Don't know where we're going, but we're making great time.
Tammy is the one with the 20 pound brain and I’ll let her continue to write about topics for those who dwell in their cerebrums. Me, I’m a simple guy, more of a brainstem kind of operator so I want to boil down Lima to what mouth breathers really need to know. For the person…
It may seem a little indulgent to spend the weekend going through historical sites in Lima, but as it only costs 5-10 soles per person to visit most of them (that’s $1.50-$3.00 at current exchange rates) we’re not going to miss much. Huaca Huallamarca A “huaca” is a designation of a sacred site. Most of…
A typical Thanksgiving Day meal in Peru was always out of the question for us. We don’t even like turkey, cranberries and mashed potatoes when we’re in the states — we’re more of a lasagna or chili household. So it wasn’t out of character for us to choose a more offbeat holiday meal at a…
I don’t recall visiting a fire station being on our list for Lima but when living like a local it’s good to know your emergency service providers. Actually my LinkedIn contact, Dante Navarro Pereyra is a paid fire-fighter at the airport and also volunteers at his neighborhood fire station. It’s an important distinction between his…
If you’re in Lima, you don’t have far to go to experience ancient history. Just hop a cab to the Huaca Pucllana archaeological site in the upscale Miraflores District. Entrance fees are s/.15 per person ($4.50 USD) and they run guided tours in Spanish and English alternating every half hour. You can take a tour…
Clearly Peru is a different country, and there are a boatload of obvious differences in living here versus the United States: currency, geography, language, and customs. However, there are decidedly unexpected things that barrel at you out of left field and leave you staring with a surprised, “Huh, that just happened,” sort of feeling. I’m…
A bouganvillea-draped hacienda in the heart of Lima is the home of the Larco Museum and the largest collection of pre-historic Peruvian artifacts to be found in the world. The collection includes examples of quipu, or Incan counting ropes; funerary clothes and jewelry; ceremonial ceramics; and ceramics used in ritual human sacrifice. The museum also…
Initially it may seem out of character that we decided to go tour Basílica y Convento de San Francisco de Lima. Sounds a little stodgy for two high-octane throw-caution-to-the-wind explorers like Tammy and I, but read on. The church and monastery were completed in 1674. Though it survived several earthquakes intact in 1687 (8.7M) and 1746…
There’s a lot of information out there about Peruvian currency, so I’m not going to cover the usual stuff about where to carry your wallet while you’re shopping for llama-themed sweaters or how to spot a fake bill. We’ve all got Google at our fingertips and there’s more than enough info out there about that….
One of the things we made a point to do last week at the Mercado de Magdalena was to pick up fruits that we’d been told we must try while in Peru — cherimoya, granadilla, and lúcuma. These fruits are native to Peru though they can be found in a few other countries in South America,…