Day 13: 24 Hours in Lima — One Group Toured, One Group Did Not — We Went on a Blind Dinner Date with a Local Couple
Our hotel is in the Miraflores neighborhood, which is on the coast.
In a city of 8 million residents and about 30 districts, this one’s known for nice hotels, sea-view apartments, clifftop running paths, dog parks and great restaurants.
Photo from the internet since we didn’t get one.
Readers note: We’re doing Peru on the luxury side. This is not how we’re doing the whole year by any means, but we have dropped in some more special treat “vacation-style” periods here and there. Especially when grandparents are joining.
We’d booked a city tour for today, but knowing what we know now, decided Teddy and his mom should go alone, and I’d stay back with the kids.
Kids were exhausted from the late arrival, and “grownup talk” about cathedrals was just not going to happen for them.
Teddy and his mom went with guide Fernando to see:
- Plaza de Armas
- Cathedral of Lima
- Basilica y Convento de San Francisco de Lima
- Park of the Reserve
- Huaca Pucilana
Meanwhile we did school and then playground near our hotel.
For school, James did math (counting colored blocks and writing numbers, a domino game and more of that Colombian math puzzle game we bought at a market in Cartagena).
Willa’s class back home is working on “all about” non-fiction books about animals. She’s picked red pandas, so she spent the morning doing research online and taking notes.
Tried to get her to do llamas considering where we are, but she was insistent.
Window washers descended outside our hotel room while we worked. Made for some nice photos.
The turtles in the pond outside our hotel were hilarious. So many of them (41, according to Willa). Some were showing off, some sunned, some cuddled with babies. We watched and talked about them for 30 minutes.
“Is that you, Willa?” 
Look at this mama with her flipper on the baby
At the nearby playground, a nanny came up to me and explained in Spanish that her little charge Natalia (4) lives in NYC and wanted to play with Willa because she’d heard us speaking English. Her dad is Peruvian and they were in town visiting.
Natalia played with them for an hour while Florentina and I “talked” on a bench. Got to use all the Spanish words I know!
Lunch was at Tanta in the outdoor Larcomar mall overlooking the ocean– a chain restaurant that’s really good and fresh. Soup for Lobsy and me, steak sandwich for Teddy, juice, chicken and empanadas for the others.
Oooh – grownups had their first pisco sours — kind of like a margarita. Very tasty.
In the afternoon we swam back at the hotel. Lobsy went to 5 pm mass at a beautiful Spanish-style church near our hotel.
For dinner tonight, Teddy and I went out with a couple we met through DC family friend Nancy Rosebush: Greg and Bea. He’s American and she’s Peruvian. They suggested a great spot called Cosme in their neighborhood of San Isidro.
We Ubered there. The drive looked like the ride from Santa Monica to Malibu.
It was fun to do a “blind” double date with new friends in a new city. It meant eating in a non-touristy neighborhood, hearing about their daily life, etc. They were very welcoming and nice.
Notes/Thoughts/Observations
- Our neighborhood is reminiscent of Santa Monica. Cliff-top parks with palm trees overlooking the Pacific. Joggers, dogs, yoga, personal trainers, kids. One difference: Paragliders overhead up and down the coast.
- It’s summer here, which even for someone like Greg who’s lived here a long time is hard to wrap your head around if you’re from the global north. Schools are on break and the city is less crowded as the bougie folks have headed to the beaches south of Lima.
- Sullivan school has been tough. They both like math best. James seems more game to commit to a project, whereas Willa’s quick to whine/throw in the towel. Today we tried “playing school,” where I acted at “Mrs. Sullivan” and set out projects for them to do. That seemed to work a little better.
- Everyone got sunburned today. Ugh. Bought better sunscreen.
