So our first stop in Peru was Lima, the largest city in Peru with 7.6 million people, making it home to one-third of the Peruvian population. The city itself is split into different suburbs that are dramatically different from one another. We stayed in Miraflores which is where all the rich Peruvians live and gringo ground zero. It looks nothing like the rest of Peru and really is a tiny North America. You can find all the typical store/brands and I even got my Starbucks (coffee in South America is actually quite disappointing unless you like instant coffee - although I have started to like coca tea).
Miraflores is quite pretty with lots of beautiful parks. We stayed right across from Parque Kennedy and I have never seen so many cats in my life. You usually see gangs of street dogs everywhere in South America but at this park they actually have hundreds of cats. We were told it was because of the mice and rats problem in Peru. They also have outdoor gym equipment scattered throughout some of the parks. So you can jog along the path and then stop at the various spots along the way for a full body workout.
Our first couple of days were spent wandering around Miraflores, we visited all the various parks and beaches. I was actually quite happy we had no intention of spending time at the beaches in Lima because they are not your typical sandy beaches. They don't actually have sand but are rather rocky and kind of smell. Locals seemed to be the only people actually swimming in the water but there were a ton of surfers. The view of the coastline from the cliffs above is quite nice thought.
In Miraflores we also visited the Huaca Pucllana which is a restored adobe pyramid built in AD 400. It was actually quite interesting because we found out that a lot of the surrounding area of Miraflores was actually built on these pyramids.
Being in Miraflores we felt completely safe however we didn't feel like we were seeing the real Peru. One our third day we decided to take a trip to Central Lima and check out some of the sites there. Lima is huge and since we had time constrains we opted for a taxi over public transit. This was our most expensive taxi ride costing 20 soles ($8) and taking us about 45 minutes. It was also probably the most interesting part of our visit to Lima. In Miraflores it's just tourist so there are lots of white people, its clean, its green, and hardly any police. In central Lima the traffic is crazy, pollution increases, there are tons of people, the buliding are older and more interesting, we get stared at more, and the police presence increases two-fold. The police presence was one of the big things that really shocked us. We had seen hardly any police until we got to central Lima where we saw lots, in full riot gear and even army tanks parked on the streets.
In central Lima we visited the Museo de la Inquisicion, which provided a history of how they use to torture prisoners - this was Trevor's museum choice. We then visited the Monasterio de San Francisco and if there is anything I would recommend you see in Lima, it would be this. We had to wait around for about a half an hour for an English tour but it was worth it. The Monastery itself is beautiful but I think the thing that facinated us the most was the catacomb filled with the bones of 80K+ people. It's definitely not for the faint of heart and I have to admit it creeped me out a bit because you are literally walking through tunnels filled with millions of real human bones. In some parts the bones are actually sorted from when they were trying to get a sense of how many bodies were down there. So they have containers filled with just human skulls then another box filled with leg bones, etc. They also had holes that looked like wells, 10 meters deep just filled with all the bones.
Another thing I should let those visiting Peru know about is Pisco Sours. The restaurants and bars will offer you free Pisco Sours if you enter the bar or eat at their restraint. Our first Piscor Sour was at a restaurant and we actually liked it, it tastes kind of like an Amaretto Sour. We then decided to check out a couple of the bars where we had three more free Pisco Sours. That night I ended up throwing up and though I had gotten food poising again (we hadn't drank enough for it to be from drinking). Turns out it was the Pisco Sours that made me sick. We later found out from other travelers that they had a similar experience after consuming the drink which is not that suprising when you find out they use a raw egg when making it. So just beware that the Piscor Sours may make you sick although Trevor was fine.
Our first couple of days were spent wandering around Miraflores, we visited all the various parks and beaches. I was actually quite happy we had no intention of spending time at the beaches in Lima because they are not your typical sandy beaches. They don't actually have sand but are rather rocky and kind of smell. Locals seemed to be the only people actually swimming in the water but there were a ton of surfers. The view of the coastline from the cliffs above is quite nice thought.
Being in Miraflores we felt completely safe however we didn't feel like we were seeing the real Peru. One our third day we decided to take a trip to Central Lima and check out some of the sites there. Lima is huge and since we had time constrains we opted for a taxi over public transit. This was our most expensive taxi ride costing 20 soles ($8) and taking us about 45 minutes. It was also probably the most interesting part of our visit to Lima. In Miraflores it's just tourist so there are lots of white people, its clean, its green, and hardly any police. In central Lima the traffic is crazy, pollution increases, there are tons of people, the buliding are older and more interesting, we get stared at more, and the police presence increases two-fold. The police presence was one of the big things that really shocked us. We had seen hardly any police until we got to central Lima where we saw lots, in full riot gear and even army tanks parked on the streets. 
In central Lima we visited the Museo de la Inquisicion, which provided a history of how they use to torture prisoners - this was Trevor's museum choice. We then visited the Monasterio de San Francisco and if there is anything I would recommend you see in Lima, it would be this. We had to wait around for about a half an hour for an English tour but it was worth it. The Monastery itself is beautiful but I think the thing that facinated us the most was the catacomb filled with the bones of 80K+ people. It's definitely not for the faint of heart and I have to admit it creeped me out a bit because you are literally walking through tunnels filled with millions of real human bones. In some parts the bones are actually sorted from when they were trying to get a sense of how many bodies were down there. So they have containers filled with just human skulls then another box filled with leg bones, etc. They also had holes that looked like wells, 10 meters deep just filled with all the bones.
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