A few months before this blog post we were minding our own business when a friend started talking about a trip she and her husband were taking to Cuba with a local restaurateur. He was a former Spanish bullfighter and from some of the stories, also somewhat of a womanizer. What's not to love? Since they were in the early stages of forming a group, we added our names to the list of about 20 people who had also expressed an interest in seeing Cuba.

We flew into Miami the evening of September 30th and met up with the rest of our group at the Courtyard Marriott Miami International Airport on Lejuene Road by one of our gracious hosts who met us at the airport and whisked us away on the hotel's airport transfer bus. Even though it was just for one night, the people at the Courtyard Marriott were very helpful and accomodating.

We began our morning pre-dawn and boarded the bus for ride to the Cusco airport to catch our flight at 8:00am back to Lima. Our flight was severely delayed from Cuzco which threw our tour schedule into complete disarray. Warning: This is my only complaint about the trip so feel free to skip ahead if you want. We finally arrived in Lima around lunchtime sleepy and hungry.

Even though it was well after a normal lunchtime our guide was on a mission to take us out to tour the city and more churches. Around 3pm that afternoon we finally had the opportunity to get a little rest and food at an art gallery/restaurant.

In the historic district of Lima stands the Roman Catholic, San Francisco Church (St. Francis) with its opulent gilded side altars and a very impressive lattice dome in the Spanish and Moorish style. The giant main altar is made entirely of wood. The entire structure has survived several large earthquakes dating back to the late 1600's.
The monastery library has a very impressive collection of ancient religious texts including a Holy Bible dating back to the late 1500's. Some of the texts were brought over by the first wave of Spanish priests after the conquest of the Incas. We were told not to take photos inside the church and it's too bad because it was most assuredly the most beautiful we had seen. Everything about it was lovely in its details and worth the visit even when you are a bit punch drunk from fatigue and hunger. Worth noting in this church St. Jude the Apostle (Patron Saint of Lost Causes) is highly regarded and there is a feast of in his honor where 40 people carry a one and a half ton silver stand in a procession (see Mr. Chong's photo above) which begins at the church on October 28th each year. My guess is that the place would be a madhouse to navigate so you would be better served traveling a different time of the year if you weren't there to participate in the procession.
After the church we walked over to the catacombs and our guide purchased/picked up our ticketes. Once inside the dusty, dark caverns, we were guided to an area where we saw an abyss that was the equivalent to a five story building filled with bones. Even our guide conceded that the monks were most likely a little looney tunes. After decomposition, the monks separated the dearly departed from their bones and put all the skulls in one cavern, then the femurs, etc. Bodies were soaked with lime juice and sand which apparently helped to mask the smell. All in all, it is thought that there are the bones of at least 25,000 people buried stacked in the brick and mortar pits.
We were also told that secret passages were used during the Inquisition which connected the estuary and the church. If these walls could talk!