2.)Living in Lima Tip: Pack lots of clothes you can layer. This will come in handy on your long boardwalk (Malecon) walks.
Across the street from our apartment is a very long linear park(s). We’re located at the Nazca Lines (Nazca Lines) section of the park, during the day you can see the yellow marigolds outlining the design lines and at night they are all lit up. I for sure want to go see Nazca Lines in person!
3.) Fun Fact: Peru has a long history of urban design, the Garden City Movement in Lima is the most recent reintroduction.
Surfers Paradise: From the park you can walk down to the shore; 300 steps down to be exact (I see surfers walking up and down the steps with their boards – that’s dedication, I’m a little “puffy” coming up carrying nothing!) And the shoreline isn’t the sandy beaches of the Oregon coast, but rather rocks; not little pebble rocks but big(ish) rocks. Not something comfortable to sit or lay on – but people do.
Kid Friendly Parks and Outdoor Exercise: The parks are well used 24/7; kids playground, bike paths, running paths, lots benches to hang out, exercise groups, exercise equipment, a couple of little coffee shops and a paragliding outfit is here.
Local Grocery Scene: We walked to the local grocery store; (from all of the places we’ve lived, this grocery is the furthest one away from our apartment). It will be better to use the bike as it will be easier to carry the groceries. Which means I’ll need to practice biking. I Found the local Whole Foods (Flora and Fauna is the name of it – I thought it was a home décor store until I walked in.) Super cute, but small and crazy expensive (just like Whole Foods!) And I got to the local green grocer; better selection of fruit and veg but the draw back, I have to speak to the vendors!! In my almost none existent Spanish. Luckily I choose well, the vendor was able to help me out and could speak a bit of English. I’ll need to suck it up and make it work, the prices and selection are good here. Pictures next time of all the interesting things I saw (purple corn is at the top of the interesting things!)
John also took me to the local “wet market” – all sorts of meat/fruit and veg/cheese and anything else needed for the house. Always interesting to check out. And a trip to the Inca Marketplace – bought nothing, but I’m hot for some alpaca. Alpaca fabric would be lovely (Kuna; the finest fashion garments their coats are lovely, fingers crossed I can find some fabric to make one of these coats.)
Culture in the City Center of Lima: On one of Peru’s holidays, we headed into Lima Centro to be tourists. We ran into several church processions; or at least block long processions and into a May Day workers parade (my day was complete – I love a parade!). Part of the church procession included floral “paintings” on the streets. The designs were laid out in coffee and then the colored flower petals were laid down.
Local Sights: We followed the recommendation of my guidebook for a walk to see some of the local sights. Plaza de Armas; lots of canary-yellow buildings and very ornate wooden Moorish balconies.
Palacio de Gobierno and I got to see the changing of the guard (total fluke of luck on our part!)
One of the churches has catacombs that hold skulls and bones laid out in geometric designs – I clearly need to go back to check that out!
We stumbled upon a food festival/dancing – maybe with one of the churches? The ladies were handing out food samples (bonus, many of the signs were also in English!) but we didn’t sit down for a plate (next time!) The above pictures were some of the dancers taking a break. I didn’t see them dance, but love their clothes. Not afraid of color. And I would kill for a pair of those boots!!!
Things I need to work on: Well Spanish of course! John goes to a Spanish class once a week, I’ll need to sort myself out this week and see about getting into a class. Plus the added bonus I (hopefully) will meet a few other people who could be my friend! Taking a cab; no meters in the cabs which mean I need to negotiate a price before I get into the cab. Again that talking thing!! Fingering out a schedule; which needs to include checking out some of the many museums here, cooking class (already have found several ceviche classes and chocolate workshops!) – all of which will require a cab ride. Clearly getting comfortable with the cab is key this week!!
4.) Tip: Though many Peruvians can actually speak quite good English, it is unlikely that they will speak it to you. Learning basic Spanish to more advanced is advised!
5.) Uber (and other similar services) is offered all over Lima and one can pay with credit card or cash. Little to no speaking required!
In the next article, you’ll see how to host your friends who come to visit you from abroad and which places to take them! Spoiler alert: Lake Titicaca (Lake Titicaca – don’t you just love that word!)
Hasta Pronto,
Lynn