Flying direct to Lima was nearly 20 hours, but better than a transfer. I had originally planned a much shorter trip, but redundancy gave me the excuse, and money, to make it a full month and I added a week in Lima before I went into the mountains.
Lima is a huge, sprawling city with a congestion problem. It’s not easy to get around, pedestrians aren’t provided for and the infrastructure is inadequate for the booming population. There is no underground system but there are buses and taxis but they get stuck in the traffic. I used taxis where I could and tried to walk. My large characterless hotel was in the misleadingly-named Miraflores area and, in hindsight, it would have made more sense to stay in the older part of the city.
I had a day on my own and somehow I made it to the historic centre. I enjoyed the Monsterio de San Francisco despite the creepy white walker-style catacombs with their bone arrangements. I walked acrss the Plaza Mayor and went into the El Cordano bar, famous for its politically powerful clientele due to its proximity to the goverment palace. I had my first chicha, this one was chicha morada made with purple corn, and a butifarra which was a ham and salsa criolla sandwich, both very tasty.
Lima was founded by Pizarro and the Conquistadors and the Casa Aliaga, was built for one of them, Gonzalo Jorge de Aliaga Ascenzo, and has been continuously inhabited by the same family ever since.
It is beautifully decorated with fine examples of art and furniture set against perfect wall colours and stunning flower arrangements. It also had an ambience, my first sense of place since I had arrived.
I was particularly taken with a painting of the Virgin Mary, or Virgin of the Mountains as these paintings are known. One of many examples of religious syncretism where Catholic imagery is blended with the indigenous beliefs, which included a deity called Pachamama identified with mountains.
This house had been the highlight of my day and I left inspired, but this feeling was quickly forgotten as I had to get a bus back and the inevitable gridlock. I just about recognised where we were, so I hopped off and walked back, taking a short detour through the Parque Kennedy, home to a lot of stray but friendly cats.
I was keen to see some other sides to the city too, so I used a local company called Haku who took me out for a day to go to some less popular places.
Lima frm the Pantanos de Villa.
We went to the Pantanos de Villa wildlife park in the south of the city near some of the vast slum areas. Under a grey sky it didn’t look very promising – under-invested and a bit shabby, struggling with pollution and encroaching development. But it’s a hugely important trip out for local school children, many of whom live in the slums. and there were plenty of them there when I went. Sadly, I seemed to be the only foreign visitor, a few more would bring some money in.
To be honest, I didn’t really see much in the way of wildlife. There was a very promising walk around an arachnid area but nothing appeared which was disappointing. It is, however, an important site for birds, and the best bit was walking down to the beach where there were lots of interesting sea birds including the neotropic cormorant and a black skimmer surfacing the water with its beak open.
I finished the visit on a boat on a small canal where I saw a bittern for the first time in my life. All in all it had been a positive experience, that could have been depressing, but the lively, enthusiastic children, clearly enjoying their day out, and the profusion of birds, had made it special.
That afternoon Haku took me to me to a ‘pueblo jovene’ one of the shanty towns called Villa El Salvador, making it clear this wasn’t a ‘gawping at poverty’ excursion. First they took me down to their food market where I saw the huge range of the 3000 types of potatoes Peru is famous for. I bought fruit to give out while I was walking around.
Local community leaders who live there escorted me and are proud of how they have overcome so many obstacles. The sense of community is so strong, here, if someone’s roof blows off, everyone gets together to fix it, they help each other. So many local children don’t go to school as they cannot afford the compulsory uniform, and so there are kids playing everywhere. There are also lots of stray dogs. I didn’t take any photos of this trip other than in the market, it didn’t feel appropriate. At the top of the hill is a soup kitchen funded by Haku, and a makeshift football pitch. It was a friendly, lively afternoon that I found very uplifting despite these people having so little. I am reminded once again how wasteful we are with money and food.
The next day, I managed to walk across busy roads and traverse dangerous roundabouts to Barranco for a food tour. The district is much more colourful than Miraflores, there’s lots of street art. Two young brothers were trying to set up a business showing people around this area known for its food. I was to be (forgive the pun) their guinea pig on this Peruvian food tour and let them know what worked and what didn’t work. What didn’t work for me was the coffee shop start where I politely drank a strong but uninteresting espresso which I didn’t like, and the boring, ubiquitous craft beer stop which I didn’t want. Both of these I could do at home in Sussex, I had come there to eat and drink the local food and was keen to get started.
We went to the Isolina Taberna Peruana restaurant which specialises in Peruvian Creole food. I had my first ever pisco sour which went down very well, and then some very tasty food including Papa Rellena, a stuffed potato with chilli sauce, and plantain fried rich dish. It was slightly disconcerting eating so enthusiastically while the brothers watched me and took notes.
Afterwards we went down some back alleyways and came to an unpromising sports bar full of plastic chairs, and local men drinking beer and watching the football on a huge screen. I was the only ‘gringo’ there, and was wondering why we had come. Out came a plate of ceviche and avocado that was incredibly fresh and delicious, I polished it off so quickly they immediately brought out anther plate. The brothers were writing furiously, my enthusiasm for this local speciality clearly evident. Ceviche, this one was sea bass, is now in my top global food experiences.
The last stop was at an ice cream shop, Blu, which claimed was the best ice cream in the world. The same claim is made by ice cream shops everywhere from Lebanon to Italy, but it was very nice and they had some interesting local flavours such as chirimoya (like a custard apple) and lucuma (yellow fruit, quite butterscotch-y). The tour had been very successful I felt, mostly due to the kind, generous enthusiasm of Franco and his brother. They even showed me a much more interesting walk back along the seafront.
My last day in Lima was spent in the beautiful Museo Larco, one of my favourite museums anywhere. The Larco is beautifully curated, peaceful and atmospheric with lots of pots and jewellery of pre-Colombian Peru. Even the pornographic pottery section is tastefully done. Outside in the garden the planting is equally considered. Bourganvillea spills over the walls, and there are pots of ferns and cacti around doorways.
I had made the most of Lima, and enjoyed my time there but I didn’t really love Peru until I got off the plane at Arequipa and was immediately awestruck by the famous volcanoes, particularly the enormous Misti volcano which is everything you want a volcano to be – pointed and threatening, overshadowing the city in a terrifying way.
I wasn’t in the city for long but I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It followed me around the whole time I was here. It is now classed as one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes and I was amazed at the optimism of the local people who continue to develop the city, including the foothills of Misti. It last erupted in the 15th century and I guess the locals are assuming it won’t happen, but until 2005 it wasn’t even being monitored.
Arequipa is very much a colonial town, but before the conquistadores, it was an Inca sacrifice site. One of the highlights is visiting La Juanita, a mummy of a teenage girl sacrificed on Mount Ampato. I don’t wish to be blasé about ‘capacocha’ or child sacrifice, but I had seen it all before in Salta in Argentina. Juanita was found in 1995 and there is understandably controversy as to whether she should have been left up there as intended, or put on display, but global warming means that there is no guarantee that she would have stayed covered by ice anyway.
The colonial town was charming to walk around but the highlight for me were the looming volcanoes. The three main ones are Chachani, Misti and Picchu Picchu (‘picchu’ is quechua for mountian) I went to the Yunahuara district where I could see them lined up and I could also make out the remains of the terracing where the Inca used to farm.
There are lots of buidlings round here built with sillar, a white volcanic rock, in particular the nearby San Juan Bautista church. I was so happy to find more syncretic art in the form of carvings on the façade.
