Lima
By Jaimy de Vries
Lima, the second largest city of South-America. It has 13 million residents and 3 city centers, because one city center isn’t enough😅 Lima’s nickname is an octopus because the greater city areas spreads out very far, like the arms of an octopus. Quite funny because the city is located next to the pacific ocean.
Bye Argentina
After Iguazu I said goodbye to Argentina where I’ve been travelling for more than 1,5 months. I felt at home in Argentina and going to miss it for sure. But where a story ends, a new story begins! And it starts in Lima.Â
Half of April I flew to Peru to the main capital Lima. There I met my friend Amy from back home. She wanted to travel with me for a month, so nice!. After a flight late at night, finding out I arrived at the wrong airport plus an additional cost of 50 euro to reach the other airport, a 4 hour stopover, and on top of that it had a flight to Lima with the worst airline I’ve ever had. The chairs were really small and hard, the temperature was 15 degrees and they don’t offer blankets. I said on the back to the window when suddenly the steward asked me and a couple others to move up front, because the aircraft is out of balance, WTF? That’s not reassuring at all. And I got a bad seat in the middle, instead of a window seat I reserved. Thank god I safely arrived in Peru. It was a bad start. but after that everything went smooth.
Hello Peru & Amy!
When I got my baggage I arranged a taxi and picked up my friend Amy who arrived the night before. Her hotel looked a little bit shady, but I saw Amy walking by through a window. “Amy Amy” I called through a small window. A lady inside startled. Just a couple of seconds Amy appeared. “Jaimy Jaimy!!” she said very happy! We were finally reunited. We hugged and went into the cab on our way to our Airbnb. Let the adventure begin!Â
Our first stop was Lima. The capital of Peru and the second largest city in South America. It has 13 million residents and 3 city centers, because one city center isn’t enough 😅 The city centers are the historic center, Miraflores and Baranco. Lima’s nickname is an octopus because the greater city areas spreads out very far, like the arms of an octopus. Quite funny because the city is located next to the pacific ocean.Â
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Finally reunited again!!Â
Traditions
We were in Lima with Eastern. We celebrated easter on a different way because we were simply in Peru and our were families back in Holland. But tradition stays tradition: Amy made an eastern breakfast and asked me to help the eastern bunny to find his eggs. Haha, I loved it! Later we got a text from the host: “Is everything okay? I saw you looking for something in the patio”. We laughed reading the text. It must have looked weird.Â
Later the afternoon we visited some churches, also a very old tradition for me. The churches in Lima were beautiful. Inside the choir was singing worship songs that sounded extra powerful because of the architecture inside, creating an echo.
Easter egg hunt
Miraflores
Sunset walk
Beautiful light house
Looking at paragliders flying off the cliff
Don't take the tourbus
The next day we took a bus tour to the historical site of the city. And it has quite a history. The city was first settled by indigenous groups as part of the Inca Empire. However, when the Spanish conquered the Incas in the 1600s the city became the capital of the Spanish colony. Lima was the capital of trade. All Lima was surround by a wall of 10 meters high to protect the city from pirates.
During our tour we walked through a shopping street and quickly looked at some old colonial buildings. We visited a famous church: the cathadral of lima with catacombs. It was a beautiful church, but this is not my cup of tea. I prefer to walk among mountains or in the jungle. But some change, and digging in culture & history, is good I think.Â
My guide for your Lima trip
At the end I liked the city but was not fond of it. The thing is, it’s very big and we only got to see a part of it. The best part we’ve seen was the lighthouse in Miraflores where you had a good view over the pacific sea, colorful gardens and parasailers. Our host said that Lima is a city to come to rest and eat because you have some nice restaurants over here. We did that, but not a lot more. After my visit I made a list of the best things to do in Lima to help you make the best time of your stay in lima. It’s also a note to myself if I ever come back to know what is the best thing to do 😉
- Rent a bike: What I didn’t do but is a very easy and nice way to explore the city, is to rent a bike. There are lots of places where you can rent a bike. They offer guided and self-guided biking tours.
- Visit Miraflores: Visit the lighthouse in Miraflores and go to the Parque del Amor.
- Visit Barancas: A nice picturesque place with lots of street art. Don't forget to see Puente de Los Suspiros.
- Go paragliding or learn how to surf. In Miraflowers there are lots of opportunities to learn how to paraglide or surf.
- Daytrips: if you're only visiting Lima, try some of the daytrips from Lima, like Palomino island, Paracas, Sandboarden and buddgy ride in Huacachina, Nazca lines, etc.