After leaving the Galapagos Islands, we flew to Lima, Peru, for our onward trip to Cuzco and Machu Picchu.

Appropriately enough, we began our Lima tour with a visit to "Lover's Park".
The stylized statue is of a kissing couple.
 tourist attraction

While the park was being built, the names of notables and politicians were recorded in mosaics. Sadly, the stones have outlasted many of the relationships.
We are hopeful that ours will last.
 picture Jerrold Patz Naimah "Jerrold Patz" Lima Lover's Park 

This picture deserved its own spot in our travelogue: it is an eerily stylized ossuary deep in the bowels of the San Francisco Monastery in Lima. It is quite chilling to see human body parts arranged as "art".
  human skulls and bones  bone art

Here is our local guide bringing us into Casa Aliaga (the Aliaga house), the oldest preserved colonial mansion in all of the Americas. The Aliaga family has resided there continuously since 1535. Additional pictures of the mansion are below.

This picture also deserves special handling. It is Lima's Central Train Station ("Ferrocarril Central). The irony is that aside from the narrow gauge rail to Machu Picchu, there is not a single inch of railroad in Peru. This building is currently an art gallery.

Assorted tickets for entry to venues: This certificate also served as the admission ticket to about a dozen historic and archeological Inca sites in the Cuzco area, the Cuzco Cathedral, Qorikancha  [or Korikancha] (the "Site of Gold", the most important temple dedicated to the sun. Its walls were originally plated with sheets of gold).  Cuzco was the Inca Capital of Peru and, at more than 3,000 years old,  is arguably the oldest existing city in the Americas. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
 entry admission tickets peru ticket