Our time was coming to an end in Lima so we put together a ‘loose’ five day Lima itinerary. It only made sense to see how much we could comfortably do in just a very short time left in Lima. We had been in Peru for over 2 1/2 months & had spent our time strolling the neigborhoods of Yanahaura & Camay in Arequipa as well as our present neightborhood here in Pueblo Libre in Lima, all of which we enjoyed getting to know. Each definitely had a variety of sights you must see but Arequipa was covered in an earlier post so this post is dedicated to Lima. Since we are cognizant of the fact of what we can & cannot do in ‘cold’ weather or prefer not to, we spent our time adventuring in Lima that we had not previously seen. We may at some point be back during warmer weather to venture outside of the capital!
In no particular order here are the places we deemed necessary to see & what can easily be seen in a week or shorter time span on your trip to Lima, Peru.
Historical Lima Itinerary
Give this trip a day only because there are so many historical buildings that you can see. You may not see everything but what you can walk & see in four hours will leave you time to check out one of the restaurants or stop for a great cup of coffee & your feet will appreciate it. Tip: if nothing else write down the name of the building & you can search it later for back history. You are not going to remember everything you read or hear while on a walking tour.
Traditional Market
Located close to downtown Lima, this market is a sight to see. Rows & rows of fresh vegetables, fruits, fish & butchered chickens with a little kitchen here & there to catch a seat & sandwich/coffee. Speaking of chickens, this was my introduction to what a butchered chicken really looks like. I wondered why all the chickens hanging had ‘cherry tomatoes’ stuck on them. Well, the ladies at our coffee shop educated us on that! Those are not tomatoes – they are unformed chicken eggs! They laughed so hard when we asked the question. LOL. I consider muself a country girl but then we NEVER had chickens.
Parque de las Leyendas
This parque is located in Pueblo Libre neighborhood we stayed in. It was a good walk from apartment but well worth it. Price to get in amounted to $4 per person & we spent a good part of a day here. Animals, historical ruins, museum, birds, gardens & restaurant. Of course, there are the vendors but that didn’t bother us. Just be sure to wear your walking shoes. We did not walk all the animal areas but what we saw [seals, kangaroos, deer, etc] was nice & what kid is not entertained at the zoo.
Our favorite spot of the whole park was the gardens. The birds were so lovely & the flowers were beautiful. It was definitely a place we could have spent the whole day! Check out the colors of the flowers!
Barranco
Barranco is close to the top (with Miraflores & San Isidro) as the ‘hot spots’ for tourist to stay with loads of hotels, restaurants, etc. We went for an afternoon to meet our friend for lunch & then took a walk about to check out the area. It was beautiful & very “hip” with a bohemian feel. The highlight for us was first the church Parroquia La Santisima Cruz, built mid 1940s so it is a fairly ‘new’ church on the plaza.
I had to give you a close up of the entry to church above. Check out all that engraving!
Miraflores
We spent 1/2 day in Miraflores on a walking tour. AMAZING AirBnB host Jared far surpassed our expectations & just did an incredible job sharing with us the history of neighborhoods we walked & sights, interesting conversation for sure. He took us to another amazing local market & gave us a breakdown on the fruits & vegetable on display. We ended up at Love Park & the amazing view of the Pacific Ocean. This was one of three days of our stay in Lima that the sun actually came out. Here are some miscellaneous photos!
Forever Travel Friends
Although the weather was in mid 60s, we found ourselves wearing sweaters & jackets most days. The sky was a continuous dreary gray everyday [we had three days of beautiful blue sky] which left our bones somewhat achy BUT we really enjoyed the history & sights we were able to take in. The weather could have definently been better but after all we were in Peru during their winter, duh!
We won’t miss the weather but boy will we miss the many people we met who will forever have a spot in our hearts & hopefully will stay in touch.
Cafe Max – our go to coffee shop for absolutely wonderful coffee & four awesome ladies – Lucia, Eduarlis, Julia, Maria & Karol. Every day visiting the cafe for coffee was also a Spanish course for The Big Guy & I. So patient with us.
Mary – this little high energy local introduced us to a very popular Peruvian dish, Popeyes. LOL! Enough said.
Addiction Tattoo
Steven definitely has grown on us and will forever be in our thoughts.
Pueblo Libre
We’ve said from the start of our travels we want to be immersed in the neighborhoods of whatever country we land in & it was no different with Lima, Peru. Our AirBnb was located in the heart of a working neighborhood called Pueblo Lima & because of the locals we have met & formed bonds with, it will be forever in our hearts a great place to be. We were treated kindly & never had any issues.
We were asked toward the end of our month in Pueblo Libre “WHY are you there”? “You should be over in Miraflores.” I’m just going to say again we don’t travel to see tourist sites alone & we never stay in tourist hotels. That’s not us. I’m not going to say it was perfect – there were streets off main streets that were still dirt like but… Traffic was horrendous but when is it not for a city population of around 11 million? Streets were clean! We had our pick of bakeries & restaurants, etc. We really do want to get a feel for the locals – after all the intent of this traveling to begin with was to find a country/town that we felt comfortable enough in if we decided to move permanentlyl
Again, you know what you are looking for – we definitely know what we want! No judging here! Happy travels.
