Showing posts with label Lima. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lima. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Arequipa, Lima, and Our Last Days in Peru

For our final few days in Peru, we left Cuzco for the southern city of Arequipa and then spent another day and a half in Lima before flying back to Atlanta to end our 11 day Peru adventure.

Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, with around a million people.  The city is located in the Southeast corner of Peru and is closer to La Paz Bolivia than Lima.  It's the furthest south the two of us have ever been (16°S). Arequipa is built primarily using the local volcanic rock found in the region (sillar), so everything is white and very pretty, especially in the historic center of the city near the main plaza.  Overall, we found Arequipa to be a little sleepy compared to the big city of Lima and the tourist flurry of Cusco, but it was still a nice place to visit.


View from the plane on the way to Arequipa

Casona Solar, our hotel in Arequipa.  Only complaint: no windows so it got stuffy!

Courtyard of our hotel

Plaza de Armas and La Catedral

Colonnaded buildings line Arequipa's main square

El Misti volcano in the background

View of Chachani and El Misti volcanoes from the Cathedral roof

One of the most interesting sites in Arequipa was the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. It's a huge nunnery founded in 1580, taking up a whole city block. It consists of a series of streets lined with former nun's houses, cloisters, and other religious rooms. It's unique because the nuns, who were rather wealthy, all had their own houses inside the monastery. This was put to a stop by the pope himself in the 1870s, when the nuns were forced to take on a more humble lifestyle. It was a very peaceful and beautiful respite from the noisy, dusty streets of Arequipa.


A street in Monasterio de Santa Catalina 

Fountain and church in the monastery

A street in central Arequipa

Globalization in full force.  Kentucky Fried Pizza King!  Only missing Taco Bell.

Plaza de Armas at night

On our second day in Arequipa, we took an organized trip to Colca Canyon using Colonial Tours. They picked us up before 3AM, because it's a 200km drive on winding mountain roads and dirt roads to get to the canyon. The road leading to the canyon goes to a height of about 4,900m (more than 16,000 feet) at Patapampa pass. This is by far the highest elevation we've ever been to, and the air was noticeably thinner and cold. It's interesting being so close to the equator at such a high altitude - it's a dry desert environment with no snow/glaciers, just some small scrubby brush and moss. It was cold, but with intense sun.

Colca Canyon is (depending on how you measure) the world's second deepest canyon at 13,650 feet. We didn't get to see the deepest part because it's a long journey to get there, but our tour did go as far as the Cruz del Cóndor overlook. A family of threatened Andean Condors live there, and we saw a few of them soaring through the canyon. They're some of the largest birds on earth, with wingspans of 11 feet, and watching them glide on thermals is an impressive sight. The Canyon itself is impressive, but doesn't live up to the majestic views from the Grand Canyon, and we also preferred the lush green mountains of the Sacred Valley. Nevertheless, it's an interesting biome, and quite a contrast from the Cusco and Lima areas.

Canyon view at Cruz del Condor

Arid region of Peru at the Colca Canyon

Andean Condor

We took a hike along the rim

Agricultural terraces along the canyon

Hot springs.  Lots of lingering vulcanism in Peru!

Scary rope bridge over the river to the hot springs

The small town of Chivay

El Misti with llamas

We left Arequipa and returned to Lima for our final day and a half in Peru. This time we stayed just south of Miraflores in the neighborhood of Barranco, which we loved. It has a charming bohemian feel, with colorful restored houses and lively streets. It also has some really high-end condos along the ocean cliffs, and a wide variety of restaurants and bars.


Colorful houses in Barranco

A public square in Barranco

Pacific Ocean view from the cliff-top parks in Lima

Lots of neat historic details throughout the neighborhood

Dinner and drinks on the balcony at sunset


We saw a lot of these little buzzard-like birds

On our last day in Lima, we went to Museo Larco, which was probably our favorite museum of the whole trip.  The museum showcases a wide collection of artifacts, including jewelry, pottery, tapestries, and weapons.  Also, there is a nice cafe inside the museum that served some great food and drinks.  After the museum, we walked to a nearby park that houses one of Lima's two zoos.  The zoo is built around several Inca and pre-Inca ruins that are incorporated into the zoo itself.


Bling!

Cute!

Museo Larco Cafe

Peruvian Penguin!

Interesting fact: sea lions are called sea wolves in Spanish (lobo de mar)

An Inca site inside the zoo

Jaguar/puma

We thought we might see another llama birth, but this one really was just constipated

Peru is a wonderful country to visit. There's a wide variety of things to see and do - from the impressive ruins and vistas of the Sacred Valley, to the volcanic desert scenery near Arequipa, to the museums and Nuevo Peruvian cuisine of Lima (plus the huge Amazon rainforest portion of the country that we didn't have time to visit). It's relatively easy to get around, even with limited Spanish skills. The people here are friendly and eager to share their culture with the world. Start planning your trip!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Bienvenidos a Perú & a Dinner at Central!

Time for our next big adventure... South America for the first time!

Friday night we left for our South American adventure in Peru, which is basically a 7-hour plane ride straight south of Atlanta.  This is our first trip south of the equator.  Sorry, folks, the toilets don't actually flush in the opposite direction down here!

Our flight arrived in Lima at 11:30PM on Friday.  We spent all day Saturday in Lima and are heading to Cusco on Sunday. After 5 days in Cusco and the Sacred Valley, we're heading down south for a couple of days in Arequipa, then returning for another day and a half in this Pacific Ocean metropolis.  Many people skip Lima on their trip to Peru, and head straight to Cusco and Machu Picchu, however Lima is a large city of nearly 9 million people and holds the crown as the gastronomical capital of South America, so you know we had to check it out.

The seaside location of the city is quite dramatic, and a fog hangs over most of the city. The weather has been pretty good - it was in the 60s during the day, and got a bit chilly at night, but not too bad. Our hotel is in the Miraflores district, a nice/trendy area south of downtown on cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  After getting up on Saturday we got some breakfast at our hotel of eggs, bread and fruit.  The bread here is very good.  Unfortunately, there is not a subway system in most of Lima so we caught a cab to the historic district in the city center.  Cabs here are plentiful and somewhat cheap.  Our ride to the city center was 20 soles, or about $7.  We used cabs a lot in Lima.  I really think people exaggerate the risks of using taxis in developing countries.  Just tell the driver where you want to go and get a price up front and you're not going to get cheated.

The historic district in Lima is pretty interesting.  There are a lot of government buildings, plazas, and churches to see.  There aren't many modern buildings or highrises in this part of the city.  Overall, the historic district of Lima is similar to, but not quite as impressive as, Mexico City's historic area, but it was still interesting and full of people.


Plaza San Martin in Lima's historic center

Iglesia de la Merced, built in 1541

Iglesia de la Merced, interior

Plaza de Armas, La Catedral de Lima

La Catedral de Lima

Iglesia de Santo Domingo, a 16th Century church.  Three Peruvian saints are buried here.

Hanging out in central Lima

Guards in front of the Palacio del Gobierno (Presidential Palace)

Our favorite site in central Lima was the monastery and catacombs of San Francisco. Built in the 16th century, it holds the remains of tens of thousands of people. We went on a tour and saw plenty of bones in the basement. There's also a really impressive moorish-style carved wooden dome reminiscent of something from Sevilla or Cordoba, a Last Supper painting where the main dish is guinea pig (cuy), and an impressive library with 25,000 volumes of rare historic books. Unfortunately no pictures are allowed inside.

Monastario de San Francisco

View from downtown Lima

Look!  David is an ice cream here!

Chickens for sale at the Mercado Central
Incense for sale in Lima's Chinatown (Barrio Chino)
While in the Barrio China, we stopped at a Lonely Planet recommended Chifa restaurant (Chinese-Peruvian fusion).  Chifas are all over town!  Unfortunately, it's extra difficult to interpret the menu when it's Spanish versions of Chinese dishes, so we weren't super happy with what we ordered...but I'm pretty sure we'll give Chifa another chance before heading back to the States.

After leaving the central district, we went west to visit a museum and ride a roller coaster (of course!) before going back to Miraflores.

Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Arqueologia y Historia del Peru

El Gusanito at Coney Park - Paul's 561st roller coaster, and his first coaster south of the equator!
Surfers near Miraflores

Lima largely doesn't interact much with its oceanfront.  The city is perched on cliffs above the sea.  The water here is cold because of the Humboldt current, which along with its location on the lee side of the Andes Mountains profoundly impacts the climate of the city.  Lima is very humid and yet receives very little precipitation, and is cool year round despite its location just 11 degrees south of the equator.  As a result, almost nothing is air conditioned or heated, so everything has a very open air feeling which is pretty nice.  There are several parks that lead down to the waterfront, but not much development along the waterfront itself.  We did visit an open air mall called Larcomar built into the cliffs called in Miraflores.  It's quite beautiful, and we enjoyed a mid-afternoon dessert and drinks while looking out over the cliffs down to the ocean.

Desert at Larcomar - made with Peruvian fruit
This mass produced Peruvian beer (owned by Miller) was not bad. Much better than the normal "blanca" version.

Then we found some local craft beers at Lima Rugby Restobar. There's only about 5 microbreweries in all of Peru.
After relaxing at the hotel for a while, we had a reservation at Central Restaurante, which is ranked as one of the 50 best restaurants in the world. We had a fantastic meal of nuevoandean cuisine, and were absolutely stuffed by the end. Definitely a unique experience! It was very expensive by Peruvian standards, at about $80 per person, but it was well worth it.
Drinks!
Octopus with charred purple corn, lentils and olive
A beautiful fruit and seed ceviche
Hot ceviche with an amazing broth and edible yucca "charcoal"
Goat cheesecake with eucalyptus scented dry ice rock bowl
David's amazing "graviola tree" dessert
Coulant Cacao with lemon ice cream and passionfruit jelly
Our first day in Lima was a great introduction to colonial and modern Peru, topped off with some good beer and a fantastic meal. At our next stop, Cusco, we'll delve into Incan history. Stay tuned for more Peruvian adventures!