Lima day 1

Peru and Chile blog

Lima

So, here we are in Lima.

The journey went well.  Johnny picked us up on time and drove us to Heathrow.  Twenty minutes later we’d got though baggage drop and security and were in the BA lounge to have some dinner.  The flight to Madrid was on time, so we settled down to a second dinner.  Getting through flight connections was surprisingly easy compared to previous trips and we were soon eating dinner on the flight to Lima.

After all those dinners, we had no trouble sleeping for most of the flight, although we had to wake up in time for breakfast.

We arrived at Lima 30 minutes ahead of schedule, beat the crowds to immigration and baggage reclaim and went out to find Celestino waiting to whisk us off to our hotel.  Even at 5am, the roads were really busy and the buses were standing room only.

Lima was foggy and drizzly.  Apparently, as we found out later, the coastline is blessed with a current of water from the Antarctic, so it never gets warm enough to make water evaporate.  Therefore it never rains in Lima, but for much of the year you get a constant drizzle.

We arrived at Villa Barranco, “a boutique hotel in a lovingly restored 1920s republican style house” in time for another breakfast.  Scrambled eggs, pancakes, fruit and excellent coffee, far better than Iberia’s offering.  Unfortunately, breakfast is served on the roof terrace, which must be great in summer.

Barranco is the cultural and artistic district of Lima and the hotel reflects the feel of the area.  The rooms are crammed with colonial furniture and local artworks are scattered around the place.  And the owner is charming.

Fabiola, our guide for the day, picked us up at 10am and we set out for the historic city centre with Celestino at the wheel.  Lima has no trains or metro, so everyone goes by road.  They are in the process of building a metro, so there is construction and diversions everywhere, so the roads were even busier than before.  It took about 30 minutes to get to the UNESCO-designated centre, with Fabiola talking constantly for the duration.

Our first stop was the monastery of Saint Francis of Assisi.  Unfortunately, you can’t take photos inside the building, so I can’t post any.  The monastery was built by the Spanish during the 17th century and is full of Moorish influenced tiles, Spanish religious art and a huge collection of antique books in the library.  We also encountered a whole host of very loud groups of school children, in their matching uniforms.

After seeing what there was above the ground, we went down into the catacombs, which was the city’s cemetery for many years.  With bones scattered around the place, low doorways and uneven floors, I wouldn’t like to be there during a power cut!  We didn’t stay long.

We made our way back to the car via the main square with the presidential palace, cathedral and town hall on three sides.  Overall, we weren’t too impressed with the area.  It is quite run down, and while some of the buildings have been restored, a lot are sitting there waiting for some attention.

We had a great lunch in a local chevicheria, where we sampled three of their specialities.  Fabiola kept warning us about the chillies, but they really weren’t that hot.

After that, a visit to a local market in Miraflores, one of the more affluent areas of Lima.  Markets are very popular in Peru, with people preferring to use them rather than supermarkets.  There is a huge variety of fruit and vegetables that we don’t normally see in the UK, including finger avocados and tumbo aka banana passionfruit.

And that was day 1.  Tomorrow we’re exploring Barranco and taking a culinary tour.