I arrived in Lima at 2am in the morning and was picked up by my taxi driver. The whole way to the hostel the driver talked about Peruvian food and made some recommendations on what I needed to try and where to go. It felt so nice to be in a country where I speak the language.
The next day I woke up with no plans and met with Kate, a girl from Berkeley that I met on the GAdventure forum for travelers, w went for breakfast at the hostel and we decided to go to downtown lima and the Barranco district. I asked the cleaning lady how to get there by bus and they were extremely helpful! They all gave me detailed directions on what we needed to do and recommended to go to downtown lima first to see the change of guards.
Kate and I were very impressed by Lima's public transportation. The Metropolitano, their new local bus system, is pretty amazing! It has it's own lane so there is never traffic. Once at the station I double checked with locals to see if we were on the track and they made sure to put us in the right bus and check where we needed to get out.
We got downtown right on time to see the change of guards at the plaza mayor. It was a nice ceremony to see but unfortunate that all the gates were closed so we could only see through the bars.
After the ceremony we were walking around and saw a lot of people in a group and 2 guys wearing vests and it ended up being a free walking tour and we decided to join.
Kate and I were thinking about how "lucky" we were to have talked to the cleaning ladies and made it to the change of guards and then to randomly find the one free walking tour... Luck? Maybe... I think more of "perfect timing" and like my mom says "El tiempo de Dios es perfecto."
The tour was very good, we learned about Lima's history and visited many sites. I was happy to see a rainbow flag on top of the main building in el centro and even thought "yeay! They are pro gay" but shortly after I learned that the rainbow flag is the Cusco flag and that's why it was displayed in the building.
Mid afternoon after the tour and getting lunch with the guide we headed to Barranco, another famous neighborhood in Lima.
When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised to learn that it was the celebration of "Inti Raymi" or Sol Dios (Sun God.) Inti Raymi is a festivity from Cusco to celebrate the winter solstice so we were able to see many folkloric dances and even a fashion show of all the different costumes from districts in Peru.
Being a foodie I had made reservations for Kate and I to go to Astrid & Gaston, a Michelin star restaurant, for dinner.
We started dinner with some delicious bread, a spectacular olive oil, olives, and some delicious nuts with currants.
I was so looking forward to some ceviche and this didn't disappoint! The ceviche was made with curry verde (green curry), mango, maní (peanuts), and langostinos fritos (fried shrimp). It was a interesting twist to the regular ceviche but it was AMAZING! Maybe my favorite dish of the day!
Then we had some Tiradito: aji Amarillo ahumado, parmesano, y alcaparras.
Our last dish was saltado de quinua: langostinos cristal, verduras crujientes, y naranjas... Yum yum yum!!!
Finally... DESSERT! The whole dessert menu was full of strange fruits from Peru, I had to ask what each thing was and after that had to rely on my friend google to really see what they were talking about!
After much thought we decided to go with a Cachanga... Like a thin fried crepe with helado de zapallo (pumpkinish ice cream) and a whole lot of delicious fruits and edible flowers on top.... DELISH!!!
We ended the night with some maracuya pisco sours in "las pizzas" a bar street in the Miraflores district!
So far... A beyond awesome first day in Peru!
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