Sleepy In Lima

I've yawned seven times today and it's not even lunch time yet!  Why am I tired?  Another city sightseeing tour!  After four previous city tours through South America....I've had enough!  Seriously, this city tour was pretty bad.  If we had known what we know now....we would've planned for a different activity this morning.

First stop was the romantic Love Park (Parque del Amor) which overlooked the Pacific Ocean.  Each year the mayor holds a kissing competition for the couple who can sustain the longest kiss, and the sculpture at the park celebrates this.

We managed to arrive just in time at the Government Palace to see the changing of the guard ceremony.  At noon every day, the main avenue in front of the building, and fronting the Main Square, you can watch the Dragoons of the Presidential Guard of mounted infantry perform their traditional ritual.

Finally, we crashed a church service in session (it's Sunday!) at the Church of San Francisco.  We really weren't there for the church service....but to wander down into the catacombs underneath the church.   The catacombs were actually part of Lima's original cemeteries, which were built under churches. Tour guides say an estimated 75,000 bodies are buried under San Francisco alone, and many of the remains are exposed, stacked in strange patterns in circular stone pits.  No photographs were allowed during this adventure.

Please wake me up when we get to Machu Picchu!  Yawn!