Our first day in Lima, Peru

We landed last night on our flight from Houston at 10:30, flying in low over a bay that seemed to have hundreds of cargo ships at anchor at the Port of Callao before touching down just as we crossed the coastline. A quick check of Wikipedia showed that Callao was the main port for the Spanish in the Pacific and dates back to the mid 16th Century. While we lost time waiting for our stroller, we were delighted to be able to take the line for parents with children and shave off at least thirty minutes of waiting in immigration.

We were quickly through the airport and into our taxi, which had us at the Sheraton Lima in half an hour. But not before we went through a roadblock on the main road that involved about one hundred policemen, including special operations soldiers in heavy gear.

Day one in Lima, Peru

Our first day in Lima started with a trip to Miraflores, to the west of downtown and on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. A sort of Santa Monica-meets-South America, Miraflores is the reason anything you need can be found in Lima, from Brooks Brothers to l’Occitane en Provence. There’s no shortage of Starbucks, either. We spent a little time at Larcomar, the shopping center built into the cliff just above the sea before heading toward Parque Kennedy, named for the U.S. president that was so popular in South America for being both a Catholic and for starting the Peace Corps, which sent waves of volunteers to promote development in countries like Peru.

Parque Kennedy

Parque Kennedy is clearly a cat retreat of sorts, and we saw dozens of cats of every type, all appearing reasonably well fed and looking like they owned the place. We saw signs saying that only authorized people can feed the cats and there were white bowls in various places that were likely used for food and water.

Because it was a Sunday, there were also many artists showing their paintings, which were mostly Peru-themed with ladies in fedoras, in traditional costumes, mostly in rural settings. While the paintings were clearly for tourists, they were really quite colorful and attractive.

Ceviche and canchita

We also had our first ceviche of our trip,which is a lime-marinated raw seafood salad of octopus, clams, shrimp and fish. Of course we had to wash it down with the local soft drink of choice, Inca Kola, which has a taste similar to bubble gum and takes some getting used to.

Our ceviche was served, as is usual, with canchita, an unpopped popcorn that is served in a bowl the way olives or bread would be served in other places. This type of corn is made from maiz chulpe, a South American variety that doesn’t ‘pop’ like our popcorn but instead stays intact and tastes delicious. It is addictive, in fact.

We finished off the evening at Mango, a restaurant that is in the form of a terrace sticking out over the cliff at Miraflores. We shared our first pisco sour (it was delicious) and had mediocre hamburgers but an excellent view of the ocean as the sky darkened.