Peru day 15 - Lima day 4

 Lima day 4

Plaza Mayor in Lima

Today we booked a city and catacombs tour in the historic area. and we got out of Barranco and Miraflores area of Lima.  

The meet point Hotel Bolivia

We met the tour at Hotel Bolivia and it has an old bar, a 1920 ford car and the oldest elevator in town. 

The bar in Hotel Bolivia with the pisco sours bottles 

The 1920 Ford car

The historic center is beautiful and Arianna our guide told us a few things about the city. 

The historic center sights

Bus services has their dedicated lanes and is the easiest to get around but it still has a long line to get on the bus. 

The gray city bus in Lima

The black and white sign means the building is protected and a lot of buildings in the city center can't have 2nd and 3rd floor occupied as it's too unstable

They have 9 presidents since 2016 and it's highly unstable politically. 

Beautiful church along the route

We visited the St Francisco monks church and catacombs and learned some interesting facts.

The Jesuits church with moorish influence

The monks took money from the people to bury their money in the church.. Then every 5 years they removed the body and put them in a mass grave hence creating the catacombs. 

The catacombs with original Seville Spanish tiles and a beautiful library and last supper

The cathedral at Plaza Mayor is built on top of a Inca temple and the only stone piece is found at the side of the plaza. And Francisco statue is found behind it. 

The cathedral built on top of the Inca temple

 

Francisco statue

There's a post office building repurposed into a gastronimique center but was closed as the building is unstable. 

Unstable post office building

Walking further down, we were able to see a church with 2 relics 

Church with 2 skulls as relics

Last stop of pisco tasting but too tourist trap!

We got a ride to Lacorma in the tour bus as it felt very chaotic and we were glad to get out of Lima historic center quickly and back to Miraflores. 

Ice cream before going back to the hotel

Had a rest at the hotel before heading out to Carnaval which is the 43rd bar in the world. 

Carnaval for cocktails on the last night

I wanted to see a neighborhood that's not Miraflores or Barranco.  The San Ysidro area seems interesting and it would be a good choice for next time if we visit Lima again. 

Carnaval interior 

Carneval menu

We had the Carnaval experience picking 3 cocktails and then had their signature cocktail too which has beautiful presentation. 

Carneval Experience

Carnavel cocktail

Today is the last day of our trip. I started this journey not knowing anything about Peru and I'm leaving with more knowledge of the country

I felt privileged to learn about Peru and the Andean culture from our guides in this trip. 

It felt like a life time going through all of this 2 weeks with so many different experiences and having such a good trip. 

Peru day 14 - Lima day 3

 Lima day 3

The love stature on the malacon

Today is our 2nd full day in Lima.We wanted to go see the pyramid in the city and more of the Malecon from the Miraflores side. 

The pyramid entrance and small museum

The pyramid caught us by surprise as I didn't think we will see one in the city. 

The pyramid

Turns out the city didn't know there's one till 1950! They are still excavating the rest of the pyramid too. As they only saw a yellow slope and houses are built and the slope used for sports. 

The city clearing out the buildings for the pyramid and the restaurant on site

I think they found sacrifices and burial graves in the pyramid.

The pyramids sights

While we are there, there's a mandatory emergency drill at 10am. The hotel left is a note the night before letting us know that we have to participate if we are in the room! 

the letter from hotel informing us of the emergency drill

As far as we can tell, the whole city has phone msgs, sirens etc all going for 10 mins with everyone at Punto de reunión. 

Everyone waiting to get back to the tour during the drill

After that we walked to a coffee shop called ombu and it has great coffee. 

Ombu for good coffee

Then we continue walking to the malecon on the Miraflores side

The same pacific ocean!

Gaudi style parks and the Love park

I noticed there's a churros con chocolate store Manolo and I told Bill that I need to try it. It is better than the churros that we get at Tijuana as they are crispier and lighter

The correct churros con chocolate

After that we had dinner at Ache which is a Nikkei-Peruvian fusion place. 

Good clams and fish soup and sushi at Ache

Peru day 13 - Lima day 2

 Lima day 2

Pedestrian bridge going to Barranco

Today is food tour of Lima in Barranco. I'm starting to get a feel of Lima touristic zone of Miraflores and Barranco. Bill and I walked to Barranco on the malacon. 

The bridge from Barranco side

View of the pacific ocean from the Malacon

Walking through Barranco, it's a very peaceful and pretty neighborhood. 

The pedestrian bridge connecting Miraflores and Barranco

The pretty Barranco

Valeria showed us some of the pretty graffiti in Barranco that's changed every year. This is 2026

Valeria the guide showed me her badge and how she has to study to be a guide at the university. 

But what I sense is she's not connected to the deeper Peruvian high lands culture like Edy does. 

But it also points to the difference in Arequipa and Cusco vs Lima in terms of identity of the country

Valeria the guide with her badge and our meet up point

Luna Neuva Bakery

First stop we had an empanada with local coffee. But that shop has a yummy looking pastry case that I want to go back but never got the chance! 

The empanada and pastry case at Luna Nueva 

The peaceful Bakery

2nd stop we tried the local fruits that includes the custard apple. 

The 2nd story store with the fruit tasting

We repeated some of the fruits in Arequipa but it has the golden berry that's quite yummy. 

She also has 2 Amazon sourced chocolate and one in another region for us to taste. 

She also showed us 4 peppers ranked in spiciness that has the yellow pepper used commonly, the spicier red pepper as salsa. The 3rd spicy one is usually used in ceviche and the smallest one I haven't seen or tried. 

The fruits and peppers 

Map of Peru to explain where the chocolates and fruits come from

PeJerrey 

3rd stop was a ceviche place Pejerrey which is a slender silver fish used for ceviche. 

But first a drink with lemon grass, mango and passion fruit that's really good, to go with Causa Limena. It's a cold appetizer with spiced yellow mash potato (with the yellow pepper) and has a creamy filling like a slice of avocado. The one we tried has tuna as topping. 

Causa with a lemon mango drink

After that we had a show of how ceviche was prepared. Their lime here is so strong that they only need to cure the fish for a few mins and not 2 hours. Else it changes the fish texture too much and make it mushy. 

Ceviche

Nuna

The 4th place is a new restaurant that's only opened 6 months and doing well. Before Loma Saltado, we all had Inca Cola with beef heart skewers that's quite tasty

beef heart skewers as appetizer 

The chef showed how to cook Loma saltado. He's not allowed to use the wok but he had a pan with superheated oil that he light with a butane torch after he put the beef in. After the flame goes down, he puts in the onions to deglaze the pan, before he finish with tomatoes. The fire is off before he puts in the sauce that's soy, water, red wine vinegar and oyster sauce. He just kept everything moving till it's evaporated. 

I'm surprised he still has arm hair =) 

Juanito

The 5th place is the oldest bar in town that don't even have a sign outside. 

Juanito the oldest bar in Barranco

We had a show of how to prepare the pisco sours. There's different grade of pisco and it's shaken with egg white and put on bitters to mask the egg white taste

Very good and strong pisco sours!

The last stop is Blu for ice cream. 

Blu for ice cream

Walking back to Miraflores, I saw Lacorma which is a shopping center built into the bluffs

Lacorma

Bill got a bout of food poisoning in Arequipa. So we didn't go out for the rest of the pm. I went for a run at the gym and it felt good. I realized the high altitude I never felt the increase in my blood flow even though I'm panting. It gives me new understanding of how different the altitude affects my body too. 

Mafalda statue!