We arrived in Lima on Wednesday afternoon and headed straight to San Isidro where Lolo’s friend Roxana lives with her family. After her two adorable daughters (Lara and Leonor) had fallen asleep, we enjoyed some refreshing chilcanos (pisco with lemon juice and ginger ale) and an absolutely delicious barbecue, prepared by the expert hand of Roxana’s husband, Pedro.

The next day, Lolo was very excited to meet up with her little brother Charly, who we had not seen since the wedding. We had brunch at a place called Pan de la Chola and ordered half the menu.

Charly then took us for a walk around his neighborhood and showed us his apartment, where he gave us our own private chocolate tasting, involving a bag full of chocolate bars and a map, on which he showed us where the cacao from each bar comes from.

Sugar fueled, we continued the tour and walked along the ocean and observed the surfers, took a few pictures in the Parque del Amor and did a little shopping in the Largomar (a shopping center perched on a cliff above the ocean).

A small surfing observation – the sport seems to be very popular and in Latin America and we’ve seen many a kitted-out surfer walking their board along the beach or even paddling in the deeper waters, beyond the breaking waves. The act of surfing, however, has rarely been observed until we reached Lima, where we were impressed to witness a busy “real” surfing culture.

Next stop was a restaurant called Central, which we swung by to check on our booking for that evening, since we hadn’t received a confirmation. Lucky we did, since it appeared that we’d only booked to be in the bar. A little charm and some polite smiles later and we left, having been assured a table in the restaurant. Serious crisis averted – Central is one of Latin America’s top restaurants and our plan to dine there had been hatched almost as soon as Ed’s employer had given us the green light to go travelling.

Next stop was lunch, via Parque Kennedy, which, for some reason, is full of cats. Charly had planned to take us to a small place on the seafront for ceviche, however, en route wanted to show us his favourite sandwich hang-out, called La Lucha.

The temptation was too much and we ended up munching our way through a selection of sanguchos (sandwiches), including: chicharron (pork belly), lechon a la lena (wood smoked piglet) and pavo a la lena (wood smoked turkey). These were seriously good sandwiches with special onions and sweet potatoes – a Canary Wharf franchise perhaps?

Post lunch Lolo was keen to explore, since she lived in Lima for a few months some 12 years ago. We went on a mission to find her old house. Unfortunately, the area was being remodeled and small houses had been sold to allow new skyscrapers to rise. Much to Charly and Ed’s amusement, all she found was a construction site…

Sadly, her favourite restaurant had also disappeared and been replaced by an inferior Italian chain. However, the historical site of Huaca Pucllana was still there.

This mud pyramid was originally part of a much larger Lima Culture community and was built between 200AD and 700AD.

We decided to take the tour and were a bit shocked to see the guide make a few personal phone calls during the visit. Charly told us that that was not so surprising in Peru. We climbed the tour, chatted to a few Llamas and left with decidedly dusty feet.

That evening Ed removed his beard (!) and we left, with Roxy, for dinner at Central to celebrate Charly’s belated birthday. True to his word, the maitre d’ escorted us from the bar to a table in the restaurant, a prime spot, directly opposite the kitchen. The menu was designed according to altitude, so each dish appeared along with a number, indicating the altitude at which the main ingredient could be found.

We opted for the 12 course tasting menu and a couple of matched wines for Charly and Ed. There were some standout dishes, which included the clams with sweet cucumber and lime (-20m), the river snails (180m) and the Low Andes mountain beef with quinoa (1,800m).

On Friday morning we met up with Charly for more sightseeing and headed to Barranco, where we started with a visit to the Contemporary Art Museum. The main exhibition consisted of a number of sound and music installations, however practically nothing worked – how very contemporary!

The tranquil café in the gardens though was a hit and we cooled-off in the shade with iced coffee. The rest of the morning was spent exploring Barranco, which consisted of many independent shops, vibrant restaurants and various bits of street art (graffiti?). We ended-up in another café for air conditioning and more iced coffee – it was a boiling hot day.

That afternoon we left Charly to his studying and boarded the family car for a weekend excursion to the beach. Leonor (Roxana and Pedro’s youngest daughter) was extremely excited to have us in the car and continued to chat away to us the entire trip.

An hour or so later we arrived at a beautiful gated complex opposite the ocean, complete with an enormous swimming pool and houses stretched out along the beach.

Lara and Leonor immediately left on their mini scooters to hit the beach, whilst the rest of us retreated to the roof terrace for drinks and views of the ocean and the sunset.

That evening the four of us went for dinner at Playa Asia. This beach plays host to a huge complex of restaurants, bars, shops and some enormous clubs. We had an excellent dinner – best polpo (octopus) we have eaten on our trip to date – which our extremely generous hosts insisted on paying for – very kind, thank you!

Intrigued at the sheer scale of the place and the growing crowd all in search of a big night out, we set ourselves up in a bar with some drinks and embarked on some expert people-watching. It was an eye opening experience since the girls all seemed to be limited to only 10 grams of clothing!

On Saturday morning (E nursing a bit of a hangover) we followed the family to the beach. Whilst they set-up camp, we carried on for a stroll along the beach. Moments later we were joined by a smiling Leonor, who was also keen to explore what the beach had to offer. It was very amusing watching her scramble up our legs to avoid getting her feet wet.

We then spent the best part of an hour creeping up on the many red crabs that littered the far end of the beach. Keeping quiet long enough for the crabs to emerge from their holes was a tough challenge but we managed to get a few good shots!

When we came back, Ed had two little beauty assistants making sure he had sunscreen sufficiently applied to his lower left leg and his face. The addition of sand had the benefit of a good exfoliation! Beauty session over we retreated to the pool, helping Lara and Leonor become experts at jumping from their dad’s shoulders and joining in the water fights!

Our Lima beach experience ended with a delicious lunch of ceviche and tiraditos (a mix between a sashimi and carpaccio marinated in a delicious mango sauce). We then headed back to Lima by bus to spend more time with Charly.

Our last night with Charly consisted of drinks back in Barranco. We found an old colonial mansion called Ayawaska, which has been renovated as a bar and consisted of a number of beautifully furnished rooms and terraces. We enjoyed some delicious cocktails and a small canapé of lightly battered prawns.

We had dinner at amaZ, a restaurant founded by Pedro Miguel, who had set-up the place to showcase many of the ingredients and cooking techniques he had discovered in the Amazon.

The experience was unique and we enjoyed exciting food in a great atmosphere. Sadly, however, Ed’s exploits at the beach had clearly exhausted him and by the end of dinner he was close to collapsing. Alas, no late night Lima fun – we said farewell to Charly and caught a taxi home to bed.

On Sunday, we woke up early to head the airport and catch our flight to Tumbes, a city North of Peru and quite close to the border with Ecuador, our next destination.

We are ashamed to admit that we had a McDonald breakfast (particularly off the back of having eaten such good food in and around Lima) – the only reason we mention it, however, is that whilst eating we witnessed something completely bizarre.

Two tables away from us, we saw a guy, in full view of the entire food court (and not to mention numerous security cameras) take a handgun out from under his trousers and put it in an empty pizza box. He then walked off, pizza box under his arm, towards the exit. We just sat there amazed at what we’d just seen, unsure whether to alert security or quietly shuffle off to our gate. We shuffled…

Next stop: Guayaquil, Ecuador

Highlights:

• Hospitality chez Roxy, Pedro, Lara and Leonor; thanks for being such terrific and generous hosts!
• Catching-up with Charly and exploring Lima together; particularly Barranco and all that delicious food!

Gastro Highlights:

• Central and amaZ; highly recommended stops on the Lima gastro circuit
• The sandwiches at La Lucha
• Polpo at Playa Asia; worth the trip alone