We're here!! We arrived in the middle of the night last night after a fairly uneventful flight - unless you count the strange man who seemed to be taking his pants off while we were deplaning.

After a few hours of sleep and some breakfast, we headed to El Centro this morning where we took in the Convento de San Francisco and its Catacombs museum. The catacombs were enthralling - over 25,000 buried in Lima's first cemetary but the highlight for me was the library with its 25lb choral books made of lamb skins. Amazing. Very Harry Potter-esque.

From there, we returned to Plaza de Armas, where we started the day to see the changing of the guard at the government palace. It was a very nice ceremony, lots of pomp and circumstance and music. And then it was on to the Cathedral of Lima and the Archibishop's Palace, both of which were beautiful. The Cathedral was particularly interesting as we were able to go down into its catacombs, as well.

By the time we were done there, the day had turned into a hot and sunny one so it was time for a cold beverage before exploring around on foot, seeing Plaza San Martin and Casa Riva-Aguero. Lima is a beautiful city so it was nice to just wander around a bit and take it in.

Once evening hit, it was time for our food tour with Paula. She took us to three bars and three food stalls to try some of Lima's delights. First up was a Pisco Sour - delicious! Then we moved on to beef hearts (quite tasty), rice pudding with purple corn (yummy) and a donut of sweet potato and pumpkin flours (excellent) before finishing off with a mixed drink of Pisco and ginger ale (I didn't catch the name) and local Lima beer. It was a lovely way to end our first night in Peru.

Tomorrow, we are off to Cusco where we will be exploring the town and getting ready for our zip lining and Inca Trail adventures. Fingers crossed that we don't over sleep!!