Lima, a vibrant capital

First stop in our trip around the world, Lima in Peru, where we stayed two full days.

Despite some negative feedback we heard about Lima, we were charmed! Peruvian people first of all were very welcoming and helpful and some districts are straight out beautiful. We can certainly say that Lima didn’t leave us indifferent.

Of course, the first thing you notice is the urban chaos (Matt will never again complain about traffic in Chicago), but once you go past that, you can see that Lima was influenced by so many different civilizations and tragedies (earthquake of 1746 for example) and was always able to pick up and use it’s cultural wealth to move forward.

Let’s not forget that the soccer world cup just started and Peruvians are crazy about soccer and their national team! You can see flags everywhere and it feels like everyone is wearing the Peruvian jersey.

Also absolutely every little shop has a TV showing all the games, even in the local market, people were more interested in watching the soccer game than trying to sell you stuff. It is really fun to see how an entire country just has the same thing in common for the

Miraflores and Barranco districts

It’s in the Miraflores district that we have settled in for two days. Miraflores is a pretty rich and modern district of Lima that is along the Pacific coast. There are a lot of restaurants, bars and casinos in the area and our hostel is right there in the middle. Despite the jet-lag when we arrived, we couldn’t say no to a welcome drink… we were served a Chilcano cocktail which is Pisco with Ginger Ale, a nice way to kick off our trip! After talking and planning it for so long here we are.

After a short night (jet-lag and general noise in our dormitories) we start our morning by walking around Miraflores. We wandered by the cliffs and watched the few surfers in the water so early.

As we were walking around we wondered why the ground was so wet as it hadn’t rained that night.

When we woke up it was really cloudy and there was this mist in the air but not enough for the grass and streets to be that wet…

It’s while visiting the Huaca Pucllana ruins that we got our answer. Lima is actually located in a desert area and it never rains, there is only this slight mist in winter time. It is in fact the city of Lima that uses the water from the multiple rivers coming from the Andes to water the parks and trees at night. Without that system, vegetation would not be able to grow in Lima. Note for later : investing in an umbrella business in Lima might not be a great idea.

The Huaca Pucllana site is 1,600 years old and represented a religious and ceremonial center for all the different civilizations that were present in Lima. The site is still being excavated and they find new treasures every day.

For lunch we went to the Surquillo #2 market which is supposed to be less touristic than Surquillo #1 (indeed we did not see a single tourist). On this market you can find absolutely everything, fruits, vegetables, fresh fish, cereals, poultry, clothes and even cleaning supplies (yes a few salesmen tried to sell us brooms and mops…)

Maider had to use her best Spanish to find us a typical place to eat at the market, after following the ladie’s recommendation we had a delicious Moron soup and Pescado Frito. All of that for only $3!

In the afternoon we went to visit the Barranco district. Instead of taking a taxi like most people suggested we decided to take the bus and see how locals travel. And we were pleasantly surprised, the Metropolitano bus is on a single north to south axis with a lot of different stops and you can easily hop on and off. We discovered that this was really the Rolls Royce of buses! Since for all the other buses it’s simply a guy that stands at the door, and shouts where they are going. People can then decide if that is the right bus but they need to act fast as the bus barely stops and people jump in as it is still moving forward.

After this successful first bus ride we strolled down the streets of Barranco in the south part of Lima also along the coast. Before becoming a hype and cultural district, Barranco was a fisherman’s town and was then transformed into a beach resort for Lima’s rich population. Today you can find beautiful old townhouses, nice little art galleries, hidden patios and cute local independent shops.

A lot quieter than Miraflores, Barranco became an instant favorite where getting lost among the small colorful streets is a must do.

Historic center of Lima

Our second day in Lima brings us to its historic center where you can find most of the colonial buildings. Beeing in the middle of animated streets where modern shops and restaurants meet with colonial buildings and baroque churches is really impressive. We started by walking up the street of Jiron de la Union until the Plaza San Martin named after Jose de San Martin who declared Peru’s independence.

We then continued up to la Plaza de Armas where you can find the Palacio de Gobierno (presidential palace and home of the government) as well as the Cathedral where you can find the grave of the famous Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro.

A few blocks from the Plaza de Armas we visited the monastry of San Francisco – known for it’s catacombs and architecture. The monastry is still partially occupied and is home to a library with over 25,000 books, most of which pre-date the Spanish invasion.

As we mentioned above, Peru is crazy about soccer, and they installed a big screen on the Plaza de Armas for everyone to follow the soccer games. After lunch we decided to go take a look since Portugal was playing against Spain.

As we were watching the game we met an incredible guy, Miguel (but he insists we call him Michel, like the famous french soccer player Michel Platini).

Miguel is from Lima but has lived a bit in France and we start talking in a mix of Spanish and French and even a little German! After a few minutes Miguel invites us to go continue our conversation around a beer in a bar nearby that he seems to know very well. And there starts a two hour conversation about a little bit of everything. He talks about the places he has been in France, his kids and his job as a guitarist in a local band. We learned more about life in Peru and Lima in particular. And of course we talked about soccer! Miguel loves soccer and knows more about the French teams than we do. We exchanged numbers and hope to see him again when we stop by Lima on our way back from Huaraz. A really nice and unexpected afternoon.

Because this 22oz beer (indeed the smallest bottle starts at 22oz) put us in a happy mood, we decided to keep it up and go to El Museo del Pisco after saying goodbye to Miguel. El Museo del Pisco is a bar dedicated to Pisco. We did a Pisco tasting with an oenologist where we learned about the history of Pisco, the different types of Pisco that exist, and most importantly, we learned how to taste it and how to detect the aromas. Instead of a regular 20 minute tasting, we spent more than an hour with the oenologist (it was only the two of us with him). Even though we got a little bit over the budget with this tasting, we absolutely do not regret it. We learned a lot, tasted high quality Pisco, and from now on, we will be able to choose the right Pisco based on what aromas we prefer the most for our next Pisco Sour order.

Our trip in Lima ended with the light and sound show at Parque de la Reserva, which is one of the largest fountain complex in the world, with 13 fountains which start illuminating as soon as it gets dark. A very beautiful show to end our trip in the capital of Peru.

As you might understand by now, we fell in love with Lima, its people, culture, architecture, food, etc. And we are delighted to come back after our trip in Huaraz. Because two days in Lima are way too short to explore all it has to offer. And more importantly we need to try a Ceviche as we didn’t get time in these full packed two days.