Barranco

Rossigna, is one of my good friends from the wonderful city of Lima, Peru. I met her while attending a Lima Social Club Meetup at this amazing restaurant Manifiesto.

Where do you live now, what is it like?

I live at Magdalena in Lima _ Peru but I use to live near the beach at La Punta Callao. It’s a peninsula completely surrounded by beach. My father’s family is from La Punta.

Where is your favorite place in Peru?

My favorite place is La Punta were you ca see nice views, walk on the street next to the beach, eat good ceviche, and it is safe place.

What is your favorite traditional Peruvian food?

Ceviche!

Where is your favorite place to visit to escape the city?

A place where I love to go outside of Lima is Santa Eulalia, it is next to the mountains.

What do you like to do for fun?

What I like to do for fun is going out to bars and new restaurants. Also barbecuing.

If someone were visiting Peru what are a few of the places they must go to?

My favorite trip in Peru was to the Amazon jungle. I also enjoyed my trip to Vilca and Huancaya, magical places in the mountains were you can see very fantastic views of the nature like many blue ponds, blue magical sky, beautiful green nature, woods with lakes, big mountains…. it’s the best place i have ever been. It’s a little cold and high.

Other places someone must go in Peru are:

Barranco – for a nice walk, to see the street ocean, and maybe to eat some Peruvian food.
Visit La Punta Callao to see the Puerto, walk through the street and see the old houses parks and beautiful views of the peninsula.
Machu Pichu – Cuzco
Paracas – to see the beach and take in the view and visit the island.
Mancora – Las Pocitas, is a relaxing beach were you can rent a cheap house with a group of friends also the house come with a lady that cook really good.

If you like adventure, you can hike near Lima there are groups for trekking that takes you to walk through the mountains for 1, 2 or 3 days the group’s name is Aire Puro. I used to hike and remember a 4 day trekking at Huaraz, cold but with really beautiful views like the big Cordillera Blanca and Black Cordillera, the beautiful blue sky and ponds, also there is the Callejon the Huaylas were their culture and food is really good.

If you could visit any place in the world where would you go?

The country I would love to travel is Thailand, I would love to learn about their culture, food, people, religion, etc. For me that’s the next country I must visit.

What should people know about Peruvians?

What I love about Peruvians is that we love when a tourist come to visit us and learn about our culture. Usually we are really friendly.

What can I say living in Barranco, Lima, Peru was an absolutely amazing experience. I made wonderful friends, I learned how to cook some pretty awesome Peruvian dishes, I got to visit several Peruvian cities, and I was able to visit Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay! What else could I want? So should you visit Peru? Of course, without a doubt!

Here’s the rewind

My dad and my little sister came to visit in April. We had a great time. We were able to make a two road trips. The first was to Cineguilla, there we went horse back riding and went to La Mesa de Piedra. At La Mesa de Piedra http://www.mesadepiedra.com/home.html we ate one of my favorite Peruvian dishes Pachamanca, went swimming, and watched a performance.

It’s definitely worth the 1-2 hour trip to this restaurant/ campsite (to get there rent a cab for a day at 20 soles per hour). The second road trip was to Pachacamac, an archeological site that is close to Lima. We also visited The Parque de las Leyendas (Lima’s local zoo) http://www.leyendas.gob.pe/ and Circuito Mágico del Agua, which is an amazing park, filled with gigantic water and light shows.

100_1253 — Someone’s really excited about the water and light show.

Matthew and I made it out a few nights to party at some of the local clubs in Barranco.

100_1378 — Mozhdeh, Dah and me at a great club in Barranco!

I finally took a cooking class! I learned how to make Cibeche, Lomo Saltado, and a dessert that I can’t remember the name of (but of course includes condensed milk like most of the Peruvian desserts).

Our last trip was to Arequipa and Lake Titicaca in Puno. Arequipa is known as “The White City” because the buildings in the city’s center are made of white stones that were cut from the local volcano. Yes I said local volcano, when you land at the airport you are greeted by El Misti a gargantuan active volcano. In my opinion some of the best Peruvian food was in Arequipa (shh don’t tell). They make an excellent dish called “adobo” which is pork stewed in a tomato sauce (it reminds me of chilli) served with bread, it’s cooked and eaten on Sunday for breakfast. My favorite dish from Arequipa is “chupe de camerones” if I could eat it every day without creating a shrimp allergy I would.

Lake Titicaca is known as the highest navigable lake in the world (it actually has a steam ship on it that used to work). People have lived on the islands and floating islands of Lake Titicaca for over 10,000 years. Legend says that the Incan gods were sent to Lake Titicaca when they came to earth.

There we visited the Uros Floating Islands. The people that live there build and live on the islands that are made of reeds that grow from the lake.

We also stayed overnight on the Amanti Island with a family. We ate with them, visited a temple on the top of the mountain, and attended a local party (created for tourist) in traditional clothing.

The next day we visited Taquile. We learned about their amazing weaving and knitting skills, toured the island, and of course at lunch.

And to close it out here are a few pictures of Lima (mostly Barranco), the place we lived and loved while in Peru – click on the pictures for a better view. This also includes the pictures from above.