Lima, Peru

I only have two days to spend in Lima before catching a flight to get some much needed friendship time with the Ducce, Guyve Sardari Davalou Qadjar, in Venezuela. Looking forward to it. In the meantime, what can I do ? Strolling through the streets I have discovered in the brilliant short story of Mario Vargas Llosa, Los Cachorros, set in Lima.

A rather superficial walk teaches me that, besides being a city where books are terribly expensive, the Limenos are Natural Born Latin Lovers (“NBLL”). And what do NBLL do ? They hug and kiss in public parks. Les amoureux des bancs publics..

Or rest one against another, breathing love…

In the Miraflores area, where I stay (once again, after La Paz and Cusco, at Loki hostel), they even have a statue dedicated to lovers. How cute (and naive).

Alas, I am alone and have no lover here. Therefore, I decide to do what most tourists do in Lima : paragliding. I never have and tell myself it will be a valuable experience, even if the thrill cannot match bungee or skydiving.

Investigating the premises.

Getting prepared.

Here, you do not have to run into the void but are taken away, or rather up, by the blowing winds, tens of meters in the sky. View from the cliff.

And up in the air.

The Miraflores belongs to me…

… and other paragliders.

The guy behind me, my instructor, used to live in Florida. When I tell him I am a law student – on hold, he jumps on the opportunity to ask me various related and unrelated questions about one of his investments in the US and the weakness of the dollar. Some people still have the mistaken impression that law people know stuffs.

Flying over the surfers !

Virtually getting into people’s apartments like spiderman, superman, or whateva-man.

And still enjoying the view.

Below, aerial view of the love statue.

This is the Rosas something, a fancy restaurant on the water. I have not been there but am told the view is amazing. Rather, based on laudative internet reviews, I am having lunch at Astrid y Gaston, allegedly the best restaurant in town (and the whole country). And what a lunch ! Although I have no pictures to show, the experience is still vivid in my mind. So far, the best meal I have had in my trip – that completely changed my – until then rather negative – perspective on Peruvian food. Reading that the chef, Gaston Acurio, owns another Astrid y Gaston in Santiago, where I will be three weeks from now, I salivate.

Then, the usual sunset shots, from the Larco Mar (a mall built on the cliff) …

And then, night.

Even in South America, French cinema.