Convento de San Francisco is the Spanish name for Saint Francis Monastery: It is considered by some to be the greatest architectural complex of its kind in Latin America. Its construction was started in 1542 and completed in 1674 and is made up by the church and the convent of San Francisco, as well as of the chapels of the Solitude and the Miracle. The convent, the cloisters and gatehouse are decorated with tiles from Seville. In the basement there is a network of underground galleries and catacombs that were a cemetery at the colonial time of the Viceroyalty. The catacombs, or public cemetery, where slaves, servants, and others without money were buried until 1821 (rich citizens were usually buried in their home chapels). The underground labyrinth is a series of wells, some 20 meters deep, where bodies were stacked and covered with lime to reduce odor and disease. After they decomposed, the bones were stacked elsewhere. The monestary is also the headquearters of the Museum of Religious Art and the Francisco Zurbar�n Room. The Spanish in conspiricy with the Roman Catholic Church made every attempt to keep the native people in line by the use of religion. One attempt that is shown in the Monestary is a painting of "The Last Supper" by Marcos Zapata, a master Quechua painter,. It shows Christ and the Apostles about to dine on guinea-pig, papaya, and yucca, washed down with a glass of chicha! We were at The San Francisco Convent Of Lima at about 9:15 AM on the morning of April 10, 2006.

The Jorge Ch�vez International Airport (IATA: LIM, ICAO: SPIM), known as Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Ch�vez in Spanish, is Peru's main international and domestic airport. It is located in Callao, 11 kilometers (7 mi) from the Historic Centre of Lima and 17 km (11 mi) from Miraflores. Callao is the port city which is now fully integrated with Lima, the nation's capital. There are several Guided Tour Agencies offering standard city, Hiking, and archaeological tours of Lima and the surrounding area. We suggest Flying into Lima and then going to the surrounding areas of your choice. This page is for information purposes only and while we have made every effort to be accurate, it is the travelers responsibility to make the appropriate choice as to which hotels to use in Peru. We found that when touring Peru, Magical Cusco Tours gave us the best service of all. They even arranged very personal tours based upon our ages and experience. They were there for us whenever we needed them. We have links to Magical Cusco Tours on our page so that they can arrange your tours of Lima and the surrounding areas. Click on any of their links on our pages and they will give you a 4% discount for taking their package tours. Mention delange.org. Merchant Code Inka2010 for your discount! We suggest letting Ana Maria handle your tour. Note: The 4% discount applies to package tours only! Discount does not apply to hotel bookings, domestic or international tickets, meals or any other service booked as a single activity. Magical Cusco Tours also has a culinary tour that you may enjoy.Click Here For: Taste Of Peru.com their culinary tour page. We also have links to Priceline.Com on our pages, in case you may prefer to use their services.