Lima Days
We spent three days in Lima. I am not a huge fans of giant cities, but we ended up having a great time there. Jammie and I arrived the day before Adrial and we were all leaving together for Cusco on the 5th so we had to make the most of our short time.
Jammie and I got there on the day before her birthday got to the hostel and got settled in. We then headed out to find some food. The neighborhood of Miraflores, while relatively safe and clean, is not the best place to find cheap local food. We walked and walked, past Domino's, Papa John's and KFC, past upscale bistros and seafood restaurants. Finally we found just what we were looking for, a tiny hole in the wall with 8 tables and a chalk menu serving huge plates of food for cheap. Delicious fish and beans and rice, cold beers and lemonade. Satisfied we headed back to the hostel to get settled in and rest from our long horrific bus ride from Arequipa.
The next day was Jammie's birthday! We headed down to the beach to check it out. It turns out that Lima is built on a cliff about 200 feet above the ocean. To reach the actual beach you have to find one of the staircases that take you down to sea level. The beach itself is either small gravel or very coarse sand depending on your perspective and the water is an ugly brown-green color with masses of foam and particulates floating in it. I was immediately put off of the idea of swimming, bummer! Despite the conditions hundreds of people were swimming, boogie boarding and surfing the moderate sized waves. To our left was a boardwalk that extended into the sea with what looked like a bar and restaurant. We headed that way in search of a birthday drink to toast. The bar turned out to be very fancy, but despite our shabby appearance we were welcomed in and even given a birthday champagne gratis! We enjoyed cocktails and watched the surfers as we started Jammie's birthday off with a celebration.
For lunch we settled on a restaurant and cevicheria we had passed on our way down. This place turned out to have dynamite food. We dined on grilled octopus, smoked trout, scallops and sea bass. They even brought out a complementary birthday cake for Jammie! This would not end up being the only cake she would eat today (see the Happy Birthday movie post for more). That night Adrial arrived and we spent the wee hours off the morning talking and drinking pisco and coke, toasting to Jammie's birthday and Adrials safe arrival.
Our last night in town we braved a harrowing taxi ride to Barranco - the next barrio over. This ride lasted 45 minutes and wove in and out off traffic at terrifying speed; dodging pedestrians as we darted down side streets and alleyways. Eventually the taxi driver almost ran a police car off the road to get him to stop and ask for directions. Despite all odds we made it to our destination.
As we explored the area looking for a dinner spot we were accosted by various barkers attempting to get us into their restaurants. The most hilarious moment of which is captured on film and posted already. We settled on a place that served seafood and cuy (whole guinea pig) for Adrial to sample. This turned out to be too much for him to handle; the cuy still had the head intact with teeth and all. After dinner we took in some local Criollo music and drinks. The scene was very fun, random people would get up from the crowd and sing whole songs from memory while the three piece band played. Eventually it was time to retire to Miraflores and surprisingly this taxi ride only lasted 12 minutes and took us directly to our hostel, what a city!