Week 1 – Lima, Peru

The Strangest Saddest City

In Moby Dick, Herman Melville refers to Lima as ‘the strangest saddest city thou can’st see’. He goes on to say, ‘For Lima has taken the white veil; and there is a higher horror in this whiteness of her woe.’ He is referring to the garúa – a fog that envelopes the city all through winter. We only saw the sun twice, both times right before sunset. Despite the garúa, we have really enjoyed Lima.

1. Go

• Plane – 4,385 miles. Denver to Atlanta to Lima.
• Bus – 72 km
  • Local buses – 20 km. We were pretty proud of ourselves for tempting fate riding these buses. They speed down the road looking for patrons. Some buses have an attendant who precariously hangs out the open door yelling the names of upcoming stops to lure riders. This is helpful since there is no distributed bus schedule and each bus takes a different route. They screech to a stop and you jump on as fast as possible because the driver only allows seconds for boarding. Then the bus swerves around traffic narrowly missing cars and other buses.
  • METRO bus – 52 km.
• Taxi – 50 km. From the airport at the beginning of the week and back to the airport at the end.
• Foot – 112,000 steps in 7 days (approx. 55 miles)

2. See

We chose to stay in Barranco, an artsy neighborhood outside of downtown. This proved to be a good choice, since the walking is safe and it’s right by the ocean. There is also a booming nightlife, which we did not participate in. Everyday, we were able to go on walks along the cliffs above the ocean and to the grocery store. Barranco is also home to the Pedro de Osma Museum, an excellent collection of colonial art. Just north of Barranco, lies Miraflores. The walk between the two was about two miles, but along a beautiful cliffside path. We enjoyed people watching (and cat-watching) in Kennedy Park.

Peru – Lima – Barranco – View from the cliffs

Peru – Lima – Barranco – Restoring a cathedral

Peru – Lima – Barranco – Pedro de Osma Museum

The street art of Barranco was a pleasant addition of color to this grey city.

Peru – Lima – Barranco – Mural

Peru – Lima – Barranco – Mural

Central Lima had the most tourist sites to offer. It was a thirty minute bus ride from Barranco, but the METRO bus system is incredibly easy to navigate and surprisingly clean. We ended up visiting Central Lima twice to catch all the sites.

On the first visit we walked Jiron de la Union, saw the changing of the guards at Plaza del Armes, and visited the Archbishops Palace, Catedral de Lima, Plaza San Martin, and Monesterio de San Francisco. Our favorite was the San Francisco Monestary and the crypts beneath. Unfortunately, they don’t allow any photos inside. A close second was the Lima Cathedral – a grand cathedral off the Plaza de Armas with lots of nooks and crannies and crypts.

Lima Cathedral

Lima Cathedral Crypt

For our second visit, we attended the surprisingly purple Corpus Christi Procession on Sunday. As we neared the Plaza de Armas, all the men in suits walking around us started to put on purple robes they had been carrying in little bags. The Plaza was a sea of purple robed men, banners, and flower decorations.

Peru – Lima – Corpus Christi

Peru – Lima – Corpus Christi

Another gem of Lima was the Museo Larco in the Pueblo Libre neighborhood. Not only do they have an excellent collection of ceramics, textiles, and metal works throughout the history of Peru, they also let visitors into the storage rooms where you can see thousands of pieces.  They also boast an impressive collection of erotic pottery – it’s amazing how even the most serious museum-goers get giggly in this exhibition.

Peru – Lima – Museo Larco storage

Peru – Lima – Museo Larco – Gold

Peru – Lima – Museo Larco

3. Eat

Peru has proved to have many culinary wonders. Dishes are a blend of Spanish, Andean, Chinese, and African ingredients and cooking techniques, leading to a wide variety. Nearly everything we ate this week was a new experience. Some of our most notable choices include: tripe stew, ceviche (photo of restaurant below), yuca fritos, avocado stuffed with shrimp salad, salchipapas especial (french fries and sliced hot dogs with fried eggs), chicharon (fried pork rib and yam sandwich), buttifara (ham sandwich), and Chifa (a chinese/peruvian blend which mostly consists of Chinese food with Peruvian ingredients and salsa on the side).

4. Drink

The beer culture in Peru is not as prevalent as Denver, but they still have a good variety. We visited the Barranco Brewing Company for an evening of beer tasting. We also tried a Peruvian beer available everywhere called Cusquena (named for Cusco). We tried the famous Pisco Sour and it was delicious. I foresee many future nights in Peru filled with them.

5. Sleep

We stayed all six nights at the Barranco Backpacker’s Inn. The staff was very friendly and our room was spacious. Our only complaint was the noise from the street – not cars, but late night partiers returning from their escapades. We both used earplugs the entire time, which helped but did not prevent nightly disturbances. I think we will need to get used to more noise than we’d like.

6. Move

Barranco proved to be a great city for walking and running. We walked 112,000 steps this week and went on a few runs. Check out Pat’s CADENCE Week 1 post for details about this week.

7. Etcetera

We saw some mind bending things this week, including this weird orange tree, which I can only assume has magical powers.

..and this yellow scene:

Check out our Flickr page to see all our photos from this week.