20. Not your average capital city — Machu Picchu to the left series

After we came back from Colca Canyon, the boys continued to travel together to Lake Titicaca. I needed to make way back to Lima. Initially I planed to do Misti Volcano around Arequipa and headed to Lima airport directly. I changed my mind after spending three rough days out in some of the most rural areas I’ve been to and breathing in the dusty air on those dirt trail. Thinking through this one month in Peru, I was doing outdoors most of time. Now I was craving for a nice room with hot shower and to go to some nice restaurants in fresh clothes. I thought of those Canadians I met on Inca Trail. Maybe I should go to Lima and explore the food scene there for my last three days in Peru.

I was so grad that I made that decision.

From the Lima airport, the taxi took me along a scenic coastal highway to Miraflores. On my left hand side, a city was built above the cliff facing the sea. I later learned that’s Miraflores District itself and you can walk along the boardwalk overlooking the ocean and the highway down under.

I heard so many nice things about Miraflores from the same group of Canadians. Besides the beautiful and clean neighbourhood, it’s also very safe for travelers. From where I came from in Beijing and Hong Kong, an expensive neighbourhood could simply mean more space, more greenery and less hustle on the street. But in a city like Lima, it represented completely different lifestyles or even life or death issues in certain situations.

I really enjoyed my stay at Miraflores. I liked my walk passing those beautiful houses with lovely gardens. There were great restaurants, cafes and galleries. The streets were wide and clean. Everything was in order. When I travelled to Downtown, I felt the color of the city suddenly changed to grey. Further across a bridge in Downtown, I can see slum houses on the hills in another district. The tour guide told us even the local will be mugged in the daytime there. There were 20 districts in Lima. But the huge difference among them will make people think they were of different worlds.

Being able to see the multi facets of Lima up close was exciting. I wouldn’t do anything stupid as to try my luck walking into those districts, but I wouldn’t appreciate a bubble trip neither. Last time I was in Mexico City, I was with the girls. Lorena, who always acted as my big sister, organized this trip to her home country. We only stayed in Polanco area. I absolutely loved the hotel, restaurants and bars, but I did feel something was missing. This time on my own, I treaded carefully to balance authenticity and safety.

The place I stayed at Miraflores was a small family hotel built in a big house. The owners were a couple also living there. The wife was quite chatty. The couple were lawyers previously working in the US. They moved back to their home country after they retired. Their only son worked in a gallery in New York. Through the conversations, though the wife complained more and more upscale supermarkets replacing the markets and the higher tax rates in this district all making living in Miraflores more and more expensive, she did acknowledge they got what they paid for. This district can afford to hire more security guys on the street and spend more money to develop public areas.

Lima was acclaimed to have the best restaurant collection in the entire South America. I tried Chicha and Pacha Papa in Cusco. I can’t wait to check a few more in Lima, especially cevicherías. I went to La Mar for ceviche. It’s owned by Gaston Acurio, probably the most prominent and well-known Peruvian chef at the moment. Chicha was also his restaurant. I sat at the bar counter, the usual place for solo diner. The seafood was so fresh. The entire restaurant was chic and lively. The guy sitting beside me was a French. He rode a motorbike all the way from Bogotá passing through Ecuador and down to Lima. He looked like in his 40s. He was having lunch with a beautiful and quiet French lady, who, according to him, was a friend who came to meet him in Lima. I was thinking only a French or an Italian man can pull it off like this. I also went to another Gaston Acurio’s restaurant, Panchita, for anticuchos. It’s another traditional Peruvian food and was made from chicken’s heart. The owner lady from my hotel told me Gaston Acurio himself came to Panchita for lunch quite often. He clearly didn’t come the day I visited. The regret for my stay in Lima was I wasn’t be able to eat at Central. I heard it the first time from those Canadians from Inca Trail. It had a 17-course tasting menu offering you a tour to different regions of Peru organized by the altitude. When I tried to book it when I came to Lima, I only found out it’s fully booked for the next two months.

I usually didn’t spend time in capital cities. I thought they lacked characters. But my stay in Lima was surprisingly pleasant. I told a local guy that it was so great to live here. He looked at me feeling confusing, “Why do you say so? It’s cloudy 8 months out of a year.” Well, guess the grass was always greener somewhere else.

Before I headed to the airport at the midnight, I took one last stroll along the boardwalk. I felt peaceful hearing the ocean and watching the lights.

I had such a special time in Peru. I’d like to stay longer but I was also eager to get back to Hong Kong. There were so many things waiting for me to get sorted out.