Lima is huge: nearly 10 millions habitants, the second largest city in the Americas, after Sao Paulo. One third of the Peruvians lives in Lima. It was founded by the Spanish in the 16th century and was the capital of the Spanish Empire in South America. Pretty much all the countries except Brasil. This article is divided in 2 parts: pictures of the city, and pictures of food!
La Plaza de las Armas is the historic centre of Lima, in the district called ‘Centro’, where the Government Palace, the City Hall and the Cathedrale of Lima are.
Plaza San Martin
The Peruvian Republican Guard Regiment:
I was staying in Miraflores, an expensive district of Lima, near the sea:
It is interesting to see that Lima is built on top of a 80m cliff, protecting it from eventual tsunamis.
The impressive shopping centre Larcomar is built ‘underground’, in the cliff, with stunning seaviews:
All restaurants are on top of the cliff, except the Rosa Nautica:
I went there with Alejandrina:
Miraflores central park is full of cats!!
One of the attractions I liked the most in Lima is the Parque de las Aguas, a park with numerous fountains and a sound and light show absolutely fantastic:
Lima is not an attractive place, a lot of tourists stay one night only and fly to the mountains. It’s huge, the traffic is just crazy, it takes forever to go from a district to another. Built in the desert, stuck between the sea and the mountain, it is often cloudy (especially now in winter), but it never rains: 13mm average per year! (600mm in Paris and London, 1729mm in Darwin). But I had a great time in Lima. I met interesting people, I went out, I visited, I worked, I was always busy… not sure I would live there, but I definitely recommend staying more than 1 night.
Getting to the interesting part: the food! I was very, very, very impressed! Eating is fully part of the culture, all Peruvians love talking about food, and their specialties from the coast, the forest or the mountains.
Food markets everywhere:
Fruits and vegetables I had never heard of before! It is said that there are over 3,000 species of potatoes in Peru!
I was lucky to be in Lima for Mistura, a huge yearly food festival on the beach:
The Cuy is a speciality from the mountain: it is a cute Guinea Pig, super tasty in the plate 😉
Rice and cooked banana are common in Peruvian dishes:
From the sea, the Ceviche: a succulent raw fish cooked in lemon:
The national alcohol is the Pisco, a sort of Tequila:
It is the base alcohol for the Pisco sour, henceforth one of my favourite cocktail ever:
That comes in all size, 😉
This drink is called Chicha de Jora, a juice of corn fermented with sugars for several days. mmmmmm
takemethere 
Good stuff. You saw more than we did.
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