Lima, Peru 2025

I had no idea that Lima is the second largest city in all the Americas. With over 11MM people, it is only behind Sao Paulo and even more populated than either Mexico City or New York.

I arranged a private tour with seven of our cruise pals.

Like other large cities, it has ugly and unsafe areas as well as beautiful and safe areas.

Large cruise ships share a port with container ships.

The Main Square is particularly impressive.

We visited the famous underground catacombs which were used as a cemetery during the colonial era and contain human remains of about 25,000 people. There were only two requirements to be buried there – you had to be Catholic and white. Remember back then the local black population was slaves, and, they were considered not to have souls.

Note there are no tombstones or identifiers as only corpses were there – no visitors.

The catacombs are typical of others around the world at that time. The only thing unique is really that they are open to the public.

Then it was a delightful lunch at a local restaurant. It seems that Lima is famous for its food.

Our final stop was a visit to the Miraflores district. This high-end residential area is on the water near fine shops, restaurants, and hotels.

We revisited one of Allyn’s favorite sculptures, The Kiss.