June 05, 2020

PERU - PART I

Being in Lockdown has made me appreciate even more some of the amazing places I’ve been able to travel to over the last few years. Two years ago I was fortune enough to able to go to Peru with my best friend, Bodil. Whilst we have known each other all our lives, we hadn't until then been able to go on a proper trip just the two of us. Due to work and family commitments we could only be away for 7 days, so we had to prioritise. I had a long list of paces to go and thongs to see, but when I started looking at the actual logistics getting from A to B and the distances involved, it soon became very clear that we would really only have time to go to 2-3 places. So we decided on Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu.

LIMA

We had 36hrs to make the most we could out of Lima, jet lagged and tired but we didn't want to miss our chance. We checked into our charming hotel AUToR and woke early next morning. We started the morning at the Mario Testino museum in the Barranco district. Its housed in a beautiful building and is a ode to beauty. Both the museum and the shop is worth the visit. From there we went next door to Pedro de Osma Colonial Art Museum which was also beautiful and both the grounds and the building was amazing. We continued our walk through Barranco, taking in the local coffee shops, artisan and cultural offerings, and its architecture.

The whole morning we walked and walked, all along the costal front of the city taking in its beauty. We walked all over to El Mercado which was our chosen lunch stop. It could not have been more perfect, it was buzzing but we got a seat at the bar, and everything we had from Pisco Sours to the ceviche and fish tacos was absolutely delicious.

We wanted to try to get into Virgilio Martínez restaurant Central (no.6 in the world), which without a reservation is nearly impossible. But after a long wait and getting some Piscos on the corner we did get to dine at the bar. I must admit that fine dining and jet lag rarely works for me but it was fun nevertheless. We discovered that Martínez had just opened a new restaurant outside of Cuzco called MIL, and firmly added that to our Sacred Valley to do list.

The next day we had a lovely guide taking us around Lima to let us see the highlights and learn more about Limas history. We visited Huac Pucllana, an clay pyramid from the 700 AD and saw parts of the old colonial Lima; Plaza de Armas, Basilica de San Fransisco and the Government Palace. From there we went on to the beautiful Lorca museum where we had lunch in the garden and walked around the beautiful rooms filled with the dos exquisite pieces of Pre Colombian Art.