Eating Lima

We read some advice to, when travelling, think about what you want to do in a place, rather than what you want to see. The reason being that there’s an unlimited (and exhausting) number of things to see, but the things you do define your experience. For Lima, what we decided to do was eat!

As well as Lima being known for its good food, we had also built up a substantial list of things we wanted to try before leaving Peru. Ceviche, a dish of marinated raw fish, was high on the list and said to be particularly good in coastal Lima. We had a cevicheria recommended to us, and we weren’t disappointed! We were starving when we arrived, but soon realised we could have shared a plate as they were massive.

We aren’t used to eating such a large quantity of raw fish but the meals were delicious. We had a traditional ceviche with a strong zesty taste, and another ceviche which was covered in a spicy pepper sauce. Yum! We washed it down with a jug of chicha, a sweet spicy drink made of purple maize (also delicious).

We were unsure if we’d be able to get through our list, but luckily we stumbled upon a food fair in downtown Lima the next day. A long row of chefs served up traditional Peruvian cuisine. We tried:

• papa rellena – a fried ball of mashed potato stuffed with mince
• rocoto rellena –  capsicum stuffed with meat, raisins, rice and olives
• piqueo criollo – a variety of Peruvian stews
• causa – a creamy potato cake with avocado, mayonnaise and chicken (one of our favourites)
• mazamorra morada – a syrupy purple maize dessert with fruit and cinnamon
• mazamorra del calabaza – a pumpkin pudding
• arroz zambito – a rice pudding
• picarones – Peruvian donuts.

All up, this cost about NZ$5 each!

After our excessive lunch we rolled down the road to the Convent of Santa Domingo. It was a beautiful and peaceful space.

On the way home we visited the Fantasy Fountains, an impressive series of fountains.

Most of our time in Lima was spent in the ‘fancy’ suburb of Miraflores. In the evenings we wandered through Parque Kennedy, which was always bustling with people. We wandered over to a crowd, thinking a comedian was performing. It actually turned out to be a bunch of mostly older people dancing with a big audience of people watching. As a song ended an old Peruvian man asked Sal for a dance. Luckily the steps were pretty simple!

In other cities there have been lots of stray dogs around. But in Parque Kennedy there were dozens of cats roaming round instead. Apparently a woman brings them food every day and takes care of them. It was quite strange seeing so many cats wandering around.

With only a few soles (the Peruvian currency) left, we asked how to get to the airport by bus rather than taxi. It turns out that ‘bus’ was an optimistic term for a rundown Toyota minivan, known as a micro.

We spent a decent amount of time being rejected by the drivers because our packs were too big for the cramped vans. Just as we were about to give up a van let us pile in. The drive was certainly an adventure! Lonely Planet says this about micros: “be aware that safety is not a high priority for micro drivers. The only place for a passenger to safely buckle up is the front seat, but in the case of a head on collision (not an unusual occurrence), that is the last place you’d want to be.”

Micros are fitted out with a loud siren which they chirp constantly to alert pedestrians, to warn other drivers  of impending collisions and to express road rage (all of which happen frequently). At one point our driver got annoyed at another micro driver while merging lanes, so rather than give him the fingers, our driver simply rammed into the side of the other van! We were swerving in and out of the traffic for the whole hour long drive, narrowly missing other vehicles.

As one passenger left from the front seat, the door refused to close. The ticket collector (who spent most of his time hanging out the window yelling stops out to prospective passengers) then tried to slam and twist the door back into place. You could see the dashboard flexing as he pushed on the door. The driver didn’t stop for the “repairs” but continued hurtling down the road as the ticket collector hung out the window holding the door temporarily in place. Luckily we arrived at the airport in one piece. This chaotic ride felt like an appropriate way to end our time in South America.

We are sad to say goodbye to Peru and South America. It’s been particularly nice spending a decent amount of time in Peru - in the two weeks we’ve had here we’ve been able to see some different sides of the country. We’re also now feeling much more confident as travellers, picking up a bit more of the language (or at least being less scared to have a go!) and being OK with the frequent feelings of uncertainty. One more sleep until New York City :-)

Comments from WordPress

• Daniel Phillips 2012-07-12T02:50:52Z

  Great post Craig & Sal. The pics, colors, people and food look amazing. The micro transport adventure sounded like you were really mixing it up with the locals :-)

• Beth Braddock 2012-07-12T03:01:06Z

  How universal is a cup of tea! Loved the fountain!

• Tamsin 2012-07-14T07:42:57Z

  That feeling of being lost/uncertainty was one of the things I liked most about travelling - I couldn’t ‘get lost’ as I already was :)

  also, that food looks totally delicious.

• Leanne 2012-07-15T06:15:07Z

  Wow, looks incredible. I really love the fountain photos that tea-cup one is friggen awesome. The photo of Sal dancing with the old guy is just priceless - it was his lucky day :-)

• Alice 2012-07-16T21:50:49Z

  Yeah, that old man def got lucky! :)

• Alice 2012-07-16T21:49:06Z

  The food looks/sounds incredible! That sounds like a great approach to travelling, picking the focus and especially if the place is known for good food. I have gone with this at any opportunity in Italy of course! Also, it’s amazing how quickly you do adapt to travelling and starting to accept the unpredictability and taking things as they come, going with gut instincts. I always do have a case of nerves when I travel but I think most of that is excitement! :) Looking forward to hearing about NYC. I have got to go there!

Written by Craig Drayton and Sally Robertson