Peru: Lima

After a nice weekend at the beach in Huanchaco, we are back in Lima. Had a nice day on Tuesday visiting the Peace Corps office and eating lunch with some of our friends there. Also went to Centro Lima to buy some warm blankets for the couch. Then it was back to Miraflores where we are staying. Went to Astrid y Gaston in the evening for dinner. Fabulous as always, it was recently voted 42nd best restaurant in the world and was the only restaurant from South America to make the list. Pretty cool.

On Wednesday, we met up with Luis Ly who works for Peace Corps and is an all-around nice guy. We rode with him out to the new Peace Corps trainings palace (relative to what we had). It was nice to chat with him about Peruvian politics, US healthcare and a whole range of other things. Always great to talk with him. We also saw Kathleen Hickey and some of the other PC training staff. They are gearing up for their next group of volunteers who will arrive in about six months. Training is in good hands with them. After that we caught a mini-bus back to Lima and then took the new municipal bus which runs up and down Paseo de la Repulica. It makes getting around Lima much easier. For dinner we went with Emilia, our old PC Health boss, to Panchita which is another of Gaston´s restaurants which is perhaps a little less creative and more authentic Peruvian food. It was also fantastic and we left incredibly full.

On Thursday, we met up with Jose who is our friend we met on a trip to Chachapoyas when we were living in Peru. He lives in Lima (Chorrillos) and works for Mincetur negociating free-trade agreements with other countries. It sounds like a really neat job, which he will hopefully still have pending the election fallout later this spring. Anyhow, Jose is Limeno, but I must prefice that by saying he knows his country well and enjoys seeing the other side of Peru. The same unfortunately can´t be said for all Limenos. Jose is also super passionate about his city and took us to the beach in Chorrillos in the morning, for cebiche for lunch, to his house to meet his family and so on. We continued on to a new ¨Circuito de Agua¨ that was completed a couple of years ago. It is a huge park in Centro Lima near the Estadio Nacional and the American Ambassador´s residence that has all sorts of fountains and light shows. Honestly, we were pretty impressed. After that we decided to head to Barranco and visit a swanky new bar called Ayahuasca. It was a really hip place where Pisco infusions and drink combinations rule the night. If you happen to find yourself in Lima, you have to check it out. It is a really cool place and was a great way to wrap up our day with Jose.

Lunch at Prado's Pollo a la Brasa with the Peace Corps Office. Great food and great company.

Us with Luis Ly at the new training site in Chaclacayo. This place is paradise compared to our old site in Vista Alegre!

Us with Kathleen Hickey, PC Peru training director.

Dinner with our Community Health Program Director, Emilia at the trendy Limeno joint Panchita. I must say, the end of our vacation has been all about eating, and Peruvian cuisine is just amazing.

A jumbo sized ricotto relleno. So good.

Panoramic of Chorillos beach in Lima.

Chorillos with our friend Jose.

Coast line south of Chorillos, Lima.

Lima coast line panoramic.

Jose, Marta, and Drew....Jose was a great tour guide for the day in Lima.

Waves crashing against shore in Southern Lima.

Only in Peru....this old man prayed to God at numerous locations along the rocky shore, then tied the Peruvian flag around him, and then yelled "viva Peru" and jumped into the rocky water below. He then hiked up the sandy cliff for propinas. Crazy man!

Parque de la Reserva, Central Lima. This was a recently refurbished park that includes tons of fountains and light shows, all for only 4 soles. There was also an interesting museum section about the importance of water in Peru...interesting as Peru is likely to have major water issues in the future.

Water tunnel.

This is the top of the lit up water tunnel.

Marta and Jose at Parque de la Reserva.

Trendy new bar Ayahuasca in Barranco. Loved the chairs and bright decorations.

Pisco infusions are the new thing. How can you go wrong with fresh fruit and pisco, right?! Asian-Peruvian fusion is also super trendy, called Cocina Nikkei. Sushi rolls with Peruvian ingredients = yum!