loving lima

laurel says:

after the amazon, i was ready to kiss the ground of the first city i encountered.  luckily, that city was lima.  lima has the same feel to it as los angeles but with a sense of history and culture.  massive sprawl, bustling downtown and killer beach towns.  we stayed in barranco, which is the equivalent of manhattan beach.  a stunning boardwalk “malecon” stretches along the coastline for miles allowing you to walk from beach to beach.   it was a much needed change up from the jungle.

for me, the real highlight of lima was the food.  i am a huge fan of it’s star chef, gaston acurio.  we were fortunate enough to dine at two of his restaurants during our stay: the original la mar cevicheria and his flagship restaurant astrid y gaston.  top two meals of the trip, hands down.  la mar takes the cake for me.  we spent a leisurely two hour lunch here enjoying the most incredible ceviche of our lives while watching the who’s who of lima chat and mingle the day away.  very memorable.   lima is an urban oasis that provided the perfect place to recharge post amazon and pre cusco.  i am back! 

ceviche astrid y gaston

enjoying a pisco sour at the original la mar

lima's central plaza

knocking on heaven's door

larcomar cliffside mall

lima at night

the darker side of lima

emil says:

our guidebook had an entire section on lima devoted to ‘dangers and annoyances’ which proceeded to scare the bejesus out of us… “be mindful of the ‘choke and grab’ was particularly disturbing. kids if you need to grow up a thief, a pimp, or a drug dealer that’s all fine by me, just don’t become a ‘choke and grabber’. alas we felt more than safe in lima.

lima was a fantastic surprise. situated some 300 yards on a cliff overlooking the pacific, with 180 degree panoramic beach views, public spaces along the cliffs that were tremendous including a bmx/skateboard park that would make tony hawk applaud. and if you consider yourself a foodie lima is a must see as it has the lock on ceviche and taraditos. we met some good people here and enjoyed our first college football gameday, which was a nice changeup. 

lastly i want to mention the family bonding we saw down here in lima.  little brothers holding hands. fathers with arms around their teenage son. grandparents pushed along in a wheelchair by their granddaughter, teenagers actually being nice to each other…a myriad of family unity and kindness was on display and was a joy to witness. tv, electronics, the apple idad app on iphones and ipads didn’t seem to be needed here, just good old fashion family time. 

a slice of long island in lima- even the grill is gold