Lima, Perú

Lima is the largest city and capital of Peru, also the most populated. It is more than a gateway to fly to Cusco and see Machu Picchu. As the 2nd largest city in the world located in a dessert, Lima boasts not only a historical center full of Colonial and Baroque Architecture, but also seaside modern neighborhoods, where I personally enjoyed the freshest ceviches I ever had. 

My friend and I flew to Lima from Arequipa because we wont be able to stand another 14 hour bus ride after taking it from Cusco, and also mainly because it’s pretty cheap and affordable (by US standards). We arrived at our hostel at Barranco district with supposedly “ocean view” late at night then set out to explore the next day.

I found it fascinating that every city and town I visited in Peru have a Plaza de Armas, or a main town square and are patterned the same, with church or Cathedral and a water fountain in the center. The Plaza Mayor or Plaza de Armas de Lima is the biggest and the most colorful that I have seen, and is surrounded by the Government Palace, the Archbishop Palace, the Cathedral and the yellow buildings of the Municipal Palace and Palace of the Union.

Not too far is the Monastery of San Francisco, a beautiful baroque-style Church also known for it’s catacombs, where only about 75,000 bodies are buried. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside but the skulls and bones were organized in such a manner that it almost looked like there were patterns created.

Miraflores district is the newer and more upscale part of the city. Located at the coast, we started off at Larcomar, a multilevel entertainment and shopping center built on a cliff, were I got my Peru Starbucks mug (as the Cusco Starbucks didn’t have it), then walked down El Malecon all the way to back to Barranco. It may not seem much but we had been walking all day and my poor tired feet were just ready to go to sleep. Seeing the Pacific Ocean again and feeling it’s breeze after almost two months made me excited to go home as I was about to wrap up this long and wonderful trip of a lifetime.

Hello everyone, I’m sorry to be a bad blogger this past month. There had been a lot of trips and a lot of planning and changes, which made it hard for me to even turn on my neglected MacBook lately. LA, then Vegas, back to LA, then San Francisco all the while living and working in Monterey had been really hard but been really fun so no one’s complaining. Hoping everyone’s having a good Spring. Happy Easter!