Lima: A harmonious blend of local flavors with expat cafes, combis with Ubers, and artisans with designers

Peru marked the last month of our 12 month long journey. The year in which we traveled the world and lived a new lifestyle. The year in which Pikkabox was born.

An Uber up to the mountain, a Combi on the way down

This last month in Lima, Peru was also the month I celebrated my birthday. This birthday felt epic as there was a lot to look back on and much to reflect on. This epic day started with a hike. We took an ‘Uber’ (it’s in quotes as it not only sounds funny that we took an Uber to a mountain in hiking pants but also in disbelief that the guy took us there) to a small mountain an hour away from Miraflores. The mountain was not in season - which meant that usually it was super green and would have many other hikers. But for us, it was all dry and brown and we were the only ones on it. I loved that part. So we hiked this mini mountain, picked up all the plastic trash that other hikers had left behind and returned to a local restaurant at the bottom of the mountain. There was nobody there except the owner lady at this restaurant who brought us rice, beans, chicken, soup, salad, noodles and a lot of it. Even four times of climbing up and down the mountain could not have built enough appetite for me to eat all of it. Mountain people have a hell of an appetite! We got to enjoy this massive amount of food outdoors overlooking the village. It was as if we were in somebody’s backyard with an amazing view. We were in no hurry to get anywhere and nobody was in any hurry to get us out of there. So we lounged around and played a few games of Juego de sapo (also called Toad in the hole outside South America) while we waited for ‘some mode of transport’ to pick us up and take us to a bus station. No Uber was going to dare come where we were…again. A small, barely three seater rickshaw finally picked us up and took us to the bus station for 10 soles (approx. 3USD). There was no bus station. We waited at the corner where small buses or vans called ‘combi’ zipped past us, stopped briefly in front of us, spoke some Spanish at us and one finally managed to swoon us inside with the promise to take us where we wanted to go. The whole 1 hour ride cost each one of us 3 soles, approximately 1 USD. Yup, it was super cheap and it was super fun. This ride in a combi was the highlight of the entire month in Peru. Riding in a combi gives you the real experience of the city. People young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, all ride in the combi. Its for everybody. Your visit to Lima is incomplete if you didn’t ride in one of these. Combi is not fancy or a tourist attraction but you get the real feel of the city by riding in it.

Peruvian food is no joke

Well it is no secret that Peruvian food has made its mark all over the world. Amongst the traditional restaurants and food fares, sit newer cafes catering to the huge expat community in Lima. Funny enough one of our most visited places was a modern, non-traditional but delicious cafe called El Pan de la Chola. And we are the street food lovers.

As any tourist would ask, I asked my Uber driver one day what I MUST eat while in Lima. His answer made me realize how stupid the question was and how I feel when somebody asks me about Indian food. There is way too much diversity. So I asked him for things I MUST eat from each part of Peru. He broke it down into specialities from North, South and Center. Although over the course of time I realized food in Peru is also categorized as specialities from the Andean/mountain region, from the coast and from the amazonian region. Here are a few dishes my Uber driver recommended that I made sure to taste along with tons and tons of ceviche.

South: Rocoto Relleno

North: Arroz con pato (Rice with duck)

Center: Papa a la Huancaína, Juane (risotto in leaves), Carapulcra (dry potato with pork)

Most Superfoods come from Peru

Yes, that’s true. All that fancy food packaging you see in WholeFoods used to be the staple food from the mountains. Now popularized all over the world, it is some of the expensive food items even for Peruvians in Peru. Here are some of the superfoods I discovered are Peruvian and some I discovered in Peru.

Quinoa: A substitute for all wheat based carbohydrates, you can find Quinoa everywhere these days. Before it was popularized in the modern world, Quinoa was the staple food in the Andes for hundreds of years. Quinoa seed is rich in protein and fiber, gluten-free and full of other antioxidants and vitamins. It sounds kinda frou-frou but its actually really tasty and we routinely substitute rice with Quinoa. Quinoa + Dal = Slurp!

Maca: It’s a root. Usually in a powder form, it is used in smoothies as it is considered an a natural energizer. It is supposed to build stamina and sexual energy. I bought a packet and used it in smoothies and mixed it with yogurt every morning. All in preparation to do the Inca trail to Machu Picchu.

Camu Camu: We couldn’t find any while we were there but these cherry sized berries are a natural and abundant source of vitamin C. Although we didn’t find them in natural form, we found camu camu flavored things. Does the abundant source of vitamin C count through camu camu flavored ice-cream?

Coca: These leaves are banned in USA as they are supposedly the raw ingredient to cocaine. But in Peru and especially in the mountains, the leaves are routinely used for endurance and to deal with the high altitude. I didn’t particular like the taste of these leaves but coca leaf tea was what we depended on while climbing the Machu Picchu to deal with the altitude sickness.

There are many many more superfoods in Peru and these are just a few that we came across or tried.

Peruvian Craft

Peru in that way is like India. It has an enormous wealth of traditional craft which is also visually enticing. But like most things, these quickly become ‘touristy’ or ‘souvenirs’. Although we didn’t curate a Pikkabox from Peru, we were on the lookout and we quickly realized how hard it was to sieve through the souvenirs to find those unique objects that pass the Pikkabox filters. For us the most interesting or exciting were the textiles. The prints, motifs, iconography and colors…COLORS! And to know these colors come from natural dyes makes us so happy. Now we know why Peruvian textiles are so famous all over the world. We are definitely going back some day to explore more of the Peruvian textiles.

Lima is a city you can comfortably live in. It is rich in culture, has a gorgeous waterfront with many water sports and different neighborhoods with different feels. There is something for everybody here.

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