Peru Begins: Exploring The Splendid City Of Lima

Some cities really win you over – easy to feel part of, full of life, with an infectious vibrancy which pulses through the streets. Lima has all of this and so much more…..grand plazas, tidy green spaces, impressive and varied architecture, even a dramatic stretch of coastline. The more we wander, the more we find, and the more we love. There is so much to see, so many good things to tell, that it’s hard to know where to start. Maybe we’ll start with food…..

Any country which states that it is the birthplace of ceviche, and still boasts it as its national dish, has got to be a country worth visiting for that one fact alone, never mind the terrific itinerary we’ve pencilled in which is causing great excitement as we fly across the Atlantic headed for the capital of Peru.

It’s just over 27 hours door to door from our home in England to our digs in the Miraflores district of Lima, and the 6-hour time difference we’ve collected on the way means that it’s evening in our body clocks but only lunchtime in the streets as we check in to our first base. Lunchtime? Isn’t that when the locals eat ceviche?

It is, so we do, and it’s fantastic, chilli and lime to the fore, in a friendly little backstreet place just off Parque Kennedy. A few hours later after our first wander around the Miraflores district, our evening meal consists of aji da gallina for Michaela and lomo saltado for me, meaning that just a little over seven hours into our Peru adventure we’ve already enjoyed three of their most revered dishes. There’s no way we’re going to let this country’s, and this city’s, reputation for being one of the World’s best food destinations pass us by. 

In fact it’s nigh on impossible to miss the elevated role played by food in Lima culture. It’s in its DNA. Eateries of every type abound: upmarket jobs, plastic fast food huts, cosy corners, parillas, chifas (the local name for a Chinese), seafood havens and, probably most inviting of all, dozens of hole-in-the-wall lunch rooms in which locals fill the twenty or so covers where set menus at fixed prices give amazing value for money. The Uber driver taking us from Miraflores to Lima’s historic centre on our first full day asks us if we like Peruvian food before he’s even got into second gear. That’s how important it is.

Lima is inviting us to explore, one of those cities which immediately fills the visitor with intrigue and excitement, you kind of feel part of it straight away. It is, of course, a huge city which has seen enormous growth in a relatively short time – in 1930 the population was 300,000, today it’s 9 million. As we are to discover, the city’s different districts have distinct personalities which together make Lima a terrifically vibrant, exciting and absorbing city.

Our Uber man drops us at Plaza San Martin, but only after ducking and weaving through the heaving mass of traffic which chokes Lima’s arteries for about twenty hours a day. This elegant square connects to its even larger counterpart, Plaza Mayor aka Plaza das Armas, via Jirón de la Unión, a pedestrianised street full of character, colour and music. Unión’s corridor of retail is suddenly interrupted by the rather magnificent facade of the Iglesia de la Merced, inside which there is a never ending procession of worshippers caressing the iconic cross in pleas for divine intervention. Or maybe forgiveness. Who knows.

Each of the two plazas is home to majestic buildings – Government departments, palaces, the cathedral and imposing colonial structures featuring the oversized enclosed wooden balconies which adorn many of Lima’s grand properties. Music seems to seep from the city’s veins…. a burst of classic rock here, salsa there, then haunting folk music and, inevitably, guys with pan pipes who can’t let fifteen minutes go by without playing El Condor Pasa. Again.

The hulking cathedral looms over the square, staring across to the Palacio del Gobierno which is guarded in perpetuity by brightly uniformed sentries, soldiers in fatigues and armed police. Vast and imposing as the cathedral is, it is outdone in the remarkable story department by two other ecclesiastical sites within the Centro Historico.

Inside the Cathedral

A few blocks beyond Plaza Mayor sits a more modest church, the Iglesia de las Nazarenas, outside of which is a wall housing a detailed mosaic depicting the crucifixion. This wall, now supported by a sturdy modern surround, is said to be a site of miraculous intervention and thus has become a pilgrimage destination for Catholics across Peru and beyond. Its tale is that, not once but twice in its history, the wall, with mosaic intact, has been the only structure in the district left standing when all around it was devastated by earthquake. Divine or not, that does seem miraculous.

The second site with a tale to tell is the Convento San Francisco, a monastery formerly home to over 300 Franciscan monks. On our guided tour – you can only visit the place in that way – we see the mind blowing library with its unique and invaluable collection of over 25,000 original books, some of which date from the 16th century. Beneath the monastery lies another surprise, discovered only in relatively recent times. The catacombs down here below the ground have been found to contain enormous numbers of human remains – it is estimated that the skeletons of around 70,000 people are here, either in part or complete. Stories abound of visitors to the catacombs being freaked by a strange presence or touched by an invisible hand. Regrettably the only “presence” we feel is that of the other tour groups being ushered by chattering guides around this strange resting place. No spirit of the dead chooses to tap our shoulders. Why would the bones of 70,000 people be thrown into subterranean heaps? Simply, it seems, because the cemetery ran out of space. (No photographs allowed, unfortunately). 

Away from mass burial grounds and back in the inviting districts of this vibrant capital, Lima’s beautifully tendered green spaces are havens of peace tucked between the manic streets, well used by the city’s population taking a moment away from the verve, scoffing lunch from plastic cartons or simply sitting chatting in a convivial circle. A touch of quaintness comes in the form of elaborate cat houses where the city’s feline population live in relative splendour, comfortable in their designer abodes and fed by any number of benevolent cat lovers. Each and every cat looks serenely content.

From Parque Kennedy, the arrow-straight thoroughfare of Larco Mar runs straight to the Pacific beaches or, more accurately, to the clifftops above the waves. A new complex of upscale stores and smart bars provides yet another distinct Lima enclave: smart, polished 21st century living. Somewhat inevitably the likes of KFC and Pizza Hut have muscled in here, but the views from the clifftop restaurants are truly spectacular. 

Adjacent to this complex is a small green space, Parque Salazar, watched over by a small statue presented to the authorities by the British Embassy and proudly displaying one undeniable link between the two countries. Yep, it’s Paddington Bear, in all his cute statuesque glory.

Let’s end this first report from Lima the way we began: Food. Inside the Convento San Francisco there is a huge painting of the Last Supper which bears some features uncommon to the usual representations of this event and, it could be said, introducing elements of Peru. For a start, the table is oval, as are the family dining tables of Peruvian homes. Then there’s the numbers – sure there are still thirteen diners, but the room is otherwise filled with adults and children milling around or performing tasks, and even a stealthy Satan himself lurking in the shadows. But, most Peruvian of all, is the feast in the centre of the table, which is the much loved traditional food of the nation. Yep, Jesus and the disciples are feasting on guinea pig.

Now then. Guinea pig. Cuy, as it’s called here. We’ve seen it on the menus already. I think we’re going to have to give it a go. Would be rude not to, really.