The charismatic country of our Latin American cousins: Peru (Lima)

05/05/2019

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In this week's article, I will present some of my impressions of my New Year's trip to Lima, the capital of Peru, the land of our cousins on the other side of the ocean, which stands out for its magnificent past civilizations like us. I will continue to convey my observations of this country which values its values, respects nature and has a positive approach.

After a busy and back breaking year, I wanted to get rid of my tiredness and go to a country where I could really enjoy going into the new year. So, for this, I only had on my mind to go back to Latin America. I also consulted my close circle, and among the countries I could go to, Peru came to the forefront.

The reason for this is that it has climate diversity where the desert and tropical climate are rare together in the world, it is home to the civilizations that I was very curious about, such as the Incase, and it has a very special kitchen which is accepted as a reference in Latin America. In other words, whenever food of a country from Latin America is talked about, Peruvian cuisine is usually the benchmark.

Although there were other alternatives, we chose Peru without hesitation because of all these prominent features. Of course, there is much to do in a colorful country like Peru. We organized the program as follows:

The Lima experience begins

I flew to Lima on December 27th. We stayed one night in Lima and then went to Cuzco, the ancient city of Peru. We went back to Lima from Cuzco on the 31st and spent New Year's Eve in Lima. One of my days in Lima, we rented a car and went to Ica. I returned to the country the very next day of my visit to Ica.

In this article, I will discuss the time I spent in Lima. Then I will share two more articles about Cusco and then Ica. Now let's explore Lima.

After a comfortable journey, I arrived in Lima. However, I suffered some misfortune as soon as I landed. My suitcase didn't come out. Normally, when a suitcase doesn’t come out, it creates serious problems. Because I have travelled across the globe many times for many years, I usually keep this aspect in mind. So, I take a small suitcase with my clothes and main items that will do me for 3-5 days on the plane and I check in the big suitcase. I didn't worry that much when the big suitcase which I checked in didn’t appear. Because the little suitcase I was talking about was with me. But of course, I made the necessary arrangements and notifications. Then I went to the Country Club Hotel for the first night. Country Club Hotel (https://www.countryclublimahotel.com/) is one of Lima's iconic hotels founded in 1927. It is a wonderful building; the quality of service is high, and the food is delicious. It is located in San Isidro, one of the best areas of Lima. I stayed one night in the hotel, even though I stayed for a total of 6 hours (I entered at 9pm in the evening, I set out at 3am in the morning) I was able to analyze the hotel really well. I highly recommend it.

We had to leave at 3 in the morning because we were going to fly to Cusco the next day by 04.50am. I will discuss my time in Cusco in my next article.

On Monday, December 31, we returned from Cusco to Lima in the afternoon. This time I made a reservation at the Swissotel in Lima because I know the Istanbul one is run well. Swissotel Lima also didn’t let us down as their quality of service and quality of staff was really good.

The miracle of the small suitcase

I made a reservation for New Year's Eve at Lima 27. I used the traditional method. I asked the hotel concierge and they recommended this wonderful place within walking distance of the hotel. I quickly went and checked in and confirmed our booking. Up until then, I was moving on the assumption that KLM had already sent my suitcase to Swissotel, but then I learned that this was not the case. My suitcase was at the airport and they advised that if they tried to send it that day, that it would arrive at the hotel at 11pm.

I was going to be out for the New Year's Eve celebration anyway, so I decided to go to the airport and pick up my luggage myself. The little suitcase I brought with me got me through the Cusco holiday, but I didn't have any clothes left for the New Year celebrations. Venting my frustrations a little, I took off on the road to the airport in Lima. I picked up my luggage from KLM and went back to the hotel. I was ready for the New Year’s celebrations. Here are the images of Lima 27:

Even though the prices were seriously expensive, I was able to ascertain whether or not making a reservation here was the right decision. As my father’s hometown Gaziantep’s province number is 27, the number 27 inevitably reminded me of Gaziantep's license plate. For this reason, the name Lima 27 made an interesting call out to me. Of course, there wasn’t any Gaziantep dishes there. The dishes they gave in the form of a fixed menu included a very different presentation of Peruvian cuisine and a fusion of other national cuisines. Then the vibe at dinner just got better with addition of live jazz music. We enjoyed the food and music until late in the evening and returned to our hotel which was within walking distance.

The next day, after a wonderful New Year's Eve, we planned a comfortable day and organized a city tour.

After New Year’s, we divided the week into two different tours. The first included the Miraflores and Barranco regions to get to know our immediate surroundings. It was pleasant to get to know the area. As my twin brother's name is Baran, I remembered my twin in the Barranco area. Barranco is one of Lima's colorful landmarks. Here are the shots I took at Barranco:

For example, there is one bridge in Puente de los Suspiros. You make a wish, hold your breath and if you can walk over the bridge like this, then your wish comes true. Even though this was highly unlikely, I found myself crossing the bridge three times. I made three wishes: one for my health, one for my private life and one for my business life. Let's see. This bridge was also referred to as the Bridge of Sighs and has inspired many artists.

Puente de los Suspiros

In the second tour, we went to Plaza de Armas in the center of the city, where the Spaniards chose Peru as their center when they first entered Peru and organized the structure around them. I would also like to share the link of the tour we used here: https://www.mirabusperu.com/collections/tours/products/lima-de-dia

Since the city was founded in the 16th century, this area which has been the center of Lima with its great colonial-style architecture and is located in the center of Lima, is in the neighborhood of La Plaza de Armas, La Plaza San Martín, La Plaza del Congreso, El Parque de la Reserva , el Parque de la Exposición, el Paseo de los Héroes Navales, el Palacio de Justicia which are just some of the attractions available to visitors.

Here are the photos and videos I took in the city centre:

After this tour, on the way back, I forgot my sunglasses somewhere, so I thought I'd buy sunglasses from a street vendor before I got on the bus, but we missed the bus while negotiating with the street vendor guy. Whilst the glasses I bought were creaky and shabby, they kept me going for that whole week. Good thing we missed the bus. We walked the way back and discovered many different areas of Lima.

I would like to share the museums and restaurants we visited in Lima that week. If you're on your way to Lima, add these places to your list of things to see:

Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI)

The word “Mali” is the abbreviation of one of Peru's most important museums, the Museo de Arte de Lima and in Turkish, “Mali” is the abbreviation from the name Mehmet Ali. Even the chairs at MALI that belonged to a designer were part of an interesting exhibition taking place in this wonderful building.

Enjoying the exclusive designer chair in the inner courtyard...

Yoko Ono's exhibition was the most eye catching and attractive in this wonderful building which had a beautiful inner courtyard. In the exhibition titled “Free Universe” which contained many important messages about life, you understand the depth of Yoko Ono and why John Lennon and her chose each other as life partners.

Here are some of those messages:

Note: More information about the museum can be found on the website: http://www.mali.pe/

Here are two photos I took of the park where the museum is located:

Mate Museum (Mario Testino Museum)

This museum which opens the doors to another world, is home to photos of famous celebrities taken by the famous Peruvian photographer, Mario Testino. In an environment that I really enjoyed, we had the chance to see this colorful world from a different perspective and listen to its stories. I would like to share some of the pictures I liked in the museum.

Note: As soon as you enter the museum, you can see the words MATE and Mario Testino separately written which I then said to my friend in a joking matter: “If MATE is the abbreviation of Mario Testino, then I can build a museum called SESÜ in the future”. I asked the staff of the museum and indeed I was right, the word MATE consists of the first two letters of Mario Testino's first and last names. I had definitely established the bond. Details of this wonderful museum can be found on the website: https://www.mate.pe/en/

Museo Pedro de Osma

Located next to MATE, this museum offers different alternatives. The museum has two sections. The first is the introductory section with different porcelain, statues and visuals about Christianity. To tell you the truth, this section didn’t take a lot of my interest. However, at the back of the museum; I liked the part where they told the stories of the civilizations before and after the Incas. You feel delighted to see how far ahead of the civilizations that were at that time and what they achieved. Even though we are individuals who live in a the time of the fastest development in the history of humanity, when you see the civilization of that period and the determination to analyze everything in the natural cycle, you are both amazed and understand that there is much we need to take as an example. As someone who has put sustainability at the center of his life, I am able to share these with you.

Vernacula Gallery

This gallery which reflects the positive sense of art in Lima has a courtyard where you can drink coffee. I highly recommend this gallery where I thoroughly enjoyed browsing and shopping.

The restaurants confirming the reputation of the gourmet city of Lima

After having a nice dinner at Lima 27 and after the wonderful New Year's Eve event, the next evening, we wanted to taste the great tastes of Lima again.

From looking at www.worldtheworlds50best.com, we decided to visit the best restaurants in Latin America voted in 2018 and decided to go to Astrid Y Gaston, a gourmet restaurant. However, when we made a spontaneous decision to visit this restaurant, as it was the day after New Year, this restaurant was closed so we decided to take our chances and went to the restaurant next door called Papachos. Good thing we did, we loved the taste of this simple restaurant. They made special guacamole which added color to our table and evening. Here is the video of those moments:

We later investigated that Papachos, a local hamburger chain prepared with the Peruvian touch of its menu, belonged to Gastón Acurio Jaramillo, known as Peruvian cuisine ambassador. You can this at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gast%C3%B3n_Acurio.

If you have time, I recommend you to try Maido and Central from this list (www.worldtheworlds50best.com). Of course, you need to make reservations before going to these popular restaurants.

The next day we walked around Lima and after doing a 10 km run, we thought that we deserved the 2000 calorie Churro dessert, which is very popular in Latin America, and as I have always said, "sport is about physical and mental health, it gives you the freedom to eat." Whilst riding our bikes, we took a break at the most popular Churro store in Lima. Their “dulce de leche” churro was absolutely amazing (for those that don’t know what “dulce de leche”, it’s a wonderful version of caramel blended with milk).The route design of the bicycle tour in Lima was also great. Making bike paths in the most important places of the city makes the city liveable. Having bike paths surrounding the two districts (Barranco and Miraflores) without investing in the city and regardless of the rent value; is a very good example of sustainable green city development. I wish the same for all other cities. I would like to share this link as an example of the place where you can rent a bike: http://www.mirabiciperu.pe/en/

The bicycle path created in the city is used very well even when the city is the most crowded.

Here is a map of the bike path created in Miraflores.

I enjoyed cycling around the city for hours. This is an image of those moments.

After a peaceful and enjoyable day in the neighborhood of Barranco, where green and art are intertwined, we went to Ayahuasca, which was transformed into a trendy restaurant-bar in a colonial-style pavilion. Each room was designed with a different creativity of the kiosk with beautiful music and pleasant environment, in which we had a very entertaining evening.

At our last dinner in Lima, we decided to try Rafael, which is on the list of the best restaurants in South America and also featured in CNN Travel and many other sources. When all the dishes we ordered were combined with ingredients from the Andes, the Pacific Ocean and the rich vegetation of Lima, with the creativity and talent of the Peruvian Chiefs, we experienced a wonderful feast of Lima cuisine. We also liked the simple and modern decoration of the restaurant.

Being on other side of the ocean, Peru is a country that is very similar to us with its characters, and somewhere we can take examples from with its art, cuisine, outlets and positive outlook on life. Lima is also the capital of Peru and the most modern, most active city. I strongly recommend all my readers to go to Lima for some part of their lives. I would like to take this opportunity to share the pictures I took on the Lima coast and downtown: