I’d left day 8 basically open so we could decide what we wanted to see based on our walking tour from day 7. We ended up with some great options in the Catacombs and Museo Larco.

Basilica y Convento de San Francisco Catacombs

The first thing you notice when you approach this bright yellow church is the hoards of pigeons in the entrance courtyard. Vendors sell bags of seeds to the tourists to keep them coming. The church, like most in Peru, is in the baroque style. Originally completed in 1674, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1991. To get inside you must take a tour, but it is definitely worth it.

The convent has an amazing library with more than 25,000 antique texts, including some Incan texts that predate the arrival of the conquistadors. The hallways are lined with Moorish and Spanish tiles from the early 17th century, making each corridor a work of art. Like the Cusco Cathedral there is a painting of the last supper with traditional Peruvian dishes like cuy (guinea pig). This time I was able to get a picture!

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The amazing library and art isn’t the main reason to visit the convent though. The key attraction here is the catacombs! I’ve visited catacombs in a few countries and this one was impressive. They believe there are anywhere from 25,000 to 75,000 bodies here. The bones are arranged by bone type and in weird groupings, like a well that is lined with skulls and long bones in a pattern. They stopped burying people here in 1808 when cemeteries outside the city were created. The catacombs were apparently rediscovered in the 1940s. It only costs a few Soles to take the tour and I highly recommend it.

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Bar Cordano

They bill this as the oldest bar in Lima and it seemed like the perfect place for a relaxing lunch stop. The bar is directly off of the Government Square and almost every Peruvian president has been a customer there at one time or another. Most of the bar decor, including the granite floors and old wood counters, are original from 1905. There are no TVs and no wifi, just a friendly relaxing atmosphere with good food and drinks. During economic trouble in the late 1970s, the Cordano family had to sell the bar and 19 members of the staff joined together to purchase it. Most of those members still own it today and many still work there on a daily basis.

Museo Larco

This museum was my favorite stop in all of Lima and rates high on my list of things I saw in Peru. Entrance is only 35 Soles or about $10 USD. The museum itself was a bit out of the way from everything else we saw that day. I recommend taking an Uber to get there. They will drop you off right at the gate. The neighborhood seemed a bit sketchy but they have guards right at the gate and there is free wifi so you can request your uber home while waiting inside the gardens.

The museum contains a permanent exhibit, visible storage, and erotic gallery, and gorgeous gardens. Founded in the 1920s by Rafael Larco Hoyle who dedicated his life to studying ancient Peru. For an additional 17 Soles, you can take a guided tour or you can wander freely through the museum. After the tour is completed, you can also wander their storage collection, which most museums never give access to.

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The main museum is broken up into topic rooms, such as Death in Ancient Peru and Ritual Warfare and Music. Each room is sorted by time period, so you can walk around the room viewing the change in culture as the Peruvians moved through history. In Visible Storage, you can see rows upon rows of more than 30,000 artifacts. We had gotten their late in the day and the gardens leading into the erotic exhibit were beautifully lit. At first, I found it odd that such a prestigious museum had an erotic exhibit. However, once inside it was truly fascinating. It shows the representation of sex and gender in Peru throughout the ages. Ancient Peruvians were far less prudish about sex and gender than we are today.

Leaving Peru

After the museum, we picked up our luggage and headed to the airport for our overnight flight back to Florida. I chose Peru because of Machu Picchu but discovered that it has so much more to offer. We didn’t come close to seeing everything. Someday I hope to get back to explore their Amazon rainforest, the Nazca Lines, and the Uros Floating Islands.

For more pictures, please check out the Day 8 on our Travel Labyrinth Facebook page. Viewing our public photos does not require a Facebook account.