Last stop: Lima, Peru

With one full day in Lima, Peru at the end of our trip, we packed our day full. Things we saw in one day:

Historic Center of Lima

•  Plaza de Armas - the heart of Old Lima; the bronze fountain in the middle is the only thing that has survived several earthquakes and dates back to 1650 
• Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco - historic church that's known for its catacombs, which contain remains from 70,000+ people

Barranco neighborhood

•  Mate Museo Mario Testino - amazing photography museum containing the work of Mario Testino, who is from Lima
•  Pacific Ocean - we walked along the rocky beach and watched paragliders fly over the city

Miraflores neighborhood

• Choco Museo - cute little bean-to-bar chocolate factory with free tours

First we had to check out the historic center of Lima, which was basically one huge plaza surrounded by gorgeous buildings and churches and lots of tourists. Next, we took a taxi and public transportation to get to some of the waterfront neighborhoods. We walked a lot of Barranco and Miraflores, which are right next to each other. We stopped by a couple of museums, marveled at the beautiful waterfront homes and boutique hotels, bought lots of chocolate to take home to our families, and sat on the rocky beach watching waves crashing and paragliders sail over the skyline. 

It's wild that we live on the Pacific coast as well, but so far away, both physically and culturally. Here the beach is incredibly filthy with litter, at home it's pretty spotless. Here there are palm trees, at home there are evergreens. Here we're tourists, at home we're citizens. Here it's winter, at home it's summer. That's what had us aching to be back. There's no place like summer in Seattle.

And that wraps up our South American trip! I shot a little iphone video while abroad, and want to share that next before moving on to our next trip.

- Julia