City Guide - Peru

30 November -0001

0Comments | Comment on this Article

LIMA is a boisterous, macho city, relaxed and laid-back, yet having an underlying energy, with money and expensive cars ruling the roost - you can buy anything in Lima if you have the cash, particularly in Lima Centro , the colonial zone of the city. The city's population has increased dramatically in the last thirty years, swollen with people arriving from the high Andes to make camp in the shanty towns that line the highways.

The main plazas, once attractive meeting places, are now thick with pickpockets, exhaust fumes and, not infrequently, riot police. The climate in Lima seems to set the mood: in the height of summer (Dec-March) it buzzes with energy and excitement, though during the winter months (June-Sept) a low mist descends over the arid valley in which the city sits, forming a solid grey blanket from the beaches almost up to Chosica in the foothills of the Andes - a phenomenon undoubtedly made worse by traffic-related air pollution.

Lima is brimful of culture and heritage, though it's not obvious at first. On a strictly guidebook level, there are the museums (the best of which are excellent and should definitely be visited before setting off for Machu Picchu or any of Peru's other great Inca ruins), the Spanish churches in the centre, and some distinguished mansions in the wealthy suburbs of Barranco and Miraflores. But in their own way, too, there's a powerful atmosphere in the pueblos jovenes, where Peru's landless peasants have made their homes. In addition, Lima's noisy, fast-moving frenetic craziness is mellowed by the presence of the sea and beaches. The mix of lifestyles and peoples is a fascinating world of its own: from the snappy, sassy, cocaine influenced criolla style - all big, fast American cars, cruising the broad main streets - to the easy-going, happy-go-lucky attitude that can seem a godsend when you're trying to get through some bureaucratic hassle. And, as anyone who stays here more than a week or so finds, Limeño hospitality and kindness are almost boundless once you've established an initial rapport.

Laid out across a wide, flat alluvial plain, Lima fans out in long, straight streets from its heart, Lima Centro . The old town focuses on the colonial Plaza Mayor (often still called the Plaza de Armas) and the more modern Plaza San Martin , which are separated by some five blocks of the Jirón de la Unión , Lima Centro's main shopping street. At its river end, the Plaza Mayor is fronted by the Cathedral and palacio de Gobierno, while there's greater commercial activity around Plaza San Martin - money-changing facilities, large hotels and airline offices are all based here. The key to finding your way around the old part of town is to acquaint yourself with these two squares and the streets between.

You will either arrive in Lima by plane , landing at the Jorge Chavez airport, 7km northwest of the city centre, by bus , most of which arrive in the older, more central areas of town, or possibly by train from the Andes, right into the city centre. Driving into the city is really only for the adventurous, as the roads are highly congested with sometimes frustrating traffic levels plus a general madness of fellow drivers, which will either send you insane or turn you into an equally erratic and unpredictable road hog. Wherever you arrive, it can be a disorienting experience, as there are few landmarks to register the direction of the centre of town.

Among South American capitals, Lima ranks alongside Rio and Buenos Aires for its selection of places to eat and drink , with restaurants, bars and cafés of every type and size crowding every corner of the city, from expensive hotel dining rooms to tiny set-meal street stalls. Regardless of class or status, virtually all Limeños eat out regularly, and having a meal out usually ends up as an evening's entertainment in itself.

Predictably, Lima boasts some of the best restaurants in the country, serving not only traditional Peruvian dishes, but cuisines from all parts of the world. Seafood is particularly good here, with ceviche - raw fish or seafood marinated in lime juice and served with onions, chillis, sweetcorn and sweet potatoes - being the speciality. Many of the more upmarket restaurants fill up very quickly, so it is advisable to reserve in advance; where this is the case we have included the phone number. All the restaurants listed below are open roughly 10.30am-11pm daily unless otherwise indicated.

It's a fairly simple matter to find your way around the rest of this huge, spread-eagled city. Almost every corner of it is linked by a regular municipal bus service , known to everyone as El Bussing, with flat-rate tickets (around $0.2) bought from the driver as you board. In tandem with these are the privately owned microbuses , older and smaller, more colourful and equally crowded, but again with flat rates (25¢). Quickest of all Lima transport, combi colectivos race from one street corner to another along all the major arterial city roads. You'll see "Todo Arequipa" or "Todo Benavides", for example, chalked up on their windscreens, which indicates that the colectivo runs the whole length of Avenida Arequipa or Avenida Benavides. Colectivos dash dangerously fast, frequently crashing and speeding off before their passengers have got both feet into the vehicle, and might be anything from a ramshackle Dodge Coronet to a plush fifteen-seater minibus; wave one down from any corner and pay the flat fare (around $0.4) to the driver or fare collector. You can catch colectivos or buses to most parts of the city from Avenida Abancay. Taxis can be hailed on any street, and cost $2-4 to most central parts of the city. It's worth reiterating that driving in Lima is incredibly anarchic - it's not that fast, but it is assertive, with undertaking happening as often as overtaking and drivers, especially taxistas, finding gaps that don't appear to exist (one reason why there are so many damaged cars).

0Comments | Be the first to comment!