Lima: Seven Cities in One

I’ve hardly touched on Lima, despite having spent a good amount of time there. And much of the reason is that there’s not too many exciting things that we’ve done in Lima. Though there are some super cool things in Lima, we got out of school every day at 4 PM, and by time we got home and called an Uber to go downtown, it would be getting close to dark.

La Molina

We live in a neighborhood called La Molina, which is a nice, upscale area of town that sits in the foothills of the Andes. The neighborhood is not touristy in the slightest, and Zack and I had trouble the last night even finding one place in La Molina to buy the souvenir or two that I was still hoping to get.

In La Molina, the weather is usually much better than downtown, as we’re farther from the ocean. You can often see a bright blue sky above us, while just a mile or so away, closer to downtown, the sky will shift from clear to overcast. I remember sitting our first day in Lima at La Molina’s Rinconada del Lago country club saying to Zack how wonderful the weather was. How pleasant it was after being in Iquitos’s awful humidity, and after Cusco being a little on the chilly side. It felt finally like a pleasant temperature with some warm sun on your skin. But, but an hour afterwards, we headed down to Miraflores, which is on the coast. It was much colder, the visibility was very low, and there wasn’t a drop of sunshine that could pass the clouds.

The Streets in La Molina are amostly named after either lakes or regions in Peru

All this nice weather comes at a major cost though: La Molina’s air quality is awful. There are a few different reasons as to why, but pollution is not entirely at fault. Yes, the cars on the road lead to some pollution, but also, since the mountains in the area are entirely dust and rocks, and because Lima only gets on average 10 mm rain a year, the dust never settles. It just stays in the air, becoming hazier and hazier. Here’s a scene from a “blue sky” day.

But one reason we never really went downtown was that La Molina, though not far, distance wise, from the downtown districts, is, in practice, very, very far away. You should expect at least 45–50 minutes driving to drive the 5–7 miles to any downtown district at 5:00 pm from La Molina. Often, we found it too much of a hassle to get downtown and would opt to go to closer-by places in the evenings, if anywhere at all.

Avenida Javier Prado, the major throughway in Lima, actually passed right by our house. So often, the route to get into town was not complicated. It just took forever. To give more context to this traffic issue, Zack and I got dinner at a place 3 miles away one night, and it took 37 minutes.

The good news of spending so much time in an Uber is that I got a really good sense of what the local music taste is. And that can be answered with one word: salsa! In fact, salsa was in so many Ubers that I became used to which songs were which, and even picked up on some of the lyrics. Over this trip, I’ve become a huge fan of salsa, and I’m excited to continue to hear more in Miami!

Anyways, the second part of why we didn’t go downtown very much was that the sun sets at about 6 pm here, so as soon as you get downtown, it’s already starting to get dark. Depending on the area, it can either get dangerous or scammy after dark, and we didn’t feel like keeping our guards up. And this compounds onto the fact that, because we were living by the sun for the two weeks leading up to our time in Lima, and we had to be at school by 7:30 each morning, we often found ourselves nearly asleep by 8 pm (at least for our first week in Lima). By the end of our time, we were able to stay up until a reasonable hour, at least.

Exploring some ancient ruins a block from our house

This is all a roundabout way for me to say that I don’t have much to say about each spot in Lima, though there are a lot of neighborhoods. So here I go.

Miraflores

Apparently, when tourists come to Lima, Miraflores is the place to be. You know the name the second you step into the arrivals terminal at Jorge Chavez Airport, while taxi drivers advertise “Miraflores, Miraflores,” and their rate they’ll charge. It seems like the expectation that tourists will spend all their time (and money) in Miraflores, not bothering to explore all the wonderful things the city has.

I frankly cannot stand Miraflores—it’s entirely restaurants catered to tourists, with waiters explaining to you what something even as obvious as a pisco sour (the iconic Peruano drink) is, while greeting you in English. There’s malls with no special brands in them, and it feels like every building is a hotel. And I complain about the bars, but we did spend both weekend nights down in Miraflores at these exact bars and restaurants I am writing about.

But, this is where all the tourists are. For our two days between Iquitos and Cusco, Zack had told me that we should find a place in Miraflores to stay. It’s close to the airport, it’s nice, and there’s no worries for your safety. He recalled there being a heavy police presence elsewhere in the city, and didn’t feel like dealing with that. But I insisted that, if there was a “this is entirely a tourist district” part of the city, that I didn’t want to be there. So, Zack and I stayed in the Centro Historico instead. And boy am I glad. I think I would have been offput, un-charmed upon my first impression. When we did our Huacachina tour, they had to send a van to go pick us up from our Centro Historico hostel and drive us half an hour to get on the bus, before picking up every other person. Everyone but us on that 41-person bus had a hotel in Miraflores.

I’ll give it credit where it’s due. The greenery is very pretty, the view off onto the coast is very nice when it’s not foggy, and the parks in the center are nice places to sit down and eat picarones. (More on these later!) The view of Lima’s coast is super cool, though, since the city is built surprisingly high above sea level, for being a coastal city. This comes from the massive cliffs that separate Lima from the coast. Much of the coastline is developed to take advantage of these cliffs, cutting malls into them, and having a highway on the lower, coastal side, with very little traffic. The cliffs lead to some pretty cool road designs, and a few beautiful bridges spanning gaps for pedestrians and cars alike to pass between the high and low sections.

The Cliffs

Centro Historico

The first place Zack and I went to in Lima, despite Zack’s hesitation, was the Centro Historico. And I am so glad we ended up there, because we only made it downtown one time during our two weeks teaching. As you could imagine, the traffic to get to the center of the city is atrocious at best.

You can tell immediately that you’re in the Centro Historico. It looks like Madrid or Paris, with white, ornamented, European style buildings with shops on the first floor and apartments above. There are European-style squares with monuments in the center, and the street signs are posted on the sides of buildings, instead of in the American street signpost style. There is a wonderful section that’s entirely pedestrian streets lined with local shops, entrances to “hidden” markets, and local food stands. Walking around the Centro Historico, you could be easily convinced that you’re walking around an area of Paris or Madrid.

As the architecture is clearly Spanish inspired, you will notice, as well, the Middle-Eastern influence on much of the buildings. I had a moment of reflection in the main square, Plaza de Armas, thinking about how different the would could have been if it weren’t for the Muslim conquest of Spain and Al-Andalus. It was just funny, I suppose, having spent so long in Andalusia, only to see its direct descendants so far away but a year later.

There is a pretty funny area, Chinatown, which feels oddly out of place in the South American megacity. But, lots of Chinese came to Peru for a rubber boom, and stayed, forming their own communities and sometimes, mixing with the locals. A surprising number of Peruvians look like they could have some Asian blood in them, for sure. Chinatown itself is also home to a massive market taking up several city blocks, where you can buy nearly any product you want, from alpaca wool to drain snakes. It’s aimed at tourists and locals alike, serving both souvenir and average life needs.

Chinatown is a prime place to get chifa, which is their slang here for Chinese food. Chifa comes from the Chinese chīfàn. Literally, chīfàn means “to eat,” though in China, they use it as a “meal’s ready” sort of call. I remember, Grandmum used to call when dinner was ready “Ian! Chīfàn oh!” Chifa, though, is a Peruvian-Chinese fusion. You get dishes with yucca, a kind of Peruvian jungle potato that I happen to dislike, as the base instead of rice noodles or rice, and you can order your meal with a jar of chicha morada or camu camu juice.

One interesting thing about the Centro Historico, though, is that every major square is closed off to both pedestrians and cars. Zack and I tried to sit on a bench that’s sort of on the edge of a square, close to where people were walking, and police told us that we could not sit there. We think it’s to discourage protests from forming, as last year, there were major protests over government corruption in Lima.

Another evening we spent was adjacent to the Centro Historico on the side opposite from Rimac, by our hotel from the first day, right off of Avenida Javier Prado, at the magic water circuit. This was a series of ten different fountains, all different, each with their own symbolism and meaning. We goofed around at the water circuit for a little bit, before grabbing dinner nearby at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant.

I bring this up for two reasons: first, the lomo saltado I got at this restaurant was easily the best lomo saltado I had in all of Peru. The sauce was so delicious, and it was drenched in sauce. The fries were cooked just right, and the vegetables were sauteed in a very generous amount of butter. But also, we enjoyed the game show that was on the TV, which was a cross between trivia, tic tac toe, and that ridiculous Ellen game show. Two people took turns playing tic tac toe on a giant board, but they could only place their piece if they got the trivia question right. If they didn’t, and the other person tried to go in that square, they did not receive the same question—they were just pulled from a continuous list. The looser of the game got pied in the face by a ridiculously costumed cast member wearing giant gloves. We watched the show for way longer than we were expecting to, and made a nice evening out of our time at the water circuit.

If I were to go to Lima again (which I really hope I will!), I will certainly stay in the Centro Historico, as I think there’s the most to do here for someone with my interests.

Rimac

Right across the Rimac river is the district of Rimac. Now, you may not realize you’re crossing a river, but instead, it’ll look like you’re crossing a highway. The Rimac river is more like an obstinate stream, not a river. Yeah, Lima gets no rain, so it should be a surprise in the first place that there even is a river, but calling it a river and giving it a name feels just a little goofy.

Either way, we only spent about 15 minutes in Rimac, though I wanted to spend forever there. If the Centro Historico is a much more authentic experience than Miraflores, Rimac one ups the Centro Historico. Hardly any tourists come to Rimac, as it does have a reputation for being a place where muggings, theft, and violence occurs. We ended up here by accident, as we took our Uber to the Bull Ring, right on the border between Lima and Rimac, cutting a 1:15 ride to 45 minutes. Again, it was funny to see a bull ring in Lima, clearly of Spanish influence.

Lima Bull Ring

Zack tried to get us to cross the bridge into the Centro Historico, but I got distracted by the colorful buildings, stone streets, and mountainous backdrop of Rimac. And you can easily romanticize Rimac. The Macarena Café with its radio facing the outside, the street stalls selling anticuchos and picarones: beef heart muscle on a skewer and fried dough rings made from squash and sweet potato respectively. And that’s exactly what happened to me—I saw this bright, colorful neighborhood and immediately directed Zack to take a detour. He, seeing that the it was getting dark, entertained my excitement for about 15 minutes, before turning us back around towards the Centro Historico.  

But to only romanticize Rimac is unfair: streets smells like human and animal excrement of both forms and are littered with trash. The area is not safe in the day, let alone at night. We kept, for example, our hands in our pockets the whole time, and avoided walking nearby anyone else on the street. But what’s funny is that you never know what you’re going to get when you go around a corner—some blocks are pristine, lined with shops and nicely-dressed couples. But just around the corner, you may get a stinky street, filled with litter, where nobody dares to go. We both found it interesting that you can, so easily, switch between these two extremes. I guess that’s just Rimac.

After our time in Rimac, we crossed into the Centro Historico to spend the night.

Barranco

Heading down the coast from Miraflores is Barranco. Barranco is a very nice district, and like Rimac, has very colorful buildings and beautiful architecture, but unlike Rimac, is a haven for local nightlife. We spent two nights in Barranco, walking around and grabbing food, and you really get a sense that people there are enjoying their lives. You walk down the street, and there are ten different musicians serenading you, each looking for your one or two soles you may gift them. Zack and I stopped a few times to listen to some of the better bands, playing salsa or covers of American pop songs.

Iconically Barranco is the Puente de Suspiros—the bridge of sighs. The tradition is that you cross the bridge while holding your breath, though I don’t quite know why, and at the end, when you let your breath go, it sounds like a sigh. This bridge is over one of those gaps between cliffs, which hosts a walkway down to the beach, complete with street stalls selling jewelry and paintings. Barranco competes with the Centro Historico for being my favorite district in Lima.

The central square of Barranco is also filled with life, with kids playing soccer by the church’s entrance, families strolling, and, well, lots of very overt PDA on public benches… Streets jutting off from the central square are tons of restaurants and bars catering to a more local clientele, with more appropriate pricing and less English…

Though Zack and I got picarones a few times, the picarones stand we went to in Barranco is by far the most iconic one we saw, as it had a megaphone playing the same song about hot and fresh, delicious picarones being made here, only S/ 7 for 5!

We both had that jingle stuck in our heads for days…

Santiago de Surco

Like Rimac, we didn’t see much of Surco, but I bring it up just because of its Parque de la Amistad, friendship park. I wanted to go to the park entirely because I saw they had a massive Moorish arch, but we ended up really enjoying our time there. It was a totally local park—I saw very few tourists there. But there were tons of families and couples walking around, enjoying the architecture typical of different regions, including an American train-car diner, and the kids rode the steam train that runs in circles around the park. I think it was a hidden gem of Lima, for sure. The one downside, though, is that the Moorish arch is not the original; the original was destroyed in the 1930s as part of a movement to separate Peru from its colonial past. Which is ironic, since it was built to demonstrate how Peru and Spain could have a friendly relationship after the end of Spanish rule there. The arch was rebuilt decades later, both in appreciation of its architecture, and with the trend of a decreased hate for the Spanish over time.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t at least bring up the fact that Zack and I had lunch at a Little Caesar’s right next to the park :)

Callao and La Punta

Next to Lima, on a peninsula jutting out into the Pacific, is a city that is not technically Lima, though continuous with it: Callao. Think of it like Minneapolis and St Paul, or Dallas and Fort Worth.  Except, Lima vastly overshadows Callao in terms of importance.

One thing Callao does have on Lima, though, is that the Lima airport is actually located in Callao, so nearly every visitor to Peru has indeed been to Callao.

We only spent part of an afternoon in the area, visiting a Spanish fort constructed in the 1800s to defend against pirates. It’s actually very cool, because Zack and I explored similarly constructed forts in Puerto Rico, so we enjoyed comparing and contrasting our experiences in these forts. I was also very much interested in the port next to the fort, which is the largest port in the entire South Pacific!

We walked about half an hour to La Punta, which is at the extreme western end of the peninsula, to observe the view and relax for a minute by the water. There’s a couple islands, much like the Islas Ballestas in geology, off the coast of La Punta, however, the visibility was so low that it was hard to get a pretty view of them.

Anyways, I know this has gotten long, but Lima is a really diverse city, with lots of different areas to explore. I definitely need more time here to dig deeper into each of these areas—I mean, each of these could warrant their own article—and I’m sure I’ll be back.