One of the first weekends here Nicole's host-mom and sister packed Kenz, Nikki, and me up in the family car and shuttled us across town to the the Centro De Lima. I had heard that this was one of the poorer areas of Lima, but I didn't fully grasp the intensity of the until I got in the car and Flavia (her host-sister) said that I needed to take off my gold necklace and rings that I was wearing, because it was not safe to have them visible while we were there. This area was quite a change of pace from the area where we are currently living, called Surco. The Centro was full of people everywhere we looked and we drove around for about 20 minutes before we could find an open spot to park. As we began to walk, Amparo (her host-mom) commented that we should keep on hands on our purses and to never take out our cell phones on the street because they can be easily stolen. These comments reminded me that although I had become more relaxed and comfortable where I was living, that Peru is a way more dangerous country than I had grown-up in. I felt very grateful to be able to experience this new area with Peruanas who would make sure we were doing things safely.
Although we spent the entire afternoon walking around the Centro and seeing many things, the highlight was the Iglesia de San Francisco and the Catacombas. This was one of the first churchs built in Lima in the 15th century and it took almost 100 years to complete. We were able to walk all around the sanctuary and also tour the convent that were both filled with unbelievable architecture and pieces of art from the 16th century. However, the neatest part for me when we were able to go underneath the church and tour the catacombs, which was originally the first public graveyard. This underground mass graveyard was discovered in the 1940's and it's estimated that over 25,000 bodies were laid to rest there. It was both mind-blowing and extremely creepy to be walking through these dim stone tombs and see the actual decayed bones of Peruvians long ago. The most common bones were big leg bones because they decompose the least, and there were few skulls because the majority of them had been stolen over the years. Apparently, a human skull in a house brings great luck.... who knew??