We arrived in Lima last Friday night after a pleasant and rare day flight from home. Fortunately our flights were not delayed or cancelled by the wildcat strike that Air Canada pilots were staging.
Overall, my impressions of Lima have been good. Not spectacular, but good. For a city of 8.5 million people, there appears to be a real effort to keep this metropolis livable for a population that has exploded over the last 25 years. Many of the main thoroughfares are lined with trees and parks, and open spaces give locals room to move about, socialize and just decompress from citylife. I´m sure there are many parts of this city that have not enjoyed the same attention to city planning. Cities in all the developing countries I´ve visited have appalling shantytowns, and from what I hear, Lima is no exception. The good news is, while much of this city was a no-go zone in the 1980s, a lot has changed and most of that is for the better.
While in Lima, we stayed in a neighbourhood called Miraflores, a middle class part of the city that is very safe to walk around even at night. Our hostel, the Red Psycho Llama Hostel, is situated near Parque Kennedy, an area that is transformed weekend evenings into a meeting place. Many of the streets are closed to traffic and police and security are out in full force to give people a sense (false or otherwise) of security. The street closures are great – in a city where the cacaphony of car horns can drive one to insanity, this small and temporary concession to pedestrians and cyclists also abates the din of the city.
Our first night was a bit of a gong show in that we stumbled on a small area a short walk from the hostel that was chock full of bars and restaurants. Little did we know this was a tourist trap of epic proportions. We were hassled as we walked the street and found the bars rather undesirable. When we moved on to the neighbouring streets we were molested by prostitutes tugging at our arms for a “fare”. We ended up settling on this least off-putting place on the strip and had a drink or two before retiring for the night.
Fortunately for us, the rest of the weekend was very pleasant. We spent much of Saturday walking the city, strolling the beach in a high-level fog and discovering another, even nicer, neighbourhood, Barranco. Here we found a fantastic Seviche restaurant called Canta Rana (which I believe translated into “Song of the Frog”) frequented by locals. The place was full even in the middle of the afternoon and turned out to be a great people watching place – couples, multi-generational families and friends all congregating in a comfortable space. In case you´re not aware of Seviche, it´s Peru´s national dish – raw fish and seafood cured in lime juice and seasoning. It´s a colourful, tasty and pleasing meal that´s light on the stomach.
Sunday we took advantage of the break in the fog that often paralyzes this city at this time of year and headed for the beach to get in some sun and a swim. After a couple of hours, we decided to head back to Canta Rana for another fill of Seviche. Later that night, we had another great meal at Vivendido, a restaurant perched on the cliffs overlooking the Lima beaches below. The view of the city was spectacular. I have to say, for a big impersonal city, Lima was easy to take. But two full days was plenty. Now off to the mountains!
sedativegunk 