Lima(Peru)

January 2016 Itinerary Link

Lima, a city of pisco sour, great food, and colorful textiles: this is how I remember the city. Our first time in this city was off of a cruise ship traveling from Florida to Valparaiso. The shuttle bus from the port of Callao, a not very attractive container port, deposited us in front of a shopping center in nearby San Miguel. From there, we took a cab to Kennedy Park in Miraflores section of Lima, a city that seemed to sprawl quite a bit. Over 10 million people live in the capital region of Peru, and we could feel the density by cars honking and rushing by. Super modern structures sprang up in the middle of the city that is still rather slowly catching up to the 21st century.

Lima, Peru Modern City Skyline | Lima, Peru city. | Serious Cat ... A free walking tour started from there, and we used the public transportation to get to the old historic center in downtown. Our guide took us around the major sites(mostly about 200 years old) & ended the tour with a pisco tasting. After the tour, we had lunch at Bar Cordano, one of the oldest bars in Peru.

After taking a cab back to San Miguel, we browsed the outdoor market set up in the square in front of the shopping center till the shuttle bus arrived to take us back to the ship.

We came back to Lima after a month-long trip through Chile and Peru after getting off the cruise ship in Valparaiso. This time we spent two nights in an Airbnb apartment(a nice modern 3 bedroom/2 bathroom in a high rise building for $120/night) not far from Kennedy Park. We chose this location because the restaurants we wanted to try were all in this general area. There was a notable influence of Chinese and Japanese cooking in the culinary scene, which was understandable since Chinese and Japanese were brought into Peru to replace the slave workers in 1850’s & they’ve become an important part of the society(a case in point: Fujimori, an ex-President, is Japanese Peruvian.) Peruvian Chinese food has its own term, Chifa, and fried rice of Chifa kind was readily available anywhere in Peru.

The sandwich shop La Lucha Sangucheria Criolla was very busy, but the sandwich was so good we ate there twice. Without knowing Spanish, it was not simple to figure out what to do at the counter with millions of people in the line behind you, but an English speaking young waiter came outside to help us out.

Peruvian food is getting popular worldwide, and Lima has its share of super trendy restaurants run by superstar chefs. We wanted to get a glimpse of this scene without breaking a bank. One memorable meal was at Isolina Restaurant. There was a long line at the door when we got there, but we were able to get a seat after waiting for about 25-30 minutes in a cramped bar area sipping pisco sour. It was not cheap for Lima standard, about $25-35 per person, but the price did not seem unreasonable considering the high quality of food.

Mercado Artesanal, a huge handicraft market, happened to be across the street from our apartment. Whopping 45% of Peruvian population is indigenous people, and they produce handicrafts in the villages. We stopped by here several times to stock up on gift items. The merchants there were not too aggressive and they let us browse without too much pestering.

We flew out of Lima on Jet Blue to Florida.

Update: December 2019

We were back in Lima, twice, almost exactly at the same time of year – 3 years later. First was another cruise stop. This time they shuttled us from the Callao port to a shopping center closer to downtown.

I had a very specific goal this time: go back to the artisan market and get more colorful pillow cases. The cab driver dropped us off in the middle of a huge market zone where most shops were closed for some kind of holiday. I had to jog my memory to figure out where exactly was the spot, and, eventually, we found it. They now had more higher priced items such as pashmina scarves and leather handbags than $1 knickknacks. Merchants learn quickly.

In fact, the whole city looked much cleaner and upscale than 3 years ago. That frequently means better quality of life, I suppose, but, at the same time, higher price tags.

Streets were blocked off for traffic clearly in preparation for a parade. We never found out what the occasion was. I did try to ask, but I could not understand their perfect Spanish.

Lunch was at an excellent – you guessed it – sea food restaurant called Barra Maretazo. Fresh. Fresh. Reasonably priced.

We walked around the Miraflores area in order to digest our meal. Christmas was definitely in the air.

In the Miraflores Park, there was an art fair going on. Maybe related to the parade??

Music and dance, too.

People were starting to have lunch as we had already done so according to American sense of time.

A modern church quite suitable for the high rise apartment dwellers of modern Lima.

We had a 16-hour layover in Lima on our way back home at the end of our 3 week journey in Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.

We rented an Airbnb apartment for the night not too far from the airport. While on the cruise, I had noticed the ship was offering a shore excursion package priced at close to $200 for visiting two private art museums: Larco Museum and Osma Museum. Curious, I checked and anybody could go to these museums by paying not too outrageous ($8 with senior discount at Larco) admissions. Luckily, Larco was to open on Christmas Day while Osma was not. So I bought the tickets online & that’s where we went.

The collection was started by Rafael Larco Herrera, a Peruvian politician, businessman, and philanthropist, in 1925 with 600 pieces of pre-Columbian art that be bought from his brother-in-law. His son Rafael Larco Hoyle started a museum with this collection in honor of his father.

First thing first, we were hungry. The restaurant at the museum was just perfect: A beautiful garden setting, impeccable service, wonderful food, and the price tag not matching all that. I’d go to this museum just to eat and hang out!

Their collection was very well organized, labeled well in 6 different languages, and was beautifully presented. What I liked the most: it was not overwhelming like at some great museums of the world.