Granja Azul

District Edit – The Southern Beaches

| Emma Louise

The beaches south of Lima are the destination over the summer months, and although they have their year round residents, there is a huge influx of Peruvians and tourists from December through to Easter. Some go for the day, others the weekend, and for some children their entire summer holiday.

However, it’s not just the beaches that draw in the crowds, there are plenty of delicious places to eat that will grab your attention too, plus a location or two to dance away until the wee hours. There are obviously more venues than I am putting in this guide, but these are the spots that keep me coming back for more year after year. Plus, I used to live in Punta Hermosa, which means I’ve definitely had time to try a number of locations and really narrow them down to my absolute faves.

The southern beaches are actually made up of many districts, however due to the small number of places I’ve chosen, I decided to group them all together under one umbrella. As always, I’ve put together a handy Google map to help you find them all! Here is the link: https://www.google.com/maps/placelists/list/1K1RDNfbvI3vMlqEXTfI6iZyCIWQ

I’ve gone as far down the coast as Asia, as it is one of the main destinations for holidaymakers during the summer months. I’ve also placed the towns and locations in order as they appear on the map. Continue reading →

The Lima Edit – Most Visited and Old Favourites

| Emma Louise

I was inspired by my last post to think of some favourite locations here in Lima that I find myself returning to again and again. Obviously there are so many amazing places to eat here, and some of those I’ve been to a few times, or wish I could visit more often, but these are the places that have remained a constant over the last few years. These are also the places that I continuously take people that come to visit me as I always know I can trust the quality.

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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 →

Expo Vino 2014 – Wine, wine and more wine

| Emma Louise
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expo vino
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This event is but one of a million reasons why I love Wong.

Wong is one of the supermarkets here in Lima and to be honest it is by far the best. The staff, the food, their customer service, and the fact that I can buy and consume an ice cream while I shop, is what gives me such a high opinion of them.

Every year they put on an event to showcase the best wines in Latin America and also wines from the rest of the world that are available in Peru. This year it was from the 16th-18th October (last weekend) and there were over 800 wines and 200 kinds of pisco to try. Each vineyard or label has a stand showcasing the best of their wines and you are invited to taste a sample from whichever bottles tempt you in. Having lived in Lima for almost 2 years now I have tried a fair amount of South American wine and I was also lucky enough to attend the event last year too. Both of these things meant that this year I could really focus in on the wines I had yet to try, or wines that are perhaps not as widely available or normally too expensive to purchase by the bottle.

The selection of wines is enormous and it is absolutely impossible to be able to try everything, so it’s best to try and narrow them down. You would think that perhaps reducing your choices to some of the wines that had won medals would be a good place to start. However, we found that some of the bottles that had won the higher prizes were not for tasting (including one bottle that cost S/1000). Also, some of the popular wines only had display bottles, and none for us to actually taste, although they had been available in the previous days, perhaps suggesting that the vineyard had only provided a small selection of bottles for tasting.

We tasted a lot of wines (red, white, rose and sparkling), so in this article I am just going to talk about some of the wines that really stood out for us as being some of the best, and a sparkling wine that we thought would be perfect for summer. I will also mention some great options that have been tried and tested during my stay here and are also readily available in Wong.

I’d like to point out that these are my opinions and therefore just an idea of what to expect. After all, I am not a sommelier!

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