Getting Acclimated

---

Lima is the capital city of Peru, and the gateway for international air travel. Coming from abroad, you pretty much can’t avoid it. Raquel and I arrived at some ridiculous hour of the morning, and we were lucky that the Sheraton let us check in early at 6am. (We would later learn that we were very lucky that it was a Sunday.) We spent most of the day recovering from the overnight trip, relaxing and getting the lay of the land. When it was light out and we could actually see things well, things in general weren’t so pretty. The hotel was surrounded by a construction site, and I noticed as I went for a brief jog around the city center that the many buildings had an older feel. I just wasn’t getting that feeling of excitement that I had getting to Rio or Buenos Aires. Peru would take some acclimation.

We quickly and sometime embarrassingly learned some of the differences between Peru and home. The first came in the shower when Raquel couldn’t get the hot water working. She turned the knob that was not marked “C” to get the hot water going. As it turned out, the “F” represented “frio” or “cold” and was properly functioning spewing out cold water. The next folly happened in one of the restrooms at dinner, where I entered the one marked “M.” It was only a small room with a separate stall and then an area with a sink. As I was leaving the stall, I was surprised to see a woman coming into the bathroom and pointing up to the sign marked “M” for “mujeres” for women. Oops.

Monday morning we awoke to the sounds of constant pounding. The hotel neglected to mention that they were undergoing construction two floors below us, starting at 9am and continuing through 6pm. Luckily for us Sunday was their one day off. On the other hand, we had one more morning to deal with the noise. After a rough start to the day, we made our way to the Taurino Museum. The tiny museum is located right next to the bullfighting ring. Upon our arrival the guard seemed somewhat confused that we were actually there to visit the museum. He called over the caretaker, who eagerly led us in immediately after turning on the lights to the exhibits. I guess we were the first visitors of the day at 1pm. Seeing the various paraphernalia and photos was quite interesting, but my favorite part was actually getting to go inside the stadium and sitting in the stands.

It turned out that the Museum of Art, which we planned to visit next, was closed for renovations. To add to our luck, most of the other museums we wanted to visit were closed on Mondays. We gave up on the tourist activities and retreated to the hotel. Not feeling the love from Lima. We ate dinner in Miraflores, an upscale area of the city at a trendy place called Raphael . One of our classmates, Mario, was visiting family here, so we arranged to meet him and his girlfriend for dinner. I thought the meal was pretty good, nothing mind blowing, but great value considering we would have spent twice as much for a similar experience in the US.

The next morning we were off to Arequipa, and we would return about ten days later for our final day before an early morning flight back to Miami.

Travel Tips

- The Sheraton in located in the center of town near some of the important landmarks and museums. I’d only recommend staying if the construction has ended, so check before you book because it’s really disruptive.
- The Mirflores neighborhood is one of the nicer parts of town is where most of the best restaurants and nightlife is.
- La Rosa Nautica is located on a pier right on the water and served a great seafood tasting menu for ~ $40. Definitely recommended.
- Raphael was fairly trendy and the food was solid and I liked the modern atmosphere of the room. I wasn’t blown away though, and I’d suggest trying other top restaurants.

---

Photos

Keeping Lima Safe
A tank outside the Plaza de Armas

Comments

[Cleavon]

Well done in entering the "mujeres"! What more could you have wanted from the trip :)