Peru DAY 1 Lima

Peru 🇵🇪 9-29-2021 til 10-14-21 

Uni World Amazon / Machu Picchu trip with Priscilla and Phil Olmes and Carolyn and Jim Langon.  Carolyn was the awesome travel agent that put this trip together for us!  #lovetravellyn

Business first - United Polaris    Flat bed !! Great way to travel!

Immigration in Peru - not so fun.  Peru COVID form that is 

Not user friendly.   Had to go different places to have it filled out “correctly”.  After jumping through these hoops nobody even looked at it!!!

 Arrived in Lima early morning Wednesday 9-30-21.  Got to the beautiful hotel, Hotel Country Club, Lima at 1:00 am

Day 1 of trip - Tour Lima

Up early and met our UniWorld host, Carlos Alvarez and went off on a wonderful guided tour of Lima with Lima guide, Adrian   There our only 17 quests on our 16 day tour with UniWorld.  It was a wonderful small group that bonded quickly!

First day in Lima   

French Palace / Palacio Frances 

Statue - General Jose de San Martin.  The General declared Peruvian independence July 28, 1824

Basílica y Covento de San Francisco.   Blessed in 1673 and completed in 1674. 

We were not allowed to take pictures inside but we toured this amazing Basílica with beautiful tile, paintings, and woodwork .   

The Catacombs were different than ones I visited in Europe and Egypt in that there were piles and piles of bones set up like a display.  Supposedly they were dug up and piled up as they needed more burial space.  An estimated 25,000 bodies are buried here.  This served as a burial place until 1808 

Family - see Priscilla in first picture 

Carolyn, Jim Langon, Jenny, Priscilla and Phil in front of the Basilica   

We got to see changing of the guards at the Government Palace 

Plaza De Armas Fountain in plaza in front of Government Palace.   This fountain is from 1651.  

Phil and Jim Langon entering house of Aliaga Family.  It was built in 1535 and it is still owned by The Aliaga family. They opened a part of it for our private tour and lunch.   We were so fortunate to have Vilma de Aliaga , descendant of the family, give us a tour and had an incredible lunch there.  She lived there up until age 8 when her parents moved the family out of Lima for safety measures.  She moved back into the house at age 18 to live with her Grandmother for a few years.   She told us last weekend she brought her 13 year old son and friend for sleepover in the mansion and a pizza party!  Their are still family members living in the mansion 

The following pictures are from inside the gorgeous mansion:

Eva Jenna (NJ), Robert and Bill (CA) and Vilma de Aliaga

Tile work in Mansion was incredible 

Priscilla photo bombing yet again!:)

Beautiful atrium 

Family Chapel 

Below is the menu of the incredible lunch we had there. 

And wow….I do love those Pisco Sours!!!!

There is a lot of poverty in Peru.  The Amazon Rainforest villages always have food they grow to eat but not the city dwellers .

Everyone was so happy to have us tourists in Peru.  Some of the guides  got teary eyed having tourism starting up again.   Adrian explained that there is no welfare, unemployment, stimulus money in Peru.  As he stated “you don’t work- you don’t eat”!   Guides did talk freely about political corruption 

Our first day in Peru was informative, and eye opening