Pizarro's Chessboard

A warm Saturday morning started out with a leisurely breakfast out on the terrace of the Country Club Hotel. They say never rains in Lima; the coastal city gets only about 1.5 inches per year. But a misty haze covers the city in the morning and you literally watch it lift as the morning goes on.  Beautiful, but doesn't make for a great hair day!

Old Lima City Center

We took a step back in time visiting the home of Ana Maria Garcia, a woman who shares her traditional Miraflores home giving guests an experience of a turn of the 20th century Peruvian family. After a lunch of traditional "causa" (Mom, this is a Peruvian take on your tuna noodle casserole) we took out for a tour of colonial center of Lima, also known as "Pizarro's chessboard". For the past 8 years the government has been engaged in a revitalization project to restore blocks of abandoned colonial homes and buildings - incredible colonial architecture combining French, Italian and Moorish design. 

Jesse & me at dinner at Huaca Pucllana

Our dinner experience was quite unique.  Due to earthquakes, as Lima grew in the past 50 years, it did not build up, but grew outwards - the city encompasses about 60km.  As the city expanded, it grew around pre-Inca ruins which remain in place today.  What an incredible contrast to dine at the foot of a pre-Incan pyramid in an archaeological site just preserved smack in the middle of a modern city!

Trying typical foods is one of my favorite parts of travel, so of course I had to go for the "cuy" - or guinea pig, which is a Peruvian delicacy.  I just ordered it as an app so I didn't get the typical full presentation, which was OK with me!