The reviews of Lima were not exactly positive. I recall reviews of pollution, noise and generally feeling unsafe. My expectations were therefore suitably low on arrival to Lima.
We stayed in Miraflores, aka. the posh bit. On the first night we ate in a restaurant with tables on the pavement and were a little surprised when a street child came and removed all the cutlery from our table! That evening we went to a shopping mall, which had security on the entrances so that the street children weren’t allowed in. So after that we decided we had seen enough of the posh end of town – while it was very pleasant, I felt we could have been in any developed nation, with casinos, restaurants, and shops. I wanted to see some of the “real” Lima, as I was sure that the whole city wasn’t like that! The next day we went into the city centre and looked around. We saw the presidential palace, complete with marching soldiers, guarded by tanks and riot police, who looked terrifying until you looked closer and noticed they were texting 😉
We tried local foods such as Empanadas (like a pasty with onions, tomatoes and chicken inside pastry) and Cerviche (semi-raw trout in a lemony/oniony sauce with sweet potato – delicious but hot!). On the subject of food, Continue reading
Big Fat Tourist 