🌴🥥 Coconuts & Camel Rides: Alpaca'd and Ready to Go!
Two Nights in Lima 💫
🐫 We are back! With more blogs, more stories and some insightful travel tips. Welcome to Series 2 of Coconuts and Camel Rides in Peru & Colombia. First stop… Lima, Peru.
💥 Starting with a Bang
My trip to Lima started with a bang…💥 literally, as I was hit by an old man and a swooping car door on a nice first stroll along the coast. One of the first lessons I learned in Peru, people don’t check their mirrors before opening car doors. Luckily, I was only left with a bruised shoulder and managed to keep my eye.
Despite the grey skies, Lima was a beautiful experience filled with amazing food, a beautiful coast and lots of friendly people. Our hotel was about a 5 minute walk to the Locamar (a shopping centre and restaurants built into cliffs) and 10 minutes from Kennedy Park which lies at the centre of Miraflores (a neighbourhood of Lima). It was a great location.
✈️ Travel Tip:
Lima as a whole is not a very safe city. You must be mindful when exploring the centre and careful on where you book your accommodation. Don’t book the cheapest hotel or hostel. Ensure that your accommodation is in Miraflores which is the safest neighbourhood for tourists in Lima.
🍽️ Peruvian Cuisine
Our two-day stop in Lima was filled with enjoying the wonderful food Peru has to offer with time to explore the neighbourhood. For me personally, Peru offers one of the most tastiest cuisines in the world. From ceviche, Lomo Saltado and Papa a la Huancaina to the numerous chaufa dishes which is a fine blend of Chinese and Peruvian food. All washed down with a local wheat beer or Pisco Sour.
✈️ Travel Tip:
For the best ceviche, eat it in Lima or another coastal town/city. The traditional fish served in Peruvian Ceviche is white seawater fish, fresh from the Pacific Ocean. Lima sits in the Pacific, so the fish is generally fresh. In Cusco, fish is transported or replaced with other types of fish. Eat in Lima for a delicious and better experience.
I can be a bit of a curious nerd when it comes to food, so I ventured out to view the kitchen where we ate our first lunch. I had read that all saltados (beef, chicken, fish…) are cooked in a flaming wok with a blend of herbs, sauces and spices and I wanted to check it out. My curiosity was satisfied as I watched the chef prepare the dish with a large wok on fire. I was that impressed I created a reel on Instagram. 🤓
The lomo (beef) that I ate was the most tender and tastiest piece of meat ever to enter my mouth and I fell in love with Peruvian food on my first encounter. I thoroughly enjoyed washing it down with a Cusquena Trigo (wheat beer) which is one of my favourite beers in the world.
🎲 Games, Hummingbirds and Pisco
Our two days in Lima were a little wet. This meant we couldn’t do so much exploring. So I discovered a little board game shop and came across a game I fell in love with in France in 2019… Mille Sabbordes. It is a small, travel dice game with a theme of pirates. It is a game of calculated risk and luck. I played it with a friend in Bordeaux five years ago and have been unable to get my hands on it. You can imagine my excitement when I rediscovered it in Peru, the Spanish name being… Isla Calavera.
As it rained we rolled ourselves some fun in coffee shops and bars. Starting the afternoons with a coffee and ending the evening with a few Pisco Sours. Pisco Sour is one of the national drinks of Peru alongside Chicha and Chilcano (more about these revealed in later blogs). The cocktail consists of Pisco (the national alcoholic spirit of Peru), Lime Juice and an egg. It may not sound so appealing but it tastes amazing and they leave you feeling a little happy!
When it managed to stop raining, we enjoyed some time on the coast and on a few occasions came across some beautiful hummingbirds. Hummingbirds since 2019 have held a huge significance in my life and I now always see them as a good omen, make decisions on the right path. They also became the symbol of our business… Coaching Minds.
These are a few highlights on our quick stop in Lima before heading to Cusco.
📕 What about the book I hear you say?
Everything Starts Hard… the ironic project which is forcing me to practice what I preach and testing my patience. As you may or may not know, the publishing date has been postponed. I fell sick after my Europe trip which created a large obstacle and additionally, I had a dispute with the publisher I was going to use and with choices of publisher due to the content of my book. I may be sharing some controversial points that publishers fear to have their name attached to.
So… I am exploring options of self-publishing. I want to keep my thoughts and the content of the book mine, I just need to find the best way to do this and with good quality books. I was thinking Amazon at first but their printed book quality seems to be a little shitty with the cover pages curling up. I’ve experienced this with a few books i’ve purchased and don’t want to provide that quality to my readers.
I want this book to be my legacy, so I will take my time and ensure it is of quality and value. No matter how long I have to postpone the publication.