This morning into the port of Callao, which is mostly for commercial purposes. We are taking a “Highlights of Lima” tour today. We are looking forward to seeing this city since Joan and I were in Lima, Cusco, and Machu Picchu about 15 years ago when our niece Tammy was teaching at a parochial school in Lima. On that trip she served as our tour guide and we saw some impoverished areas. Today we saw some of the same sites, as well as some new sites. Of course this trip was meant to show off the better parts of the city. Highlights today included a tour of a house that is still a private residence, Casa de Aliaga. This is claimed to be the oldest house in America. What a beautiful mansion (see pics). Also walked past the guarded Presidential Palace, but did not see the changing of the guard this time. (Really impressive if you ever get a chance to see it). Also saw the Santa Domingo Basilica and Convent on the main square. There are some crypts and statures of Santa Rosa and San Martin. Next we drove to Miraflores (an affluent section of the city) and past two pyramids that were apparently used for storage at one time. Interesting fact is that they were built laying bricks in a vertical not horizontal pattern. Got some pictures of the ocean from a park close to a restaurant that Tammy took us to on our prior trip. Two additional facts about Peru. A few days ago their Legislature impeached their President and they have had 8 Presidents in the past 10 years. And we were told that major purchases, such as cars and houses are paid for in US dollars, not their Peruvian Sol.
I recognized Miraflores and Lacamar immediately. I always loved going to Miraflores to look at the ocean. It's so sad that Peru has their 8th president in 10 years. They have elections in June, hopefully they'll be able to keep that president for awhile.
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