note: gps location is lima, peru
LIMA’S NICE?
contrary to what everyone has told me so far….lima actually seems like a decent city. sure, it’s an urban sprawl which seems to lack any semblance of planning. However, all of the areas we saw today seemed nice, safe and full of culture. We started off at the anthropology museum in pueblo libre…which has some cool artifacts from peru (inca and pre-inca). we then went to the plaza mayor, grabbed lunch and checked out the catacombs underneath the san francisco monastery (thanks for the recommendation marjory). the monastery is nice….the catacombs a bit strange: they have piles and piles of bones….some placed artfully in circular patterns. we also checked out some markets, the inquisition museum, and a very american mall back in miraflores (pizza hut at the food court, chili’s, etc.)
COMPETITION?
more than any other place so far, business in lima seem to concentrate around similar ones. yesterday we went to calle pizza. today we went to the meat and fruit markets, a street which specializes in making foam decorations and costumes, another alley for repairing tv’s, etc. it seems like almost every industry has it’s own dedicated street here.
SENTRA HEAVEN?
so many sentra’s here. lima may have the highest concentration of sentra’s and their spinoffs (sunny, blueberry…and other nissan’s which look the exact same). yesterday night, we were surrounded by 3 sentra’s. today, we could not go 1 minute without spotting a sentra. unbelievable!
AN INSIDER’S PERSPECTIVE
tonight denise (naldo’s friend) took us around lima. as you might expect, it was really fun to see the nice (and non-touristy) parts of such a huge city. she drove us around barranco, miraflores, etc. we also swung by the largest private club in lima (~20,000 members). the club is on the beach, and is absolutely huge — even featuring atm’s and hair dressers inside the gated walls. afterwards, we had dinner at a really nice restaurant in miraflores (LA73). Francois has been in Peru three times, and this is the best dinner he’s had here…and entrees are only $10. afterwards, we stopped by a really cool bar about 3 houses away from our hostel. the funny (sad) thing is that we would have had no idea about this bar had it not been for denise….and the bar/lounge was very cool and very packed. thanks again for a fun evening denise!
