Lima, Peru (February 2014) - Part 1

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19 February 2014 – Wednesday – Lima, Peru

Walkabout Lima. San Isidro and Miraflores. We are staying in a small apartment in San Isidro, Residencial Sori, at 3060 Avienda Arequipa, one of the main through roads in Lima. It is very noisy with steady traffic all day and most of the night. We begin our day with a walk in the neighbourhood and a disappointing coffee and empanada at a local bakery. (The coffee was so poor, more milk than coffee, micro-waved but still cold, that we sent it back and asked for a bottle of water in its place.) Both San Isidro and Miraflores are residential/commercial suburbs south and nearer the coast than the historical centre. The streets are lined with lovely, well-maintained houses and apartment blocks, as well as high-rise business towers of a dozen or so stories. . Lima is a very large and modern city of over 9 million people.

Lima is a study in contrasts, with ultramodern seaside neighbourhoods butting up against gritty shantytowns that cling to barren hillsides. It is one of the world's few mega-capitals that can claim a golf course in the middle of the financial district, and where executives can go surfing before high-powered breakfast meetings. Although it's built in a desert — Cairo is the only other metropolis drier than Lima — it's known as the "Garden City" and is home to one of world's largest fountain parks.

The district of San Isidro represents the modern face of Lima. It is the business and financial centre of the city. There are 28 ambassador's residences in this suburb, 50 major banks, six stock brokerages, nine five-star hotels, international airline offices and an array of restaurants, nightclubs and bars. The pristine streets are filled with beautiful urban architecture mixed with renovated Spanish Colonial buildings.

It was the Olive Park, however, that we visited first in San Isidro. "El Olivar" of the San Isidro Grove Park was declared a National Monument in 1959. It is a peaceful and beautiful park, yet full of old men chatting, women with prams and small children, dogs being walked and we were the only Gringos to be seen. The olive trees date from Spanish Colonial times and the area was originally a thriving olive orchard. As the Spaniards were defeated they cut down the trees leaving only rough stumps from which the new branches sprouted.

The Olive Park stretches from San Isidro into Miraflores and we walked its entire length. The Miraflores district is probably the best known of Lima’s upscale districts for its shopping streets of international brand name stores, gardens and parks, and the long cliff-walk over-looking the Pacific Ocean.

We were headed toward Costa Azul on Calle Berlin for lunch (we are always headed somewhere for something to eat!) A small family-run restaurant of 5 tables, we were warmly greeted by the large and jovial son of the owner who spoke excellent English. A seafood restaurant, Joan was very keen and curious to try the local speciality dish: ceviche. Ceviche is marinated raw fish, generally shrimp, octopus and sea bass. It is marinated in lemon juice, olive oil and chilli for about five minutes. The shrimp is boiled first but the other ingredients are raw and like sushi the fish must be absolutely fresh! The marinade of the dish served to Joan included coriander and was served with sweet potato and large-kernel corn on a bed of lettuce. Although there was ample chilli flavouring the food, it was served with a small side dish of more chilli! Peruvian food is not overly spiced but you are nearly always offered an extra side dish of hot chilli. Joan was very impressed with her lunch and was quizzing the server about its preparation and will certainly be experimenting with this type of food in future. I had a plate of deep-fried empanadas that contained shrimp and crab and they too were delicious. With two local beers and two glasses of wine the bill crested 100 Peruvian Soles (about 35 US Dollars of less than 30 Euro) – you can eat very well here, very cheaply.

The restaurant was only three blocks from the sea and we could smell it in the air. After lunch we turned westward and walked onto the cliff that separates Lima from the Pacific Ocean. Far below waves crashing against a stony shore were being ridden by a hundred or more surfers. A pier jutted out into the water; from the distance it looked like it needed a bit of renovation.

Lima has always been known as the Garden City and one of the reasons is El Malecon, a six-mile stretch of parks situated along the cliffs high above the Pacific Ocean. There were joggers, cyclists and people walking. We walked slowly along looking at everything and taking photos. Dotting the walkway are statues created by Peruvian artists. The best of these is Víctor Delfín's massive carving of a couple in deep embrace. The latter is the central piece of a section of the Malecón known as Parque del Amor (Love Park), whose design borrows heavily from Antoni Gaudí. The Malecón is the prime spot for parasailing in Lima although we saw none during the time we spent walking there.

We stopped at the Larco Mar Commercial Centre which is a multi-level entertainment, food and large shopping complex built into the side of the cliff and with breath-taking views over the ocean, especially at sunset. We had a coffee at Juan Valdez and rested awhile and used their wifi to access the internet and our emails. There was also a real music store there (as opposed to the bootleg copy music stalls found in the small towns) with a friendly attendant who helped me find the small section of Peruvian Jazz and I purchased two genuine Peruvian jazz cds: Gabriel Allegria and Jean-Pierre Magnet.

Our next destination was to find the location of the Jazz Zone nightclub on Av. La Paz and to see what opportunity to hear some live local jazz we might find there. Av. Laz Paz is an interesting street full of small restaurants and boutique hotels and artisan stores. Jazz Zone is located in an alley of small shops and cafes. We entered and were greeted immediately by the faces of Billie Holiday and Fats Waller and knew we were in the right place! A barman was organizing his workspace and a couple of waitresses were setting up the numbered tables in front of the small stage. We asked the barman about jazz and he shouted for someone who spoke English and a young man in a Jazz Zone t-shirt came up to us and informed us that there was live jazz tomorrow evening, a Peruvian sextet. (Even in a city of over 9 million people, the jazz club only had jazz two nights per week; live entertainment on the other nights included stand-up comics). We made our reservation, chose a table number, and left happy and filled with expectation. As we were leaving the bar I noticed a poster of the monthly performance schedule. Tomorrow evening’s band is being fronted by Gabriel Allegria, one of whose cds I had purchased an hour previously.

As evening settled in, we walked slowly back along Av. Arequipa to our small apartment, stopping at Tottus, a large grocery store to stock up with food and drink and munchies for our 5 night stay in this very interesting city.

18 February 2014 – Tuesday – Trujillo to Lima, Peru

A travel day: 9 hours in a Cruz del Sur coach, over 500 kilometres south along the Pan-American Highway. The road goes through the Sechura Desert, the largest arid territory in Peru, 188,000 square kilometres. The desert starts along the Pacific Ocean coast and goes inland to the foothills of the Andes Mountains and is the most extensive desert strip in western South America. The desert is also known as the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). It is brown, barren and bleak; it is surreal and fascinating to watch as we motor through it. There aren’t any signs of green or vegetation to be seen, not even a small cactus. It is just large sand dunes and stone mountains and unrelenting lifelessness with a well-maintained dual carriageway slicing through it following a mainly coastal route. It is an incredible landscape and a very busy road. The highway stretches the entire length of Peru, north-south, and is the main transport route for all goods and services as there are no trains here (except a couple of tourist route trains around Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca).

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Comments

[frere anak tom]

ceviche
5 minutes? i left mine for at least an hour. i suppose the lime/lemon is the main factor in it being the world's tastiest hangover cure. i tried making it in europe but the limes are not acidic enough to get a good result.