. It was a super first day…….29 more to go!