Look flowers

From the initial trip planning, we knew Peru was a must-see and had read enough to land on Miraflores as the place to stay in Lima. Both of us also knew that Miraflores literally translates in English to ‘Look, flowers’. This become an inside joke throughout our planning, repeated here as we made our way around this new neighbourhood. See a garden - “¡Mira! flores” A restaurant’s table decor - “¡Mira! flores” A woman’s hat - “¡Mira! flores”..OK, maybe you had to be there.

With only 3 days to explore before heading to Cusco and the Inca Trail, we were selective with our to-do list, and of course the famous Peruvian food was on it.

Unfortunately, our estomagos didn’t agree. So we had to eat very carefully in order to stay out of the drop toilets as much as possible on the upcoming Trail climb. First things first — cancel street food tour.

But we took a few risks that paid off: a potent pisco sour and tasty tamales at Panchita, a great burger, club and famous fries at La Lucha Sangucheria, a late afternoon glass of rose and tapas at the globally-inspired Pan Sal Aire, and some beautiful arroz con mariscos at El Muelle de Barranco. All exceptionally fresh, with no added side effects. Whew!

With food not at the top of the list, we settled on some tourist hot spots. Huaca Pucllana was our first stop as it was a ten-minute walk up the road in Look! Flowers. Similar to what you find in Europe, it is an ancient temple site right in the middle of the city and worth the hour-long tour to get an understanding of the different cultures that used and influenced the creation of the site. That evening, we ubered our way over to the Circuito Magico de Agua, put ourselves in wonderous-child mode and marvelled at the dancing water and light show. It was one of those “find your inner kid” experiences.

One thing we learned about Lima is that it never rains here. Ever! Huaca Pucllana is an adobe mud-brick temple that would wash away if it was rained on and it has stood for close to 2 centuries. Many of the gods worshiped at the temple related to the ocean and to the water. And today, there is a modern theme park dedicated to watching the magic of water. Pretty easy to understand the fascination through the centuries when it never rains!

The rest of our time was spent walking along the Malecon, hanging out with the cats in Kennedy Parque (there are lots of them), or wandering the streets of bougy Barranco.

Lima overall gave us a pleasantly surprised experience. In researching, there were quite a few safety warnings, food warnings, air quality warnings but we found none of that. We found a cosmopolitan city full of friendly people and lots of laughter on the streets – a different experience from the overly cautious environment we’ve experienced elsewhere in parts of South America so far. We’ll need to come back again for the smiles, and more importantly the amazing food scene - with healthy estomagos of course. And to ¡Mira! flores.