A Sinfully Perfect Day in Lima

Lima surprises you with it's eeriness. Let's face it. This is not the most exhilarating city on the planet. Yet the guarantee of fog blanketing the colonial buildings in the historical centre is sure to enchant most people.

I would therefore start a top day in Lima at the plaza de armas. Lima was founded here in 1535 by the Spanish explorer and conquistador Francisco Pizarro. Pizarro had been in the process of overthrowing the entire Incan empire. After the Incans surrendered, they (apparently) urged Pizarro to set up as the seat of Spanish power in the area that is now Lima and which they regarded as the geographical and meteorological armpit of the Empire - or so the story goes. Today the Palacio de Gobierno on this plaza is home to the President.

A walk north towards the railway station (now the National Library) marks where the highest passenger train in the world still calls for Huancayo only a few dozens times a year. On the opposite corner is the Bar Cordorba. With excellent ceviche, it is one of the most traditional cafes in town and a perfect resting spot for a coffee, drink or snack at any time of day. I would probably head directly over to the San Francisco Church where a guided tour of the convent and extensive networks of catacombs always re-assures me of the spooky and sinister sides of Lima while the library and beautiful ceilings are always intriguing. If you are in a brave mood you could visit the bull fighting museum just across the river - but be warned this is also the 'wrong side' of the railway tracks. So why not have a look at the Museum of the Inquisition instead which also includes a free guided explanation of the various torture methods used on those who were seen to defy the church.

Peru is known for the Inca, but Lima is a city built by and for the Spanish conquerors. As a result, the telegraphic and gas light were introduced to Peru here, and Lima was the first city in South America to set up a rail link to another city.

All this excitement will have me heading straight for lunch with the French nuns at their colonial mansion / non-profit restaurant known as L'Eau Vive. After being politely seated in French, the delicious lunch menu that follows reminds you of home cooking, no matter how far away that may be. To walk off that lunch, I would then head back towards the plaza de armas this time popping in to the Catedral, where the remains of Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro rest. From here walk south down the pedestrian shopping street of Jirón de la Unión. Passing one South American shoe shop after another, I might pop in to Topi Top, the Peruvian Gap. Why not also take a peek in the Gran Hotel Bolivar, which has a nice terrace round the back. After a morning full of cultural museums, it's time for some real-life discovery at the Huaca Pucllana Inca Site. Taking one of the many collectivos that run down to Miraflores from the centre is by far the most exciting and local way to get there.

I am always amazed that a real Incan temple-city complex is being uncovered right in the middle of a modern-day residential neighbourhood. There's an entry fee of a few soles but this includes a guided half-hour tour along side the painstaking excavation efforts. If it's not my first time to the site I may just stop by to enjoy lunch or a drink on the terrace with the adobe temple looming behind. You may want to go from here to catch a wave at the beach or visit a posh Miraflores shopping mall (built inside the cliffs) overlooking the Pacific.

Either way I always end up back in Parque Kennedy to watch the world go by with a Pisco Sour at the timeless Cafe Haiti that overlooks the palm trees of in Lima's glitziest shopping neighbourhood. And finally, to taste some of those famous Peruvian dishes try booking a table at La Merced for dinner, or for lunch with all the businessmen. The ceiling is an excellent example of the dark woodwork craftsmanship in this city and the Papa Huancaina is delicious.

Andean Appetite

The Land of Corn and Potatoes

Peru was the land that gave the world the potato over 7,000 years ago. There are over 2000 varieties, as previously mentioned by Ms Potato Head herself (Steph), each having a different flavor and texture which was documented in her photographic account of the 'potato aisle' at the market. I think even though Steph is the master of making her famous student baked potato, she was a little overwhelmed by the variety.

More broadly, Peru boasts one of the best food cultures in Latin America. Of course there are the Andean roots, there is the influnece from Spanish conquistadores, the wealth of seafood from the coastline, and now there is also a rich cultural mix from African slaves to indentured workers' 'Chifa' cuisine.

The 'Cui' Guinea Pig - With 65 million eaten each year, the 'Cui' Guinea Pig is Peru's primary source of protein. It's a very basic dish. Most rural families still have a shelter for their pet cuis built into the walls and brick oven of the kitchen. Cui has been eaten for a long, long time. We saw shelter goes all the way back to pre-incan times... One thing we never tried was 'Cui' (do not order 'a Horno' - served whole, you may have to cut it's head off before you quearter and eat it) guinea pigs can have different number of toes from 4-8).

The Rotisserie Houses - Steph and I chickened out instead. We really needed a break after two months of Argentinian steak. So we went straight for the rotisserie chicken that lined every block. Let me tell you - the Peruvians know precisely what to do with a rotisserie. A quarter chicken and chips here might be the best you have ever tasted.

The chicken man at Chupaca market.

Ceviche - This spicy, aromatic fish dish is was what Peruvian food has become world famous for. I tried it in at a random lunch cafe and liked raw seafood a lot more than I expected.

There are basically five essential ingredients: raw, fresh catch of fish, medateranian onions, aji limo (andean chili), salt, and lime juice marinade. The Aji Chili is a bright yellow chilli is used in practically every dish in Peru and along with garlic and onions, it creates the “alchemy” at the core of Peruvian cuisine.

One that still matters - Ceviche was born in Lima, and Limenos of all walks of life are somewhat obsessed with finding the city's best. Established in 1905, the Bar Cordano is one of those establishments whose fading phtographs tell a good story and the old waitors serve up a good ceviche.

Hemingway's Ceviche Recipe

1 pound fresh cod, halibut, scallops or shelled shrimp

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander

1/2 cup sliced red onions

1/4 tsp. chopped 'aji' hot pepper (or dash of Tobasco sauce)

Mix all ingredients together, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Ceviche can be kept for up to 24 hours, but it's best eaten within a few hours.

4 Servings

The fresh fish is first cut into chunks and 'cooked' by the acidity of the lime juice marinade. Sometimes a garnish is added with lettuce, corn, or potato. Be sure to not foret the 'leche de tigre' (tiger's milk), the leftover juice that you drink after which is said to give you lots of energy. You could also try the tiradito while in Lima. It's part sashimi part carpacio, with fish thinly sliced and marinated in ginger, lime and aji limon but with no onions.

Tacu Tacu - Similar to Lomo Saltado, except this heart attack features fried rice and beans served with meat and you guessed it, an egg on top.

Beans, Beans - Peru is also a bean-crazed country (this is where the name Lima bean came from). I'm not sure I agree with the American Moron name, however...

Papa Huancaina – boiled, thick-sliced yellow potato is topped with my favorite sauce in south america - a delicious cream of peanut, white cheese and yellow pepper.

STREET FOOD

We explored more markets in this country than anywhere else in the world and were rewarded with some of our most authentic experiences on the continent. Curiosities were up front in our faces. It was not unusual to see large pails of quails' eggs being sold as snacks from a tiny gas stove on wheels.

Corn may be second in importance only to the potato. On windowsills we saw corn in many colors drying in the sun. At every street corner we saw huge boxes of sweetened popcorn for only a few cents. This was a bit bland for me. I also tried a portion of steamed corn from a street bucket a few time but this was also a dissapointment. The luke war cob was just not as buttery or salty as I would have liked.

However my favorite street snacks were Humitas. These little parcels of corn paste, are mixed with cheese and then steffed into corn or banana leaf wrapping before being steamed. It's both flavoursome and healthy – quite the rare combination for street cooking!

More corn was on every restaurant table in the form of a salted snack called 'Cancha'. We soon noticed the frothy purple drink that every person in every restaurant seemed to be drinking.

Chicha Morada is a purple corn juice that is insanely popular in the andes region. It is a sometimes just a juice and other times an alcoholic corn beer.

The

tradition of making Chicha

from fermented maize

has for the most part been unchanged since pre-incan times, and was used as an offering to the gods in ceremonies as an alternative to, well, Llama blood.

Today a red plastic bag on pole outside a home means a batch of chicha is ready for the village to enjoy.

While we didn't try the popular anticuchos (grilled skewers of cow heart marinated in chilli, cumin, oregano vinegar and oil), we did try deep-fried mash potatoes called Papa Reillena. These glorious little savory treats were neither risky on the stomach nor hard to find.

Papa Reillena - Deep fried mashed potato occasionally stuffed with mince meat, egg, spices and or an olive.

Tombs and mummies and treasures of gold and silver...

It's not only the Lonely Planet who describes the Tombs of Sipan as 'maybe the the most important archaeological discovery in South America since Macchu Pichu'. We were intrigued, and set off further up the north coast to discover more...

To break up our week of rainy weather at the beach, Chris and I headed further north on a three hour bus ride towards Chiclayo - now home to the largest healer market in Peru. Chiclayo was actually founded by Spanish missionaries in the 16th century and has prospered ever since due to its situation at the hub of vital trade routes between the coast, highlands and deep jungle. But this wasn't the reason we'd come here. We were in search of tombs and mummies and treasures of gold and silver...

The Chiclayo Herbal Market - Where aisles and aisles of exciting and unusual items are sold and just about anything you could imagine a witch doctor would need. I was told by one guide that dead guinea pigs are even used as a kind of metal detector wand to scan your whole body. They are then dissected to investigate for signs of human sickness.

Chiclayo as a town seemed bustling and crowded and, dare I say it? Slightly 'dodgy' in a certain sense - it wasn't the most scenic of Peruvian towns we'd visited that's for sure. There was no-one in traditional dress and the sense of modernity was added to by the large number of chain stores, not least in the form of humongous fast-food restaurants and little mobile phone shops everywhere. This feeling of 'dodgy-ness' wasn't helped by our inability to find any accommodation within our budget that wasn't a gloomy cell in a seemingly dangerous area. In typical Steph-Chris style we, yet again, trundled round for the best part of two hours trying to find somewhere to stay. We finally settled on the most ridiculous place (easy to say in hindsight). We should have realised when we arrived, having walked up the marble stairs to a reception area that was gated off and having to rattle the gate for a good five minutes, shouting loud 'holas', before the man wandered nonchalantly downstairs saying he'd been fixing something and hadn't heard us. Luckily he had a lovely ensuite room with cable tv free - it hadn't been cleaned yet (it was already 6pm - goodness knows what he'd been playing at but we really should've known he'd be trouble) but he assured us that when we'd returned from dinner in an hour it would be clean and ready for us. We happily went off to one of the shiny, clean and modern food chains with a decent menu with the all important free wifi and a deal on Pisco Sours. We returned to the same restaurant twice during our stay in Chiclayo and every time, a Chiclayo gaucho (below) was in at the same time - we upset things one day by sitting in his regular spot, just to see what would happen, hehe. Of course, when we returned to the hotel at 10.30pm, the room still hadn't been cleaned but we weren't relishing the thought of wandering round dodgy Chiclayo at that time of night so had to stay put while the room was cleaned (after a lot of shouting and arguing IN SPANISH by Chris!)

The Chiclayo gaucho

Nearby to Chiclayo are the 26 crumbling pyramids of Tucume - this city was once the final capital of the Sican culture who moved their capital here in around 1050AD. We wandered around this dusty landscape with our guide, taking in what must have once been a bustling hype of activity. The views from the top of one of the adobe structures, Purgatory Hill (so called because the Spanish tried to convert local pagans to Christianity here by dressing as demons and throwing non-believers to their deaths!), were phenomenal and really gave you a good idea of how huge this city once was.

The Pyramids of Tucume

Chris: Mountains of Mud... Unlike the pyramids of Egypt, which were built as tombs, the mud-brick pyramids of northern Peru were more like a high-rise ceremonial complex. Built in stages, the pyramids grew as rooms, patios, and walkways were filled in and became part of the huge solid structure. Tombs have been found here but their main function would have been as ceremonial sites. Workers sealed the tombs with mud bricks and just kept on building on top of the past generation's structure - like cardboard boxes over one another.

After the impressive site at Tucume it was off to the incredible Tombs of Sipan. Only in 1987 when local archaeologist Dr Walter Ava realised treasure was being sold on the black market did he understand that an incredible burial site was being ransacked. Excavation began and the most impressive tomb since that of Egypt's Tutankhamun was discovered - the tomb of the 'Lord of Sipan'. To keep the locals happy - who would have otherwise earned a lot of money from selling looted stolen treasure - they were given jobs on the archaeology team as diggers. A great idea if you ask me.

Just like at Tucume, the pyramids here look like very normal mounds of earth - the winds and rains of centuries have eroded these impressive brick structures down to mere hills. Underneath the ground though and, no doubt, inside the remaining pyramid, the bricks remain in their original state. The most impressive thing however is not the bricks, but the fact that you can peer directly into the tombs left for the kings - archaeologists have worked on the tombs so that you see a complete reconstruction of how the tombs looked before they were closed up over 1500 years ago.

Peru really is a history lover's dream. Whether you're interested in the more famous Incan Empire of Cusco and around or the smaller but far more ancient empires from the North of Peru, a trip here is a must if you are any kind of history geek. You can get so close to the real life tombs - I doubt this is the case in Egypt!

Chris: Tumba del Senor Sipan, north near Lambayeque - considered to be the King Tut of the Americas.

Steph: In each tomb was usually found the lord or king himself surrounded by his wife and any mistresses plus a guard and even an advisor and most revered servants. There were also usually a llama and possibly a dog plus a huge amount of gold and jewels. When a king died, his servants had to be put to death at the same time (plus his wife and mistresses) in order to be buried along side him. Crazy.

The local workers would each make an individual pot or statue for their king

to take with him into the after-life

The kings were adorned in rich jewelry - for every gold object that the Lord of Sipan had (representing the sun), he had an identical silver one to represent the moon. Tides, and thus the moon, were very important to this culture whose main staple was fish. Museums hold the huge number of gold and silver jewels found in the tombs. Chris and I visited a number of museums during our stay on the north coast and were shocked by the immense value of the treasure in each.

Chris: From mummies we can see that ancient Peruvians had great teeth due to the seafood diet and natural flouride in coca.

In nearby Lambayeque the annual 'KING KONG' festival was occurring to celebrate the existence of this weird but wonderful cake of the same name.

Back in Huanchaco we had a final site we wanted to visit: the largest pre-Columbian city of the Americas and also the largest adobe city in the world, Chan Chan. Built around 1300AD by the Chimu people, there were once 60 000 people living here and when you realise how large this site - mostly yet to be excavated - actually is you can easily see how that is true. Chan Chan is just massive - it stretches across a whole highway. It's such a shame that so much of it remains untouched by archaeologists - there must be so much to still find and discover out there. The parts which have been excavated are impressive, especially the walls they built to represent fish nets. The Incas eventually conquered the city but the incredible wealth remained untouched until the Spaniards inevitably took it all away. Absolutely amazing, this place. Why oh why does Peru not get more international acclaim for all it's wonderful historic sites?!

The Old Man and the Sea

The cigar-shaped totora boats called 'caballitos de tora' (little horses) fascinated me. They have been used as rafts by the fishermen on this coastline for the past 3000 years.

Huanchaco was exactly what we needed. A break by the sea - rain or shine. We were booked in to a hotel that we could afford called the Naylamp in room #26, which was the only one afforded an ocean view, and this suited us just fine.

The tone of modern-day Huanchaco was set when we went for a cheeseburger in a surfer's burger shack that literally was out of a garage facing the beach. Huanchaco today has a unique vibe. While still famous for it's fishermen and seafood, surfers from around the world now come to this coast to chase some the longest breaks on the planet.

This coast was once known worldwide for its famous deep-sea fishermen and the "Humboldt Current" of the tropical waters that run right up to Ecuador. The marine ecosystem was ideal for reproduction of some very large fish in indeed including marlins, swordfis and tuna.

During the 1950s big game fishing was the rage and nowhere was it bigger than here in Peru.

The hotel resorts and fishing clubs attracted Hollywood guests like John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, James Stewart and Gregory Peck.

Dozens of records were broken during that ten-year span, several which stand today including the biggest record of them all. In 1953, a Texas oilman called Alfred Glassell pulled in a 14 and a half foot, 1,560 pound black marlin - the largest bony fish ever caught by rod and reel.

Our week-long escape was relaxing mostly thanks to the perfect retreat at Hostal Naylamp at the end of the beach.

It was further up the coast from here at another fishing village that Ernest Hemingway based himself during the filming of The Old Man and the Sea to help the Warner Brothers film crew. Hemingway spent long and successful fishing days and managed to capture over a dozen huge black marlin that were captured by the Warner Brothers crew for the film. His largest catch was a whopping 910 pound marlin. In true form, on most days he spent the rest of his time at the local beach cafe where locals this day still remember the "Whiskey Gringo". He wrote letters to Marlene Deitrich, bonded with reporters and made great friends like the barman Paul Cordova who still remembers "Don Ernesto" from the small bar in what has now become a forgotten old ghost town.

Point Break > The point of our journey north was some relaxation while in search for sun, sand and some of the world's most recent archeological discoveries.

A Day Fishing with Ernest Hemingway

The days became routine in Cabo Blanco. Ernest Hemingway got up at dawn with a breakfast consisting of two boiled eggs, toast with butter and lots of coffee. At 8am we embarked. Along with our fishing gear was always a bottle of whiskey or gin. The day was invariably ten hours at sea, and at dusk, everyone met in the hotel to start the evening of chat and conversation. Hearty salads on the table and a culinary delicacy dazzled Mary Welsh, especially the famous lomo saltado. It is a typical Peruvian dish made of beef sirloin, cut into pieces and sautéed to skillet with onions and tomatoes, served with white rice. Hemingway's wife requested the recipe be carefully noted in his diary. Those nights of bohemia invariably ended at 10pm with several empty bottles of Scotch. "Don Ernesto" then took his stool near Paul Cordova, the beloved bartender, while the others went to their rooms to retire.

Lomo Saltado - a staple in all restaurants cheap and upscale - sliced fried beef strips, mixed with onions, chili, tomato and potato chips served with a side of rice.

Unfortunately the weather during our week was more conducive to writing than fair-weather fishing or beach bumming. We too took this opportunity to sit, read and write while overlooking a cold and rainy sea. I loved watching how the surfers would share the tides with fishermen. The first surfboard, according to a local museum, drew inspiration from the caballitos boats which are more of of a kayak-surfboard hybrid really. Yet these fishermen still glide past gringo surfers on their modern-day waxed down boards.

Today the marlin have all vanished from overfishing. All that remain are memories haunting the sea and shoreline. The shopping malls outside Trujillo and the airport are creeping closer to Huanchaco beach. But all in all, life goes on slowly and peacefully in this part of Peru. I couldn't help wondering if

these traditional fishermen in their little horse boats would be around a thousand years more.