I suppose there’s no sense in fighting it anymore. I’m not sure what tipped it over the edge. Is it my enjoyment of craft beers, artisinal cheeses, and craft chocolate? My vinyl collection? Whatever the case, I think I need to concede the truth: Somewhere along the way, I have become, much to my chagrin, somewhat of a hipster.
Well, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Which is why today was all about visiting Lima, hipster style.
Barranco-bound
After a breakfast of fancy organic coffee and banana bread, we met up with Meghan, the Canadian girl from yesterday’s walking tour, and we hopped a cab to Barranco.
The neighbourhood just south of Miraflores, Barranco is well known as Lima’s bohemian district. It’s full of murals, interesting architecture, cute little restaurants and art galleries, and winding streets. It’s become all terribly gentrified, of course. But it’s still a bit less expensive and less touristy than Miraflores, and it made for a great area to just walk around and get a little lost.
We started in the main square, had a peek in the library, and meandered through rows of restaurants and cute little streets towards the little wooden footbridge known as the Bridge of Sighs. The brightly coloured street art gave us lots of opportunities for cheesy photos, which, of course, could not be passed up. Plenty of selfies were attempted; some even succeeded. Vanessa’s selfie stick even made an appearance.
When we were getting a bit thirsty, we bought coconuts off a street vendor. She chopped them open for us and gave us straws, and we had some fresh coconut water.
Ceviche? Si, por favor!
We’d been in Lima for a day and a half, and had yet to eat any ceviche. This situation was remedied at lunch, at a wonderful little cevicheria in Barranco. We got plates piled high with fish (and for the other girls, seafood), all washed down with a round of pisco sours. It was wonderful.
And of course, I made sure to instagram my lunch, since we were in the hipster district after all. Hashtag #yum.
On the boardwalk
After lunch, we walked down to the beach. Oh, hello, Pacific Ocean, it’s nice to see you again. We started a leisurely walk back to Miraflores along the malecon. The day was a bit cloudy and hazy today, though still fairly hot and humid. But it was nice to not be under the direct sunlight.
There isn’t really a proper beach right here in Lima; the shore is rocky, and the water is not particularly clean. That didn’t stop plenty of people we saw along the way from surfing the waves.
The malecon isn’t really a full proper path either. The sidewalk sometimes hugged the side of the highway, sometimes disappeared into parking lots or dead ends, and was a bit tricky to figure out. Still, we just kept walking north, assuming that sooner or later we’d find some stairs to get back up to the city. The steep drop from the city to the beach was nicknamed the Cliffs of Insanity, because scaling them would have been inconceivable. The stairs, once we eventually found them, were easier to climb, though only slightly.
All you need is love
At the top of the stairs, we emerged at the Parque de Amor, dedicated to lovers everywhere with a big tiled wall and a giant statue of an intertwined couple. The names in the tiles were funny: Some people just had the names of couples, but others had quotes or sayings, and one even declared himself “incorrigible” in love. If you say so, dude.
Anyway, we had some more photography fun in the park, snapping photos of the colourful tiles, the cheesy sayings, and giving a big middle finger to the concept that love conquers all. Who needs love when you have good friends, good food and travel?
Last evening in Lima
We hung out in the park for a bit, and then walked back up towards the hostel. Along the way, we stopped off in Parque Kennedy to buy some churros off a street cart. Then we had to peek our heads into the ChocoMuseo to check out the chocolate — of course. We didn’t linger long, since we’ll be paying the branch in Cusco a more proper visit when we get there.
Back at the hostel, we chilled out a bit, relaxing from the day to some tunes and some WiFi. I blogged a bit. The girls had a beer. We listened to the setup for what was apparently a sort of Paint Nite-esque activity taking place in the hostel later.
For dinner, we headed back out into the much cooler, more comfortable air. After browsing in a few shops, we ended up at a small cafe for a light meal of some sandwiches. They hit the spot perfectly, as did the churro and chocolate we had for dessert.
Afterwards, we walked back through Parque Kennedy one more time. It’s Friday night, so the park is filled with tons of people everywhere, craft vendors, artisans, tourists, and local people out and about enjoying the night. There was a big community dance event that apparently takes place weekly here; local people were just coming down from the crowd to sing classic songs, accompanied on guitar by anyone from the crowd with a guitar. And people emerged from the crowd to dance. It’s really great to feel like this is a place where love, life and romance still exist.
We made it an early night, since we have to be up early to go to the airport tomorrow for our flight. Goodbye, Lima, it’s been real. I only had a couple of days here, but they were fabulous, and I would most definitely return.