In the overall scheme of things, this was the morning and the flight we were most worried about. Because the ship is due to leave Peru mid this afternoon, it was very important that we made it back to Lima in good time.

Cusco has a tiny bit of a reputation of being an airport that sometimes has flights delayed or cancelled due to fog . To minimise the risk of any possible delays impacting on our ability to get back to the ship and working on the assumption that the first flight out would have over-nighted at the airport and that planes can normally take off in fog, we had been booked on the first flight out of Cusco. Unfortunately for our weary bodies, this meant a flight that left at 5:25am, which in turn meant being at the airport by 4:30 (way too early).

The flight back to Lima was uneventful. We boarded on time and landed in Lima a little bit ahead of schedule.

As part of our trip and because we were getting back into Lima so early, our travel agent had organised for us to have breakfast at a nearby hotel while we waited for the city to wake up so that we could do our sightseeing tour. It was here that some of the tensions that had been brewing amongst the group came to a head.

Prior to leaving the ship, it had been agreed to by everyone, that while we were travelling as a group, we were individual couples and if someone were to get sick or be unable to continue, the rest of the group would continue on with the trip and offering support if needed . One of the people on the trip had become unwell and did not wish to do the sightseeing tour but instead wanted to go back to the ship. The rest of us were fine with this and the plan was that they would either get a taxi or a town car back to the port, leaving us to continue with the planned itinerary. Unfortunately for us, after talking to the Lima guide, they discovered that taxis aren't able to access the port and a town car would take about an hour to arrive. This meant the rest of us had our breakfast cut short and all had to go back to the ship to offload two people before travelling back into the city for our tour – we were less than impressed as the detour meant we were delayed starting and ultimately had our tour in Lima reduced in length.

Lima was founded by Francisco Pizarro and the modern day version of the city actually consists of two separate towns – Lima and Callao (being Lima’s port). Modern day Lima has about 8 million inhabitants and like many of the places visited so far has an Old Town and New Town .

Central to the Old Town area is the Plaza de Armas. This square is dominated by three prominent buildings – a Cathedral, the Archbishop’s Palace and the Government Palace.

The construction of the Cathedral started in 1746, although several earthquakes resulted in the parts of the structure needing to be rebuilt. Interestingly, unlike many other cathedrals, this one is built entirely from wood, with the inside and outside being plastered. The Cathedral also houses the remains of Pizarro. The Spanish government was so impressed with his efforts in South America (he was the fellow who defeated the Inca Empire and delivered South America to Spain), that they allowed him to entombed within the confines of the Cathedral complete with lavish chapel. Our tour guide explained that while Pizarro isn’t considered to be a national hero, they respect his remains and have allowed his tomb to remain in the Cathedral.

While we weren’t able to go into the Archbishop’s Palace, we did get a chance to look at its main drawcard – an ornate wooden façade with balconies. The façade is considered to be one of the best examples of baroque architecture in Latin America. The balconies were original constructed to allow the females in the Palace to be able to get fresh air and take in the sights of the plaza without being see by wandering eyes.

On the north side of the plaza there is the Government Palace . The palace was built on the site of Pizarro’s house and is where the leader of the Peruvian government lives and works. As you would expect from such an important building, there were a few police hanging around. It was interesting to see types that were in the area – there were traffic police, your everyday beat cop and a couple of riot ready riot police. While you aren’t able to go in to see the Palace, at midday you can see a changing of the guard ceremony.

Next stop was the San Francisco Monastery and Cathedral. As it is still a working monastery, only a small portion of building is open to the public and there are no photo’s allowed. Constructed in the 17^th century, it is one of Peru’s most cherished sites and boasts a large library, thousands of Spanish tiles, several frescos and large catacombs.

While on our way to the catacombs, we had a look at the tiles and the frescos – some of the tiles seem out of place and our guide explained that this was probably due them being replacements for broken ones . Some of the frescos also had some odd elements. There was one in particular where a child’s face just appeared in the middle of a chair. This was due to the fact that over the life of the Monastery, it’s walls had been redecorated several times and the random face was mostly likely due to the fresco being in the middle of being redone with a new design. In the one of the rooms they had an example of just how many layers of plaster had been applied over the centuries – there would have been about 10 layers and the bottom layer was at a depth of about 5cms.

Last stop at the Monastery, was the inside of the Cathedral. The interior was decorated with a Moorish theme. The roof was red with white panelling and beams. It was quite effective and probably one of the few places that have such a combination of cultures.

Having gotten our fill of Cathedrals, we made our way toward the high end area of the city – the Miraflores. Before we arrived at the Miraflores area, we did a quick drive by a pre-Incan pyramid. Built by the Huacas people, the Incan’s drew upon this cultures engineering knowledge to help them build their empire.

The Miraflores area is known for its shopping areas, gardens, flower-filled parks and beaches, it is one of the upscale districts that make up the city of Lima. One of the more famous parts of the area is a large sculpture called El Beso (the kiss) . Located in the "Love Park" by the Pacific Ocean, it depicts the sculptor, Victor Delfín, and his wife kissing. According to local accounts, the mayor of the district holds (or used to hold) a competition for the couple who could sustain the longest kiss, and this sculpture celebrates this. The park is supposedly inspired by Antoni Gaudí's Parc Guell in Barcelona.

Tour over, we boarded the bus and began the bumpy ride back to the port. By lunchtime we were back on board and after handing over our passports and filling out another immigration form, we were back in our cabin unpacking and working out what needed a good wash and what didn’t.

The rest of the afternoon revolved around laying quietly on the beds, watching the mind numbing TV that was available on the ship. The plan worked quite well and other than a compulsory life jacket drill, we didn’t emerge from the cabin until it was time to make an appearance at dinner – we figure that we needed to show our faces to let the people who sit around us know that we had made it safely back to the ship and were relatively in one piece .

After dinner, where we heard the latest gossip – the most exciting being that back in Manta, there had been a gun shoot out in one of the streets near some markets a few of the passengers had been visiting – from what I can gather the gunmen were awful shots and no one was hit. After dessert, we made a quick departure back to the cabin and attempted to have an early night.

Fun fact:
Over the preceding 5 days we had averaged about 4 hours sleep each night. For someone who lives for a solid 8 hours each night, this is totally unacceptable and I intend to spend a fair bit of time catching up on my missed hours of sleep. That said we knew it would be a sleep deprived week and signed up for it any way!