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NETC Educated Travelers Discover the Incan Empire - Day 1: Lima, Peru

Oct 1

Written by: Neil E. Traveler
Saturday, October 01, 2011 7:59 AM

Educated Travelers and NETC Tour Consultants Victoria Aviles (pictured below) and Leigh Fitzgerald visited Peru on NETC's Incan Empire educational tour this summer. Over the next few days they'll share their experiences exploring the amazing sites and discovering all Peru has to offer.

NETC Incan Empire Educational Travel Tour Itinerary Lima, Peru Plaza de Armas Tour Consultant Victoria Aviles

Written by Victoria Aviles

Our first day in Lima started with a great breakfast in our hotel, which was located in the lively neighborhood of Miraflores. The breakfast buffet was amazing – there was a variety of fresh fruits, juices, cheese, ham and little Peruvian breakfast bites. Ada, our Tour Director suggested we try the fried pork, which didn’t seem like your typical breakfast item, but was delicious and apparently a Peruvian specialty.

Then it was off to our first stop of the day, the Plaza de Armas, which is the main square downtown, and as Ada explained is surrounded by the Cathedral, Government Palace and the Archbishop’s Palace of Lima (which was my favorite building!).

NETC Incan Empire Educational Travel Tour Itinerary Lima, Peru Plaza de Armas

We took a short walk around the corner to the Church of San Francisco named for St. Francis, a gorgeous yellow building with thousands of palomas or pigeons, sitting in the grooves of the façade. It was strange how MANY pigeons were there. Apparently St. Francis is known for his love and protection of animals, especially birds. We weren’t able to take pictures inside, which was a shame because the amazing architecture reminded me of the Moorish culture I’d seen in a past trip to the Andalucía region of Spain. Another charming part of this church was the Harry Potter-style library. As we stood behind the rope at the end of the long room, our local guide, Sonia told us this world-renowned library is home to some of the oldest books in the country. This wasn’t hard to believe as we looked out into the library that seemed untouched and frozen in time, with a thin film of dust and cobwebs.

NETC Incan Empire Educational Travel Tour Itinerary Lima, Peru Pigeons

The coolest part of the day, in my opinion was the visit to the catacombs! Below the church floor is an extensive maze-like catacomb with bones from approximately 75,000 bodies. Wow. Imagine living in a time when there were that many dead bodies to be disposed of at one time. The ceilings were very low, a reminder of the fact that the average Peruvian is only about 5’5. Leigh, who is 5’10, spent most of the time hunched over. Whereas I walked through comfortably and only had to duck once!

The catacombs were a stark contrast to the next stop, the beautiful Parque del Amor. This park was interesting as it overlooks the coastline of Lima! In the center of the park surrounded by mosaic tile benches and designs, is a huge statue of a man and a woman lovingly embracing in a kiss. So romantic! Something you definitely don’t see back home in Boston. Most of our statues are of Paul Revere and John Adams or other Revolutionary figures.

NETC Incan Empire Educational Travel Tour Itinerary Lima, Peru Neil Larco Mar

After this short stop we hopped back on the bus and headed to Larco Mar, a brand new shopping center built into the cliffside – incredible views! We ate a delicious, buffet style lunch at Mama Juana. The restaurant has floor to ceiling windows, so you have a great 180° view of the Pacific Ocean and coastline. Since lunch was served buffet style, everyone got to pick and choose their tasty dishes. I had aji gallina, a spicy creamy shredded chicken dish served over a bed of white rice – it was yummy!

NETC Incan Empire Educational Travel Tour Itinerary Lima, Peru Larco Museum

We ended our city sightseeing at the famous Larco Museum, which is surrounded by hundreds of tropical and colorful flowers. We were greeted outside by a Peruvian Hairless dog that belongs to the owners of the gift shop. Ada introduced us, and told us her name is Sumac. The entrance to the museum was up a small incline, which we learned was because the building was constructed on top of a seventh century pyramid! Inside, the collection boasted all sorts of Peruvian artifacts such as art, pottery, textiles, silver and gold jewelry, headpieces and much more. The collection is organized chronologically, so it was really neat to see the changes from pre-Columbian art through its development until the Spanish conquest.

NETC Incan Empire Educational Travel Tour Itinerary Lima, Peru Hairless Dog

After a long day of sightseeing and exploring Lima, it was great to return to our hotel and rest our heads on a big fluffy down pillow….can’t wait for tomorrow, it’s off to Cuzco!

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NETC Educated Travelers Discover the Incan Empire - Day 1: Lima, Peru

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