Mother and Daughter holding hands around Lima

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I currently reside in the United States and my mother resides in Ecuador. After not seeing my mother since 2004, I decided to invite her on a small adventure around Peru in 2007. For about two weeks, my mother and I spent time in Lima and Cusco. Peru is a wonderful country loaded with an enriching history and amazing people. I couldn't have chosen a better place to vacation with my mother. The first two days in Lima, my mother and I stayed in two different hotels. The first hotel (I don't recall its name) was booked because it offered free airport pick-up. We only spent one night there. The next day we went to a theme hotel named the Park Suites Hotel located in the city of Barranco. The hotel featured an African, Japanese, Hawaiian, Moulin Rouge, Egyptian and Indian suite. We chose to stay for the night in the African suite. The rest of the afternoon my mother and I went to explore Barranco. The next day, August 26th, was my birthday and that morning my mother surprised me with a beautiful floral arrangement. During our remaining days in Lima, we rented an apartment in Miraflores. The apartment was very economical with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a living room, tv area, dinning room, kitchen, washing machine, balcony and a terrace. It had a phenomenal view of the city and you were able to admire the beach from afar. The caretaker of the apartment was very nice and we became friends with her. In fact, I continue to keep in touch with her daughter Marina through facebook. On that very same day, Marina and her mother greeted me with a birthday cake. It was one of the best welcomes I ever had. My mother and I got to see a lot of Lima that week. We visited several historical sites and museums, which included:

1. Parque Kennedy-Every day we walked around this park in Miraflores.

2. Calle de las Pizzas-located in the Parque Kennedy area. It is a long strip of restaurants, cafés and night clubs. We ate dinner in that area twice. Food was delicious.

3. Huaca Pucllana- a historical site where sacrifices were made to the Inca Gods. The majority of the sacrifices were women. The Huaca Pucllana was big in agriculture.

4. Parque de las Leyendas- a zoo located in La Marina. Reminded me a lot of the Bronx zoo.

5. Museo Arqueologico Rafael Larco Herrera- an Archeology Museum. What I found mostly interesting about this museum is that it has an erotic gallery.

6. Museo Nacional De Arqueologia, Antropologia E Historia Del Peru- An interesting fact about this place was Simon Bolivar’s home.

7. Centro de Lima- We visited la Plaza de Armas, el Palacio Nacional and the cathedral. We also got to see the president of Peru, who at that time was Alan Garcia. It was National Police day and the whole park was crowded with spectators, tourist, military, students and lots and lots of police.

8. Museo San Francisco y Catacumbas- A MUST

9. Convento de Santo Domingo- a convent/church that holds certain remains that belonged to several Saints, including San Martin y Santa Rosa de Lima.

10. Basilica de La Vera Cruz- I was told that this small church was dedicated to Saint Helena, who brought a small piece of the cross Jesus Christ carried during his crucifixion.

11. Museo de la Inquisición y del Congreso- Museum of Inquisition and Congress. Free of charge.

12. Centro Cultural Inca Garcilaso- They had a wonderful art display.

13. Mirador de San Cristobal- You can see the whole city from up here, but you have to make sure to go there on a nice day because other than that you won’t be able to get a great view. It happened to us. It was foggy :-(

14. Parque del Amor- the park of love.

15. Barrio Chino- There is a Chinatown everywhere around the world.

Next stop: CUSCO

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