After the visit to El Palacio Torre Tagle, our next destination was San Marcos for lunch. On the way, we stopped off at the church down the street, San Pedro. Iglesia San Pedro is a Jesuit temple, built in 1624. It is supposed to be filled with beautiful altars and paintings, but you have to come in the morning to see them. Oh well, we were hungry, anyway...

Off we headed to one of the early campuses of the University of San Marcos. Founded by the Dominicans in 1551 just 16 years after Francisco Pizarro founded Lima, San Marcos is the oldest officially established university in the Americas, and one of the oldest in the world.

To reach the restaurant, deep within the campus now referred to as La Casona, we had to pass through several balconied courtyards. We ended up in another courtyard, far from the street traffic of Lima, surrounded by trees and flowers, listening to the ballads of a beloved Peruvian singer, Lucia de la Cruz.

It was a lovely lunch, with students choosing between Peruvian fare (soup and a choice of several entrees) and Mediterranean (cauliflower soufflé with vegetables and grilled chicken 'kabobs' next to a pyramid of seasoned rice, and potatoes, of course!). Once again, all this, with passion fruit juice (maracuya) and dessert, for $3.00 per person. Only in Lima!

After lunch we took a tour of the campus, which is in the process of being carefully restored. It is now a cultural center, which promotes the development of scientific research and artistic creation. Along with the five courtyards, it includes a library, a beautiful chapel, galleries, and lecture rooms; the main university campus is now located on the outside of the city, where there is more space.

We knew we were visiting the campus during a festival, Feria Universitaria del Libro, but we were in for a surprise when we heard music coming from the park outside. We ran out to see that the sidewalk in front of the campus had been turned into a stage for dancers dressed in traditional costumes. In addition to a traditional folk dance called Huayno, and the Marinera Norteña, a version of the coastal marinera, or the "national dance of Peru," there was a dance from the jungle. We stopped to watch for awhile, before moving on to our appointment at Casa Goyeneche.

As we made our way back to Ucayali Street, we passed one of the oldest bakeries in Lima. Called Huérfano (or Orphan, since orphans were part of the mission of the church down the street), and filled with delicious smells, it is the bakery where Celia’s mother used to go when she was studying at San Marcos. Of course, we had to go in and sample some of the goodies they were offering!