Day 18 - Miraflores and a Magic Water Show (Lima)

Lima, Peru

After a crazy day yesterday of flying to Arequipa 1000km away just to visit it for a few hours, today, I purposely made sure that today would be a laid back, easy day.

I got up at 9:00 and, in normal life, that would be early for me. However, out of the 4 of us in the room, I was the only one still there at 9:00.

Yup, hostel life is just different.

Since I had the room to myself, which is kind of a luxury, I spent a couple hours this morning just making sure I had all my ducks in a row for the final week of this trip.

After rearranging a couple of things and booking a couple more things, I was out the door at 11:00.

Huaca Pucllana

The plan today was simple.

I was going to go out and explore the Miraflores neighborhood I was staying in.

It’s the neighborhood where most of the tourists stay but there’s some gems in and around the city worth visiting.

Probably the most famous of them is the Huaca Pucllana.

This adobe and clay pyramid from ancient times is smack dab in the middle of a residential area.

There’s the most touristy restaurant attached to it and, well, people said I should go there for lunch.

So, that’s how I ended up at a fine dining touristy restaurant today.

I arrived at just before noon and, I didn’t realize it at the time, but they were just preparing to open up.

After waiting in the lobby with 4 other tables, I was finally sat at a table on the patio overlooking the pyramid structure.

For lunch I chose the Arroz con Pato which is duck confit with rice.

I hadn’t had this Peruvian dish yet so I was happy to cross another menu item off my “to-do” list.

This meal wasn’t cheap at s/76 ($25) compared to all the other meals I’ve had on this trip but, hey, that’s what you get eating at a restaurant at a tourist site.

By 1:15 I was done lunch. Time to go see this structure I’ve been staring at for the last hour.

There’s a little ticket office just outside and, when I arrived, there was no line.

Of course now there was.

Ugh.

The line moved so slowly too and I eventually found out why as you could hear a 1980s style dot matrix printer printing out each ticket individually as people paid.

So.

Slow.

Now, the only way you can walk around the grounds here is with a one hour guided tour that’s included with your admission.

As I stood in line I watched as a guide gathered a group waiting inside the gate to join him on the English tour.

Come on damn line! I really don’t want to wait another half hour.

I eventually got to the front of the line and paid my s/15 ($5) and went inside the gate.

The tour had already been going on for 10 minutes but they were still all close to the entrance.

I asked an employee if I could just join the tour that had started and while one person said no, another one lifted a rope and let me inside to join them.

Small victories…

As for the tour, well, I wasn’t really in a “tour” mindset. I just wanted to walk around the grounds so I just kind of tuned out the guide as I snapped photos.

The clay pyramids were kind of cool and there was a little pen at the back with animals including alpacas and guinea pigs.

Aw, the guinea pigs were so cute!

Sorry I ate your friend the other day buddy. I didn’t realize you were so cute!

Oceanside walk

At 2:20, a full 2 1/2 hours after I arrived, I was leaving Huaca Pucllana.

It was much longer than I intended to be there but, you know what, I had the whole day free so it didn’t matter.

Plus, I was off to explore the area along the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

If you walk about a half hour you’ll eventually hear the sounds of ocean waves.

All of a sudden you’re in a park with green grass, cool sculptures, and amazing views.

It was here in Miguel Grau Park that I finally caught my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean here in Lima.

The park is perched high atop a mountain looking down at a 6 lane highway along the coastline.

I continued walking from the park along the coastline passing the Faro La Marina lighthouse until I reached Park Love.

Park Love is a small park lined with ceramic benches and a bridge filled with locks placed there by people in love.

Ah, love is in the air!

Well, for others. For me, not so much, but ya never know…

After walking almost 10km this afternoon, I was back at the hostel at just before 4:00.

Time to relax for a while.

Dinner at a Chevicheria

By 5:30 my stomach was grumbling.

Okay, okay, I hear you!

Let’s get some dinner.

Again, I opted for a fancier place to eat instead of some street food.

There’s a Chevicheria nearby called Barra Maretazo that is known to be one of the best in the area.

In case it wasn’t obvious, a Chevicheria, is a restaurant that specializes in ceviche dishes.

I wasn’t sure how big the portion sizes were so I ordered a couple of dishes.

Obviously I ordered a ceviche, this one a mixed one with different fish, shrimp, and octopus.

I also order a crab salad with avocado and tomato cause, well, it intrigued me.

To my surprise, before my dishes came out, I was given a little free starter plate of a causa and ceviche with a shot of tiger leche.

Causa is a fancy potato dish topped with either seafood or meat and tiger leche is basically a ceviche shot.

Well, that was a nice little touch.

Dinner was great. The dishes, by the way, were not small and I could have easily just had one plate as a meal.

Another s/100 ($33) out of my pocket but, again, while that’s alot for typical Peruvian food, it’s still not that much for dinner back home.

By 6:15 I was done dinner and it was time for something I was pretty excited about.

Transit Chaos

Oh yeah, no, transit chaos was not what I was excited about.

It was going to bring me to it…

Eventually…

I walked over to the metrobus stop where I had previously taken a bus into the city and, unlike last time, there was a ridiculously long line waiting for the bus.

I reluctantly went to the back of the line and waited.

Soon after a bus came and all of a sudden the entire line started to rush to it.

It was like a wave of people and I just joined in.

What I thought would be a long wait was over quickly as we all got onto this first bus.

Of course, what I quickly realized, was that this was an express bus and, sadly, it wouldn’t be stopping at the station I wanted to go to.

Well, shit!

So, when the bus finally stopped at a station, I squeezed my way off the bus as more people trying to get their way on.

Well, that was unpleasant.

I got off at a station about 3 before the one I wanted.

No worries though, I’ll just wait here and catch the next normal bus going in that direction.

Oh, look, another line.

No worries, I’ll go to the back of it and wait.

This time I won’t be tricked by the rush of people for the express buses.

Sure enough, shortly after another express bus came by and the big rush of people pushed for it while myself and about a dozen other people just keep standing in line waiting for the regular bus.

This was actually kind of funny to watch.

Then another express bus and another rush of people.

So funny.

And then another. And another. And, where the hell is the regular bus, already?

The humor of the situation was quickly fading.

Finally a normal B bus stopped.

Full.

Well sonofabitch!

Finally, after waiting in this line for a half hour and watching countless express buses come and go, I was finally able to squish my way onto the bus.

What was supposed to take 20 minutes almost took me an hour tonight.

Here I was at the Estadio Nacional station where across from the stadium was Parque de la Reserva.

I had finally arrived.

Circuito Magico del Agua

Parque de la Reserva is known for their magnificent water fountains and every night there are three fountain light shows at 7:15, 8:15, and 9:10.

My plan was to get here for the earliest show and, wouldn’t you know it, despite the transit chaos, I was here right in time for the first show.

I have fond memories of the fountain shows in Bucharest last summer and was pretty excited to see another show.

This show used different sprays along with lights and music to tell a story. They even somehow reflected lasers onto the full sheets of water to literally show animations.

It wasn’t as profound and, frankly, awesome as the ones I saw in Bucharest but it still was pretty cool.

After the show, I was again heading out of the park to try my hand at Lima transit again.

This time heading in the opposite direction, there wasn’t a line.

I did get a little worried when the first bus that arrived was completely full but then another bus came mere minutes later that we were able to squeeze on.

And, yes, I do mean squeeze.

I was in full “protect the backpack” mode on this one.

A dessert adventure

Luckily there was a nice walk through Kennedy Park awaiting me after all that craziness.

People were out, the cats were out, and then I spied a little food cart that was offering dessert items.

One of those items was mazamorra morada which is like a blueberry pie filling, made with Peruvian purple corn, pineapple, apple, lime and dried fruit.

I hadn’t had the opportunity to try this dish yet so I was pretty excited to have found this cart.

The smallest cup went for s/10 ($3) and the only bill left in my wallet was one of those stupid s/100 bills you get out of the bank machine.

I asked if it was okay to pay with the large bill and she shook her head no.

Sigh.

Okay, gotta formulate a plan on how to break this stupid bill down.

I spotted a convenience store across the street so I went in there to buy a cheap bottle of water.

The clerk there wasn’t having it either.

I mean, I was trying to buy something priced at the equivalent of 70 cents with what was essentially a $33 bill.

Okay, new plan.

What to do, what to do?

Eventually I just walked back to the hostel, got my bill changed at the front desk, and walked back to the park.