Lima Peru
September 17, 2026
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Day 1, the Air Transat flight landed at Lima, Peru's fairly new and modern Jorge Chávez International Airport, very early in the morning, allowing for most of the morning and all
the afternoon to see some sights in the Miraflores district of Lima, a sprawling city of over 12 million people, in a country of about 35 million people.
In the city, according to our guide Millie, there are an estimated 30 Incan pyramid remains. Miraflores district has the Huaca Pucllanaa, a monumental pre-Inca adobe and clay
pyramid structure. It rises 22 to 25 meters (about 82 to 85 feet), and was built across seven staggered platforms. It was inhabited around 200–700 AD by the indigenous Lima culture,
the pyramid itself built around 450-600 AD as a ceremonial and administrative center. It has millions of hand-molded adobe bricks laid vertically in a "bookshelf" pattern, which helps
absorb seismic shocks. The quite massive six hectare sight is estimated to have been eighteen hectares originally. By 800 AD, indigenous Limans abandoned the sight due to fears of
incoming invaders, and the Wari around 800 BC and Ychsma around 1000 AD took the site over.
I then wandered the Miraflores district taking in the Inka Plaza market, Miraflores Park, Parroquia La Virgen Milagrosa Catholic Church and John F. Kennedy Park. Finally, it was dinner
time at the Punto Marisko Peruvian restaurant very near the Britania Miraflores Hotel where I stayed. The meal was Ceviche Mixto, a mound of seafood including lots of fish, squid,
shrimp and octopus. Plus, there was a Pisco Mango. Pisco is 43% alcohol made from grapes, sort of like Tequila from Mexico or Grappa from Italy. It is usually served
with a lime juice mix as a Pisco Sour, but I chose the quite delicious Mango version instead. Mango, grapes, it's really just fruit juice, totally healthy. Really. |
Above: On the one hour drive from the Lima airport to the hotel in the Miraflores district, building on a Lima street. There are no subways in Lima,
so the roads are clogged, the guide said, from 6 am to 12 midnight.
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