First stop: Lima

Lima is the overwhelmingly massive capital city along Peru's central coast. This city of 7 million people is home to 1 in 5 Peruvians. My principal reasons for staying here are: 1) it's where my flight dropped me, 2) the food was rumored to be exquisite, and 3) my Lonely Planet book devoted an entire chapter to this place.

Being so large, Lima contains quite a few attractions, including ancient pre-Inca ruins, a wide variety of restaurants, countless museums, and some cool parks. For my stay I chose a hostel in the modern, safe, and foreigner-filled Miraflores district.

In Miraflores I spent much of my time walking through the parks set atop tall cliffs overlooking the Pacific. There are a lot of surfers down in the rocky beaches below, and a heavy fog known as the garúa, which hangs over the city for much of the day during the fall and winter months.

The pre-Inca ruins, known as Huaca Pucllana, were the next walking-distance destination on my itinerary. Tucked right into the middle of a mostly residential area in Miraflores, these ruins were a big surprise. They house(d) the remains of those given the honor to act as sacrifices for the gods of an ancient civilization. The adobe bricks holding together the structures of Huaca Pucllana are stacked "bookcase style" with each brick standing vertically. This architectural technique has allowed many of the structures and their tombs within to survive countless violent earthquakes. Much of this site is still being excavated, and this process will likely continue for another 30 years! Definitely the oldest structure I've seen in my life to this point.

When I finally branched out and escaped Miraflores I discovered there is so much more to  Lima! Museo Larco was number one on my places to visit in this new world. It is located somewhere that took 45 minutes by bus from a random street in Miraflores. Fortunately there was an old Peruvian woman acting as my tour guide the entire ride there. The struggle to both speak and understand Spanish was quite real. Anyways, the museum was incredible. They gave great background on pre and post-Inca cultures and had on display the various styles of pottery, textiles, and bodily adornments. The most fantastic  artifacts in the museum were a collection of golden headdresses worn by the rulers of the ancient civilizations. In addition there was a shockingly comprehensive collection of erotic pottery on display in a separate area. Altogether I was blown away by the collection at the Museo Larco. It was well worth the long trip there.

Finally, I visited the historical Central Lima as well. This time I opted for a comfortable taxi ride in which the driver made great conversation despite my incredibly limited Spanish. The walking tour I took brought me to busy plazas, large government buildings, busy street markets, and old churches featuring awesome Moorish architecture. The real highlight of this day trip was the lunch spot my Lonely Planet guide led me to, called Domus. The hole-in-the-wall restaurant serves an assortment of Peruvian-Italian fusion dishes. My meal began with a mundane salad topped with delicious slices of fresh mango. Next came the main course consisting of ravioli stuffed with sweet potatoes, topped with some sort of magical sauce, and a very tender cut of steak thrown in as well. As if the previous was not adequate, I also received a coconut-banana slice of flan at the end. All of this was downed with a few glasses of incredible apple drink. That may have been the best meal of my life! The rest of that day is a fishy-smelling, crowded marketplace blur. El Barrio Chino (Chinatown) was a surprise, but nothing super noteworthy was seen.

My nights in Lima were much different from my days. There was not much of a nightlife,  which meant lots of time spent relaxing at the hostel with friends. There was also a night where a few of us visited a crazy fountain light show at a park. The friends I met in Lima hail from the UK, Canada, Switzerland, and SWEDEN (I'm proudly 3/4 Swedish so of course this was extra exciting).

Anyhow, that is my account of a short stay in Lima. My next stops will provide some much-needed wildlife viewing and some time outside a bustling city on the souhern coast of Peru. My apologies if this post was a lot to read! Hopefully the pictures make up for it.