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WIKI QUOTE ALERT!
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima Metropolitan Area. With a population approaching 9 million, Lima is the fifth largest city in Latin America, behind Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Lima is home to one of the largest financial hubs in Latin America. It has been defined as a beta world city by GaWC international ranking.
Lima was founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535, as la Ciudad de los Reyes, or "the City of Kings". It became the capital and most important city in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. Following the Peruvian War of Independence, it became the capital of the Republic of Peru. Today, around one-third of the Peruvian population lives in the metropolitan area.
Lima is home to one of the oldest higher learning institutions in the New World. The National University of San Marcos, founded on May 12, 1551 during Spanish colonial regime, is the oldest continuously functioning university in the Americas.
Lima was our last stop on the penultimate leg of our South American adventure where we said goodbye to the Emerald Isles very own and ever entertaining Francisco and Elaine, Captain America Tyson, our Aussie contingent Ryan and the Llama loving Rach, the Swiss Chocolate gobbling Bacardi swilling Jas, Luxembourg's very own version of Shazam Marco and our guide Jo. We had all been through a lot together so it was pretty tough saying goodbye! In return Anna from Germany, Marika from Finland and new guide Reuben joined us for the final leg.
A bunch of us jumped on the city tour bus which as we weren't in Lima long whizzed us around the major sights before dropping us off at the Convento de San Francisco which included a tour of its catacombs which were a bit grizzly. In the evening after dinner and having bumped into Alex again (talk of a restraining order was being banded about - only joking mate) we headed to the iconic water park which was apparently spectacular (see googled picture) 'Alex but why only apparently' I hear you cry... Well having jumped in 2 taxi's our one took what can only be described as an arse about face route via the traffic of the massive Lima derby football match that was taking place and got us there just in time to have the gate slammed in our faces for closing time! Luckily the guys in the other taxi had made it in just in the nick of time so got to see the fancy colourful fountains that I now tell myself would have been rubbish anyway even if the other guys were pretty complimentary about them.
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