Exploring

2 Years and Counting (My Favourites)

| Emma Louise

Happy Birthday

June marked 2 years since I started my blog. Admittedly I haven’t been writing for a solid 2 years, however, I have so enjoyed sharing my experiences of Lima with you all! Hopefully it has encouraged people to come and visit, and that you have had, or will have, a great experience here, whether it’s for one night or 2 weeks.

This blog has never been about reviewing everywhere to determine if it’s good or bad, but in fact finding the hidden, or not so hidden, gems that make Lima great. From an amazing ice cream store, to some fabulous ancient ruins, Lima really does have a variety of things to offer.

In the spirit of this, my June edition of Bookmarked is going to be a bit of a highlights tour of my time here in Lima. My favourite parts.

At the end I will also share a snapshot of greatness from the rest of Peru, but with my limited visits there are only a few places that I feel I’m qualified to judge! However, with some more trips under my belt in this coming year, I hope to shed some more light on the rest of this beautiful country.

So without further ado, here is my list, my top 40….

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Choco Museo

| Emma Louise

I was an honorary Oompa Loompa for the day, and it was brilliant.

OK, so I didn’t get to make a chocolate river or see geese that lay golden eggs, but I did learn how to make chocolate from ‘bean to bar’ at the Choco Museo.

 

Through the workshop at the Choco Museo in Miraflores, and other locations, you learn about the production of chocolate and what you can do with the final product. You start with the cocoa pod and follow the process all the way through to making your own chocolates to take home.

Plus, you eat & drink an awful lot of chocolate products throughout, which is always a bonus!

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24 hours in Asia

| Emma Louise

bougainvillea When I say Asia I’m referring to the beach, not the continent. That would be a lot of travel for only 24 hours! Seeing as it’s getting towards the end of the hottest part of summer, we decided to whisk ourselves off for 24 hours to enjoy some sun, sea, sand, food and drink in the vibrant coastal area of Asia. Driving down the Panamericana Sur on a Saturday lunchtime meant I had to make a couple of stops on the way to our destination. Food is necessary for a good road trip! Continue reading →

Catch of the Day // Terminal Pesquero

| Emma Louise
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Every couple of weeks since our holiday to Punta Sal (in the North of Peru), where we pretty much lived on fresh fish straight from the sea outside our bungalow, we have been going to the Terminal Pesquero in Villa Maria del Triunfo in Lima. It’s a big fish market where anyone can go and buy seafood by the kilo. From chefs buying for their restaurants to home cooks buying for their family, it is most definitely one of the cheapest ways to buy your seafood in Lima. You need to get there early. I believe it is open from about 4am, and normally we arrive around 6am.

You can buy all kinds of goods from the sea, from tuna to scallops. There are tables and boxes full of things like fresh shrimps, small dark fish, huge swordfish, shark, crab or squid. It’s a good idea to get a look around the whole market first, checking out the quality and the prices as you go, and then make a decision at the end.

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Lima // Museo Larco

| Emma Louise

Museo Larco, or Museo Rafael Larco Herrera to use its full name, is somewhere you MUST visit when you come to Lima.

It has an incredible collection of pre-Columbian treasures and artefacts, and is a fantastic introduction to coastal Peruvian tribal history including not only the Incas but the tribes that came before or lived alongside them. If you don’t know a lot about the people that inhabited coastal Peru before the Inca reign, then this museum will show and inform you about the Moche culture, the Lima culture, the Huari culture, and much more.

The artefacts here are incredibly well preserved, including jewellery, ritual items, pots, vases and textiles. The main museum gallery is laid out in sections and each section is in chronological order so that you can see the evolution of different tribes and the similarities and differences between their belief systems and ways of life.

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