There’s nothing quite like a hangover on an open-air tour bus as a dozen other visitors scurry and vy for that coveted Perfect Photo From The Top Of A Tour Bus™. I had not drunk that many Pisco Sours the night before, so I’m convinced the ridiculously-heavy sugar content was to blame for my ever-worsening headache. I signed up for the 4-hour tour in Parque Kennedy, near the cathedral there. For 70 soles ($28 USD) the guided tour meanders through 4 districts of Lima: Miraflores, San Isidro, Barranco and Centro.
After weaving through the heavy Lima traffic, the tour paused at the main square, Plaza de Armas. We toured the cathedral there, complete with a cabinet of actual human skulls. At that point, they’d divided the tour into English and Spanish which sounds straightforward enough. However, I soon realized it was a choice of struggling to understand lightening-fast Spanish or struggling to understand very poor English. I bounced between the two, not understanding a ton of anything.
Note my captions at the bottom of each photo. Hope you like!
Update: A reader just dropped me a note, jokingly suggesting that I start writing more like, “As I looked down upon the bus of people, I asked myself, where are they going? Some to their homes, some to work, some to grieve for loved ones, and I realized we are all connected in this wonderful world.”
Er, at least I assume he was joking…
Looking down…
Random facade we passed in Barranco.
View from the upper deck.
Typical Lima traffic.
Basilica Cathedral of Lima
Front door of Basilica Cathedral of Lima.
Front of the Basilica Cathedral of Lima
Inside, looking up. Basilica Cathedral of Lima.
Actual skulls! Basilica Cathedral of Lima.
Interior. Basilica Cathedral of Lima.
Basilica Cathedral of Lima
Schoolkids in Plaza de Armas.
La Catedral Fu il fondatore di Lima
Perrito de Plaza de Armas
Plaza de Armas
Balcones coloniales of the Municipal Palace of Lima
Presidential Palace
Not sure of this building…
Bustling side street.
O hi, Asia! 