We arrived in Lima to the usual overcast skies and the usual slow traffic. It is interesting getting around Lima because while there are roads at sea level, pretty much all accommodations are 150 feet or more above on the cliff. And there are few connecting routes.
From our apartment in Miraflores district (250ft above sea level), we can see Lacomar, a upscale shopping mall which is built into the cliffside. It’s very touristy with a mix of boutiques and restaurants and NO anchor store. The biggest store there is Wong’s (our closest supermarket.) After settling into our apartment it was time for lunch. We headed to Popular, one of several restaurants at Lacomar overlooking the Pacific from the high cliffs. Seafood Frito Misto (or Jalea in Peruano) for Pat and Meunier Catch of the Day for Bill. We followed this with Ponderacion XXL, a typical Peruvian dessert made of very thin fried dough sheets, covered with ice cream and fresh fruit. The dough is so crispy and light and it combines perfectly with the sauce.
The Basilica Cathedral of Lima has 14 side chapels with varying architectural styles (Gothic, Romanesque, Arabic, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical…) Do you know all those? We don’t either. But they span simple clean lines to extremely ornate, curvy decor. The Basilica is also home to the tomb of Francisco Pizarro, the Spaniard who led the conquest of Peru.
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| In front of the Basilica Cathedral |
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Mosaic of Pizarro, conqueror or Peru in one of the Chapels (above)
and another more traditional Chapel below. |
From there we moved on to the Franciscan Church (no photos allowed), noted for it catacombs discovered in 1943. Having served as a burial-place until 1808, when the city cemetery was opened, they contain thousands of skulls and bones sorted and arranged by bone type. Weird. We know. It is estimated that more than 25,000 bodies were laid to rest there; the crypts, built of bricks and mortar with domed ceilings, are very solid and, as planned, have stood up well to earthquakes.
Our last stop was at the Museo Rafael Larco Herrera, a renowned private museum of pre-Columbian art established by a pioneer of Peruvian archaeology. The galleries provide an overview of 4,000 years of Peruvian pre-Columbian history. We visited, and really enjoyed, the related, newer museum in Cusco. We likely spent 2 hours at that smaller museum. We had a whirlwind tour of this one.
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| Nazca Drum (1AD-800AD) used in rituals & dances related to agricultural fertility. The Nazcas decorated their drums with the rich religious iconography. |
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| Copy of detail from a ritual cup demonstrating the steps of the sacrifice ritual |
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A trepaned pre-Columbian skull...the pre-Columbians used trepanation to care for battle wounds. Some of the trepanation were actually successful!
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| Some of the loot from tombs...gold & jewelry |
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Aside from the displays, there is a HUGE “catalog” of literally thousands of ancient ceramics, many of which have been digitally recorded if you want to check them out.
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| A very small portion of the "catalog" |
The museum is also well known for its gallery of pre-Columbian erotic pottery…we were told that these were intended for fertility purposes.
We returned (hungry) around 4pm so went straight to one or our closest dining establishments, Tanta, a Gaston Acurio establishment, that sits alongside Popular on the oceanside cliffs. Note: Gaston Acurio is the renowned chef that put Peruvian cooking "on the map".
On Sunday, our new British friends (Trent and Justine), whom we met in Arequipa, came by and we joined them for a walk around Barranco, considered the city's most romantic and bohemian district.
We stopped at Canta Rana for ceviche & tiradito. Ceviche is a dish in which cubes of seafood are marinated or "cooked" by lime and lemon juice. Tiradito is sliced (not cubed). For tiradito the lime or lemon juice acts more as a simple flavoring, being added just before the dish is served. Canta Rana is renowned for both and they lived up to the reputation.
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| At Canta Rama |
After lunch we wandered by the Puente de Suspiros (Bridge of Sighs) to the Pedro de Osma Museum, a colonial mansion and one of Peru’s largest collections of religious art, colonial silver and tapestries.
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| Silver display featuring an armadillo |
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| Corpus Christi Procession...18C AD |
We continued on to check out one of the great shops/galleries (Dédalo features a broad range of fine local crafts) and the Sunday market. We enjoyed the surprisingly sunny day and the MANY Peruvian hairless dogs that were out walking their owners. Strangely we only saw the hairless dogs on Sunday. We saw LOTS of them on Sunday. We truly did not see them during the rest of the week. We walked back home along the clifftop to Miraflores, the neighboring district.
A young hairless dog. They do have a little hair on their heads, feet & tails. We also have hairless dogs in Mexico. But honestly, we haven't seen them elsewhere.
Monday the weather lived up to expectations…it was grey. Grey is typical for Lima’s winter weather. Of course it was now spring but only barely. We decided to explore Miraflores. We first visited Parque del Amor, named for it’s sculpture “The Kiss” by Victor Delfin.
If you look closely, you may note the sculpted seating in the park (it may look a bit like a wall below). The seating is decorated in mosaics reminiscent of Gaudi's Parque Guell in Barcelona (also reminiscent of the mosiac Anado made for us in San Miguel.)
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| Here's Pat peeking out through the wall |
At Parque John F Kennedy we enjoyed the multitude of cats…so cute. And not at all disturbed by folks walking by...
From there we checked out a few stores and had a great lunch at Rafael. The shopping was disappointing but the lunch was outstanding. Any meal that starts with bubbles, Cava in this case, is off to a good start. The next course featured seared foie gras with a sauce of roasted peaches, vanilla & port. The mains were "grouper confit & seared scallops" for Pat and "roast sea grouper steak with almond cream, wild mushrooms & endive" for Bill.
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| Our foie gras |
The final touch was "mango raviolis with lucuma foam, passion fruit broth & green apple sorbet" for Pat. Lucuma is another local fruit. And "Pomegranate and custard apple 'tumbao' with milk caramel and almond crumble" for Bill. Sorry, we can't help much re what 'tumbao' means but the dessert was tasty!
Tuesday required a lot of planning. We had dinner reservations at Astrid & Gaston, the home restaurant of the Chef Gaston Acurio. We had to take steps to be certain we’d be able to eat enough to appreciate the experience. We knew we needed lots of walking to earn the meal. So we walked the 4.3 km (2.7 miles) to San Isidro (which neighbors Miraflores on the northwest). We discovered the perfect lunch spot, 27 Tapas ...coincidentally neighboring Astrid & Gaston. We selected glasses (yep, only glasses) of Malbec & Cabernet wines to go with:
- "waffles & pesto…ham & cheese waffles, rucola pesto and tomato salad"
- "Spanish broken eggs…crispy potatoes, ham, soft fried eggs". The eggs are broken just as they serve the dish
- "montadito de salmon...cured salmon, apples & joselito ham cream"
All were good enough to entice us to consider a second trip later in the week.
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| Montadito de Salmon |
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| Waffles (left) and not yet Broken Eggs |
From there we moved on to the Natural History Museum, an interesting break to the long list of pre-columbian venues we had visited. When we saw the sloth exhibit, we were amazed that we had managed to spot some in the Amazon given their coloring. Their coloring is well designed camouflage. OK, granted our guide spotted them in the Amazon, but Bill was able to get a photo. How was that possible?
From the museum, we wandered around San Isidro before going to dinner. Astrid y Gastón has been leading Peru's gastronomic surge since its opening 20 years ago. This was our third visit to one of this “chain” of establishments. Our first meal was in Santiago Chile in 2012 and the second was in Mexico City with our friends Ken and Pat who were visiting us from Boston.
We started with glasses of Brut Rose at the bar (we arrived a bit early). With our dinner we selected a Chilean Pinot Noir “Bill” from the Casablanca Valley (give an assist to the sommelier). For starters we had the "potato stuffed with lamb with Arabian Andean aromas” and the "San Ko Chaos…beef and coriander dumplings, pepián and spicy broth". We both had suckling pig for our main courses, "confit…carapulcra, pibil juice, cacao and peanuts" for Pat and "grilled with cauliflower, black quinoa and squash sauce" for Bill. Fortunately we had some space left for dessert. Bill chose Baklava "Sacha Inchi with figs, marscapone cheese, and Sacha inchi nuts". Pat selected "Suspiro...dulce de leche/manjer blanco, frutos rojos in oporto wine, and cinnamon ice cream). We won't bore you with translating all that. Suffice it to say, it was quite an evening.
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| Dumplings and stuffed potatoes |
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| Baklava |
Wednesday we visited the modern art museum, not exactly to our taste but it put us on route to Isolina restaurant in Barranco. Isolina features traditional cuisine. A note on the menu states that one dish feeds 3 people. We opted for a starter, "Papa Rellena con harto relleno...stuffed potato with minced meat, criollo salsa and Peruvian red pepper cream" and "Higado encebollado con Tacu Tacu de frijoles negros...pan fried beef liver topped with fried onions and tomatoes, served over a black bean tacu tacu (beans and rice patty)". The combo was quite tasty and we consumed more than 3/4 of the definitely large servings!!
On our return to the apartment we enjoyed watching the para-sailers taking advantage of the currents along the cliffs.
Later we went out to pickup Pat’s new glasses. Very fashionable. Actually maybe not so "fashionable" since they are the type without frames, but that is what Pat likes.
Thursday we walked back to 27 Tapas for lunch. As mentioned before, this is roughly a 3 mile walk but the exercise helps keep the weight under control allowing us to enjoy the fine food in Lima. This time we had "papas bravas…crispy potatoes, Sriracha mayo & togarashi", "frito misto…deep friend seafood, shallots, “rococo” chili and squid aioli", "fish & chips", "aji relleno...yellow pepper stuffed with ossobuco & mozzarela" and several glasses of red wine followed by coffee. This meal was as good as the first.
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| Fish & Chips |
After stoking-up we walked to Parque de la Reserva to see the fountains perform. There are a number of fountains, animated and in color, that put on a good show.
Friday morning we finished our packing and off to the airport before noon. We had lunch again at a Gastón Acurio restaurant, Tanta, at the airport. The "Rocota...stuffed pepper with a side of sliced potato" and "artichoke pie" went very well with the bottle of Intipalka Syrah, our last Peruvian wine for a while.
We arrived at Mexico City airport around 11pm and checked into the Courtyard Marriot. We arrived in San Miguel around 1pm and hurried off to the Saturday Market to stock up on fresh veggies, cheese and breakfast pastries.
Alejandra & Jorge, friends from Mexico City, were visiting for the Fiesta of San Miguel Arcángel (our Patron Saint day) and we joined them for dinner at Quince, a very fine rooftop restaurant with a fine view of the Parroquia. It turns out it also has a fine view of the fireworks in the Jardin. What a great way to celebrate our return to San Miguel!
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