Lima is nothing like what I imagined. I was totally taken aback by the city with 9 million inhabitants - in a positive way. Gone is the chaotic structure of Sao Paulo. City layout is organized, streets are clean, very little graffiti, it's a developed and functioning place. And there is much less poverty to be seen than in Brazil. Actually, it reminds me a lot of Chile. Moreover, the Centro Historico has some beautiful Spanish colonial architecture that has been well preserved. Lima has a wonderful flavour.
We stayed in the Miraflores district, which is right on the sea. Actually, it's on a cliff right above the sea, for the whole coastline in this part of Lima is elevated. Given the topography, this is an ideal location for parasailing (with an attached propeller), which you see a lot of. Even the police are parasailing around, I guess surveying the streets from up above.
One thing that impressed me was the Metropolitano public transport system. Along the central highway that crosses all of Lima, the central lanes are reserved for busses. These lanes, however, are separated from the rest of the highway, so cars cannot cross over. The stations are in the middle of the highway, so de facto, this is like a tram or metro line, except it's busses running up and down. What an ingenious idea, and much cheaper than building a whole new metro system. Now how come I haven't seen this anywhere else?
LIma is often overlooked for the more popular and famous places in Peru, such as Cuzco and Machu Pichu. It’s the port of entry, after which most visitors fly off to all the other more known destinations.
Perhaps one of the reasons for this is the weather. It is terrible! Why the heck did the Peruvian forefathers position the capital in this exact spot? Given that you're slightly below the equator, you would imagine the climate to be tropical. Far from it! For the whole time we were there, there was a thick low cloud cover over the capital. And from what I hear, the cloud cover doesn't disappear for more than 6 months of the year, their entire fall and winter. Due to that you get lower temperatures, for some geographic reason no wind and a very humid and somewhat depressing greyish air. While I’m told that if you go a few hundred kilometres further north or south, the coastline does not get this persistent cloud cover. In fact, you would find only sunshine.
So how about moving the capital then!
Centro Historico:
> Saint Francis Monastery: a beautiful church and monastery from 1774, with some amazing art work. One being a very large mural of the Last Supper, with some minor variations. The table in this painting is round, and the food being eaten is typically Peruvian. It's an amazing interpretation of the da Vinci classic, in what used to be the heavily ornate dining room of the Franciscan monks. There is also a wonderful library that looks straight out of a Hollywood set, with books dating back to 1840. The grand finale of the tour are the catacombs which are below the entire monastery. This used to be a public cemetery where 25,000 (perhaps even more) people have been buried. There are pits and pits full of bones and skulls. The perception was that if you were buried here you were closer to god. I guess that gives you direct access to the heavens.
> Plaza Mayor / Plaza de Armas
> Cathedral
> Plaza San Martin
> Jiron de la Union - pedestrian street linking Plaza de Armas and Plaza San Martin
RESTAURANT:
> La Rosa Nautica: we could see it from the window of our hotel room. There it was, at the bottom of the cliff, the pier mysteriously jutting out into the rough sea, with waves smashing into the coastline and surf boys trying to ride each crest. We had an unbelievable lunch here. Never realized till now how good Peruvian food was. The star dish being ceviche (various seafood marinated in lemon juice, with various herbs and spices added), a main dish consisting of an unknown yet delicious fish, ending with a chocolate soufle to die for. All accompanied by a bottle of great Chilean white wine. A meal and location that won't be soon forgotten.
HOTEL:
> Miraflores Park Hotel: located right on the cliff in the beautiful and affluent Miraflores district of Lima, this Orient Express Hotel has a grand and spacious feel to it, even though the exterior is very modern. Make sure you get a room facing the sea ... beautiful and very open view. We even had a dry sauna in our room, which we never used! I wonder who does?
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