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Published: August 8th 2012
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Matt on the Lima Coastline
Maria's thinking, "Can I tip him over the edge and make a clean break? Probably not, I'd need help." Lima Hotel Novotel – It is a nice hotel located in the business district. It is by no means fancy, but it does have an indoor pool, and great staff.
Taxis – Taxis are fun in Lima –there are no set fees, everything is negotiated all the time. The lowest we paid was 6 soles and the highest was probably around 25. Nevertheless, we generally felt like we were getting rather fare fares, not like in other countries where some taxi drivers would charge times more if they hear an accent. Maria was our key negotiator – even with little spanish, one can go a long way. At the airport though, taxis work differently. We heard that it’s one big mafia. As a taxi driver, to work at the airport, you must have special permission, pay annual fees, plus also contribute daily as well (just to work there!). The outside taxi drivers cannot go insider (one needs to have special privileges) and there is some form of ‘police’ to make sure things run this way. That’s why when you get out of the airport, you can see a lot more eager taxi drivers that are willing to give you
Indigo Art Gallery
Get your knick knacks here! a ride –these guys just CAN’T get inside. So, it may make sense to negotiate for better prices outside.
An art gallery – it’s a great place to browse and if interested, also buy what can be very special artisanship pieces! We have visited two places – Indigo Artisanship Gallery in San Isidro and Dédalo Gallery in Barranco – and both of them didn’t disappoint. We wandered through at least dozen of rooms (in Indigo – on different floors) offering a variety unique pieces all made by Peruvian designers. They feature home accents and textiles with traditional motives, whimsical ceramics, modern jewelry, toys, furniture….almost anything. Indigo spans across two streets, and in Dédalo, you can take a break in an open-air café. It was an enjoyable, but also very relaxing experience. I should have made Matt settle for a nice taste of pisco sour at the end of each gallery visit. Next time….!
Things you have to try in Peru – There are two things you have to try in Peru. Pisco sour is one. It is a famous distinctively peruvian drink. It is made of pisco liquor, egg whites, sweetener, and a lemon sour. It can be
Indigo
Different rooms, different themes, different stuff made strong or normal. Different places would have different texture and smoothness of the cocktail. Ceviche is the other one. First time Matt tried it, we were in Washington, and he didn't like it. In Peru, ceviche became his favorite dish. Why did he like it this time? He says that the fish was very edible, had a lemon/sour marinade, nice fresh fish taste, but yet didn't smell or taste fishy. It is great with bread. So, if Matt liked ceviche, so can you…. enjoy!
First night at Astrid and Gaston – Amazing place and for its 5 star quality, it is also quite affordable. We spent 240 soles on bread, appetizers, main course, and a dessert. Not bad! This place has also an open kitchen where you can see how carefully plates are decorated - one person wipes the plates clean (and that's all he does!) after the plates are furnished to the perfection. One needs a reservation in advance up to a month out (we were told). With us – we just got lucky and got a 10pm reservation on Monday due to an earlier cancelation. And, did we tell, the food is really astonishingly great. Our last dish- dessert which was called ‘Chocolate sphere’, was perhaps the best dessert we have ever tried. It was a frozen ice cream with frozen chocolate sphere, upon which hot rich organic (non GMO) home-made chocolate syrup was poured over. Sensational taste!
Second night at Huaca Pucallana – it is another great restaurant in a great location, right by the ruins. Go there at night and if you are lucky to get a table outside, you would surely get all the benefits this place can offer as food is already excellent. We tried hot ceviche and chicken appetizers – both were amazing and actually quite filling (the size of Peruvian appetizers is usually very generous and two appetizers can really make you full). For an entrée, a traditional peruvian dish was a bit disappointing, but hey, we chose it! Final note – very polite staff…We were engaged in a long discussion and staff waited politely for us to finish and only after a nod brought us the bill – 200 soles in damage – but no regrets we went there!
Mirabus tour - Good idea for 60 soles per person. An evening tour worked pretty nicely as we got to see a water lights park and a show, which were the highlight of the tour for us. The park has a number of cool water fountain installations that can be fun even for an adult. Matt made me run through beams of water shooting out randomly out of the platform on the ground - Matt got slightly wet, Maria escaped unharmed (I am the winner again!). The lights show was about 30 min, which was a worthwhile experience...just a bit on a long side. The last part of the Mirabus tour was a stop at the Sheraton 5 star hotel. Our group sat at a 5 star quality venue and had 1 star quality sandwiches and choice of either juice or coffee - cannot have both. Well, at least our table neighbors were nice – the let us try their pisco sour (poured in a coffee cup)- and we have a few good laughs.
Maria’s hang up: Shopping at Lacromar – Lacromar is located at the prestigious waterfront area and is an open air shopping mall. Maria just had to do some shopping with alpaca sweaters being her target. Lacromar may just be one of the nicest shopping malls for that. When we came there, there was an amazing fog in the morning - we couldn't even see the beach down the cliff. It was a white wall of fog that would clear for a second and then go back to its original state. We had some coffee fusion drinks, then went on browsing the shops. As usual, we didn't buy anything….or, more precisely, almost bought something - Matt almost bought a leather jacket and Maria almost bought an exclusive dress. That was good enough of a shopping outcome. It was Matt’s turn to have his wish, so we got the taxi (15 soles) to go to the beach area down the hill. In summary, cold water so didn’t seem like swimming would be any pleasant, lots of surfers, but none seemed to be really great. 15 soles more and we were back uphill and ready to go to the hotel.
Matt’s hang up: Change of guard – Matt insisted we go there – good enough reason for me. He read about the Change of Guard in wikitravel and seemed to be quite set on doing this. It took a while to get to the there and all along I was thinking – it is better be good. At the end, I really didn’t think Matt thought it was the most breathtaking change of the guard he has ever seen (although he said it). We took pictures and a video, and was it!
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