This past July we finally made it to beautiful Peru - a destination that was #1 on my travel list for a long time. The flight on Air Canada Rouge from Toronto to Lima was approximately 8 hours direct, and we arrived at around 2:00AM. The good news is that we had pre-booked our trip with a company called Alpaca Expeditions which arranged for a cab to pick us up and bring us to our hotel. This was a relief, as the surrounding area of the Lima airport seemed sketchy and there weren't a lot of English speakers around. Sadly all those Spanish classes in university did not pay off... oops! As Iva says, "if you don't use it, you lose it!"
Our hotel in Lima was located in the neighbourhood of Miraflores, around one hour away from the airport. Most of the roads were dark and desolate at night and buildings we passed by were fortified by huge locked gates, kind of unsettling! The good news was that during the day it was another story. Gates were open and people were out and about - it was quite vibrant! Lima was a lot less scary by daylight, and a cool place to walk around.
On our first full day in Peru we wandered over to the Larcomar, which is this cool semi-outdoor shopping centre with amazing views of the Pacific Ocean. Lima is known for its grey and cloudy weather, and this morning there was no exception. We visited Peru during Peruvian winter time which is Canadian summer time. Peruvians wear pants, coats, hats, scarves, mittens during this time of year... John was wearing shorts to give you an idea of the weather!
After wandering around Larcomar we stumbled upon a famous churro shop called Manolo which I remembered reading about online. I'm still thinking about those churros today... I would love to eat a dulce de leche churro right about now!
Not far from Manolo was the famous "cat" park - Parque Kennedy. This park is overrun by cats. They were sleeping everywhere, some of them oblivious to people taking selfies with them or prodding them while they slept. I was sitting on the edge of a fountain playing around with my camera and suddenly the next thing I knew there was a cat on my lap. It startled me but was quite friendly, aside from the fact that it sneezed on my jacket (thank you, hand sanitizer)! It actually wouldn't get off my lap when I tried to stand up later. I had to physically remove it from my lap before leaving the park!
On our first afternoon in Lima we met up with a day tour guide named Jimmy that the company arranged for us to take us around Lima. The first place Jimmy brought us to was the church and monastery of San Francisco (St. Francis). We went into the catacombs, where over 25,000 bodies were laid to rest. This place acted as a burial place for the dead until another cemetery was opened outside Lima. It's always eerie to walk in the catacombs, but also very interesting since the bodies have been resting there since after the church was blessed in 1673 and completed in 1774. Despite the fact that the church has been damaged many times by earthquakes over the years, the catacombs have held up fairly well. Within the complex we were also taken to the library, with over 25000 ancient texts, as well as the Spanish baroque church.
After our tour of "Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco," Jimmy took us to Bar Cordano nearby - a famous old bar founded in 1905. We tried our first Peruvian Cerveza "Cusqueña" there. It was nice to sit down and have a cold drink, watching the people pass by outside.
Our final stop with Jimmy was Plaza de Armas/Plaza Mayor, where Francisco Pizarro founded the city. We were lucky enough to witness some lively music performances which were going on in preparation for the upcoming Peruvian Independence Day on July 28.
Seeing the city of Lima with a guide made us appreciate its history more. Jimmy was also able to give us some recommendations of things to eat and drink during our time in Peru. Later on in the evening, John and I went to a lovely restaurant in Miraflores called Mama Olla where we had our first delicious "pisco sour" cocktails and tried one of the famous dishes of the region, ceviche - raw fish cured with citrus juices. I don't like seafood, but ceviche wasn't overly fishy-tasting, as I mostly just tasted the lemon juice. We also tried a dish called causa. It was kind of like mashed potatoes, Peruvian style - but cold and stuffed with chicken salad, vegetables, and topped with egg. Overall, I was impressed with Lima and glad that we were able to spend some time there to begin our time in Peru.
Our hotel in Lima was located in the neighbourhood of Miraflores, around one hour away from the airport. Most of the roads were dark and desolate at night and buildings we passed by were fortified by huge locked gates, kind of unsettling! The good news was that during the day it was another story. Gates were open and people were out and about - it was quite vibrant! Lima was a lot less scary by daylight, and a cool place to walk around.
On our first full day in Peru we wandered over to the Larcomar, which is this cool semi-outdoor shopping centre with amazing views of the Pacific Ocean. Lima is known for its grey and cloudy weather, and this morning there was no exception. We visited Peru during Peruvian winter time which is Canadian summer time. Peruvians wear pants, coats, hats, scarves, mittens during this time of year... John was wearing shorts to give you an idea of the weather!
After wandering around Larcomar we stumbled upon a famous churro shop called Manolo which I remembered reading about online. I'm still thinking about those churros today... I would love to eat a dulce de leche churro right about now!
Not far from Manolo was the famous "cat" park - Parque Kennedy. This park is overrun by cats. They were sleeping everywhere, some of them oblivious to people taking selfies with them or prodding them while they slept. I was sitting on the edge of a fountain playing around with my camera and suddenly the next thing I knew there was a cat on my lap. It startled me but was quite friendly, aside from the fact that it sneezed on my jacket (thank you, hand sanitizer)! It actually wouldn't get off my lap when I tried to stand up later. I had to physically remove it from my lap before leaving the park!
On our first afternoon in Lima we met up with a day tour guide named Jimmy that the company arranged for us to take us around Lima. The first place Jimmy brought us to was the church and monastery of San Francisco (St. Francis). We went into the catacombs, where over 25,000 bodies were laid to rest. This place acted as a burial place for the dead until another cemetery was opened outside Lima. It's always eerie to walk in the catacombs, but also very interesting since the bodies have been resting there since after the church was blessed in 1673 and completed in 1774. Despite the fact that the church has been damaged many times by earthquakes over the years, the catacombs have held up fairly well. Within the complex we were also taken to the library, with over 25000 ancient texts, as well as the Spanish baroque church.
After our tour of "Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco," Jimmy took us to Bar Cordano nearby - a famous old bar founded in 1905. We tried our first Peruvian Cerveza "Cusqueña" there. It was nice to sit down and have a cold drink, watching the people pass by outside.
Our final stop with Jimmy was Plaza de Armas/Plaza Mayor, where Francisco Pizarro founded the city. We were lucky enough to witness some lively music performances which were going on in preparation for the upcoming Peruvian Independence Day on July 28.
Seeing the city of Lima with a guide made us appreciate its history more. Jimmy was also able to give us some recommendations of things to eat and drink during our time in Peru. Later on in the evening, John and I went to a lovely restaurant in Miraflores called Mama Olla where we had our first delicious "pisco sour" cocktails and tried one of the famous dishes of the region, ceviche - raw fish cured with citrus juices. I don't like seafood, but ceviche wasn't overly fishy-tasting, as I mostly just tasted the lemon juice. We also tried a dish called causa. It was kind of like mashed potatoes, Peruvian style - but cold and stuffed with chicken salad, vegetables, and topped with egg. Overall, I was impressed with Lima and glad that we were able to spend some time there to begin our time in Peru.
It was a great idea to have a tour guide...and the food looked muy interesante!
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