Lima, Peru

Geographically, nearly ~60% of Peru is rainforest, and ~30% is the highlands of the Andes Mountains. Although the desert coast (on the nation’s western edge) only occupies 11% of the country, nearly 90% of its population resides in this area, primarily in Lima. 

Interestingly, 10% of the country’s population is Chinese, which has a great backstory. In the 1880s, Peru was desperate to find additional miners. They worked with the Chinese to contract laborers to come to Peru for a one/way ticket, and huge sums of money at the end of their two-year contract. At the end of the contract, the Chinese laborers found that the huge sums of money was payable in Peruvian Sols rather than in Chinese Yuan, and it wasn’t even enough to pay their passage back home. 

In a cool twist of fate, the Chinese laborers became migrants, and used their pittance to open restaurants (called Chifas) across the country. Skip forward a hundred years, and Chinese food is not only completely ingrained in Peruvian gastronomy, but it is the number one staple, by a long shot! (It’s kind of a social thing. They eat out as often as possible..) While all restaurants are called “Chifas”, instead of saying” let’s go out for Chinese tonight” they say “let’s Chifa tonight” and everyone knows that means go out for Chinese. Ironically, Kentucky Fried Chicken it the second most popular food, but when making plans to go there, the phrase is “let’s Chifa at KFC tonight”.  Hmmm…

Lima is the largest state, as well as the largest city in Peru. Its 11.5 million people live across 43 provinces (equivalent to NYC’s boroughs). 

The city is a bit behind the times, and for the last ten years, they have been building their first subway system, which will have 5 stations when completed. (By contrast, the city is about half the population of New York City, which has some 475 subway stations.) Considering that Lima occupies over 1,000 square miles (3 times more than NYC) 5 subway stations will likely not be enough. 

The city’s large footprint can be attributed to the frequent earthquakes in the area, which has limited the number of skyscrapers built in their business districts. (The tallest building is 30 stories.) They tend to build out rather than up.

Anyway, I have to say, Lima is one big old city. And remember all the peace loving, humble, religious folks I talked about in Cusco? Their cousins in Lima are cidiots. While virtually everyone we met were super nice folks, the contrast between coming from the beautiful mountain villages, to getting off the plane and immediately doing a city tour was overwhelming. (It reminded me of the apprehension I experience every few weeks rushing from a peaceful brunch on our back deck in Jemez to a Costco/Walmart run in ABQ. No offense intended. It’s me, not you.)
😉

At any rate, because RCCL juggled the schedule around in hopes of getting us to Machu Picchu) we were given an unscheduled city tour upon our arrival to Lima. It was pretty cool, but, as I mentioned, the city has a completely different vibe from Cusco and the Sacred Valley. The city appeared to have a lot of traffic, crime and poverty. (It’s sad, but I have come to realize that the poverty and homelessness that we see in our cities is a worldwide problem.)

One of the more different things that I saw was a short driveway of a small house on a major roadway that had a heavy duty metal bar integrated into the pavement, and the owner’s car was chained down (in their own driveway)!

Okay, enough of that. I really like this city. For our first stop, we visited Parque del Amor, an oceanfront park dedicated to lovers. What could be better than that! They had a fence along the boundary that was similar to the Pont des Arts in Paris. This is a bridge where lovers lock a padlock to the fence. (I am not going to speculate as to what this represents.)
😉

On the way to our next stop, the traffic was overwhelming. Our guide distracted us with fun facts and stories. One relevant thing that we learned was that the Peruvian word for crosswalks is “zebra”. I like it!

At one point, in the middle of a busy intersection with what seemed like a hundred cars forcing their way through the intersection’s 3 or so lanes (going in all 4 directions) was a poor local pedestrian trapped in the middle of the intersection. He was attempting to push a rickety dolly stacked a mile high with precariously balanced boxes. Talk about a deer in the headlight look! He was j-walking, but I still have to say, poor fella…

Our next stop was Larcomar Shopping District. This is a huge multi-story shopping center built on cliffs overlooking one of the city’s beautiful surfing beaches. Now, we like shopping as much as the next guy/gal, but after quickly surmising that they did not sell red or green chili, we determined we did not need anything, and headed to a cute little local restaurante where we secured a table with an ocean view. 

Ahhh… Peruvian food is some bueno comiendo!  We went for the ceviche and shrimp Jalea. (I especially like the little “Corn Nut”-like corn that they put on the ceviche.) Yummo! Karen opted for a glass of Prosecco, while I experimented with a Saint Germain, a concoction of vodka, elderberry liquor, and lemonade, with a Prosecco float on top. Muy excelente! Then, on to the water show!  

The “Magic Water Circuit” holds the Guinness Record for being the world’s largest water fountain park. Located directly next door to the US Embassy, the park was very nice. Our visit was well coordinated, as the bus deposited us precisely where we needed to be in order to have front-row seats to observe the (crowded) Vegas-like fountain show at sundown. This show was very well done. I especially liked the way they were able to use the spray of the fountains to produce a screen which they used to project videos depicting the history of their country.  They also hold a record for their fountain that sprays Water 400’ in the air. (That is nearly twice as high as the tallest building in downtown ABQ!)

Our last stop was a restaurant across town. Now, keep in mind that we woke high in the Andes, flew to Lima, and have now been on a ~7 hour city tour. Regardless, in the words of our sweet and innocent daughter, we responded “don’t threaten us with a good time” and headed out to our second dinner!

When we arrived at El Bolivariano, we were a bit apprehensive. The bus had turned off the Main Street and parked down a side street, as we disembarked, the guide had us follow him down several blocks of (less than well lit) residential streets. Eventually we arrived at a nondescript little tavern with a few restaurant tables scattered on the opposite side of the corridor. Little did we know that we were coming in a side entrance. The passageway meandered through very well apportioned dining rooms, which increased in size as we went, and eventually opening up into a crowded dining hall. 

Apparently, the other dozen or so buses arrived before we did, and hundreds of fellow guest were already eating. As we took our seats at open tables, the staff were serving platters of wide varieties of Peruvian foods, cocktails, and local beers. What a treat!

Now I can’t tell you all of the different foods that we ate, but I can say that they were all excellent. A good time was had by all. 

Much thanks to our friends at Royal Caribbean for this surprise, eventful day. 

Next stop, Costa Rica, but that’s a different story…

Thank you for reading. 
– Mike

““I’m quite illiterate, but I read a lot.”
– J. D. Salinger, 
“Catcher in the Rye”