First Day 9/19

So, it was a long day yesterday.  As mentioned, it was good we had a 4 hour scheduled layover in Atlanta, as our flight out of DC was 2 hours late.  A 6 hour flight from Atlanta to Lima(Thanks to Frequent Flier points, blessfully in First Class).
We met people from our trip in the Immigration line, snaking back and forth for about 30 minutes.  Outside Customes, we waited for everyone and chatted, getting stories and names.  Mark and Mark and maybe another Mark.  I'm not exactly sure. People from all over the country.  It's 6am as I write this, as we expect to have breakfast and out intial meeting before we go out on the town.

OK, end of an exhausting Day 1.  We met for our morning introductions, and headed out in the bus.  There are 20 of us, as one couple got sick and she needed emergency surgery, and the other had connection problems.  Word is they are coming tonight to bring it to 22.  2 Steves, 2 Marks, 2 Johns, 2 Beckys (Actually Becky and Rebecca), and Ann and Fran.  At least not as many names to remember!

First stop was the Casa Aliago, a working home that is also a museum.  We walked in past the owner's car into a 16th century mansion, still in the same family.  Beautiful art work, unreal decorations, and a tree in the middle courtyard.  I'm not sure I can imbed pictures into this Blog, but I will put them into another post.

Then to the City Center with the Cathedral, the President's house, and city offices.  All the city buildings are painted a mustard yellow, but they kept small squares of previous paint colors visible, for about 5 or 6 iterations.
We went to the Santo Domingo Church, a shrine to San Martin and Santa Rosa.  They had relics of the saints.  Lots of church stuff.
Then to a late lunch at Museo Larco, where they have thousands, literally thousands, of ceramics from Inca and Pre Inca times.  In the museum itself, they also had beautiful silver and gold pieces.  Off to the side was 2 or 3 rooms of erotic pieces.

Back to the hotel to rest, as we were all exhausted.  We went out to get a little bit of food on our own at Don Belisario, an authentic Peruvian chicken place.  Delish

5 am wake up call tomorrow, as we fly to Cusco.