We arrived into Lima early in the morning on the 31^st December, and fortunately we were able to access our apartment early rather than having to hang around until check in time. We had a leisurely morning and ordered food to the apartment for lunch, went on a quick outing to the supermarket, often our first stop in a new country because Creed loves seeing all the new foods and (usually) how cheap things are, and then took an afternoon nap before getting ready to celebrate the new year.

In Lima there are no specific New Year events put on by the city. Instead, everyone gathers at the Malecon, a long stretch of parks and plazas along the top of the cliffs overlooking the ocean. From here, and all the way around the coast as far as the eye can see, people let off their own illegal fireworks off the edge of the cliff. I have never seen so many fireworks in my life. They were going off in every direction, even directly behind us, with no pattern, no design, just complete spectacular pandemonium for a solid 45 minutes after the clock struck 12. It was loud and chaotic and would not comply with safety regulations and it was a fantastic way to welcome in 2025.

January was incredibly relaxed, which was exactly what we wanted. The weather was lovely. Our apartment was lovely, a modern one bedroom with space to spread out a little. It had a rooftop pool, which had to be booked in advance so we didn’t use it a ton, but it was a nice amenity to have. There was also a gym, which we made embarrassingly little use of, and a coworking space, and our aim was to spend some time this month working online.

We were in the bohemian district, with lots of colourful buildings and graffiti, and the seafront Malecon was not far, so it was a nice place to wander around. One of the parks is the take off point for the paragliders, which was fun to watch. Our apartment was pretty close to the city’s best beach – there’s only one decent stretch of sand, and because it was the summer holidays at the beginning of January it was usually absolutely jam packed with every family in the city.

There were also some fantastic restaurants very close by, as well as a bustling local market, and we worked our way through Creed’s list of Peruvian foods. We had papa huancaina (potatoes in a yellow pepper sauce), aji de gallina (shredded chicken in a slightly different yellow pepper sauce), lomo saltado (beef stirfry), ceviche (raw fish cured in lime juice), chicharonnes (fried anything, usually fish), causa (mashed potato ball stuffed with chicken/tuna salad), chaufa (fried rice), tequeños (fried wontons stuffed with cheese), and much more. In Peru restaurants will offer lunch specials called menus, which is confusing, (what we call a menu is called una carta), but these specials are mega cheap, usually around $3-4, and you get a starter and a main and a drink, and they are enormous. For dinner we were usually feeling lazy, but close to our apartment we could get excellent pork and sweet potato sandwiches, or ‘salchipapa super especial’ – fries loaded with shredded chicken, hot dog, pancetta, bacon, cheese and egg.

We also worked our way through many of the different pisco options. One weekend the local park hosted a pisco festival where were able to try even more styles and various liquors with flavours we’d never heard of before. Creed sampled a liquor infused with 7 different peppers, made into a cocktail with white chocolate and of course some additional pisco.

We made friends with another couple doing the digital nomad thing. They work a lot more than we do (which isn’t difficult), but we met up a few evenings for game nights, bowling, and the local pub quiz which we managed to win a couple of times. Throughout our 6 weeks here we walked the entire length of the Malecon, the series of parks that line the clifftop overlooking the ocean. Every park is different, but they all have interesting artworks and cool places to sit and watch the sunset, so it was a very enjoyable walk, though you had to wait until about 4pm to avoid burning to a crisp.

Aside from general wanderings and many meals, we did a few fun things. Creed’s Christmas gift to me was a spa package which included a massage, facial and coffee scrub. We postponed this because I thought my poor sunburned skin wouldn’t survive the exfoliation after getting scorched in Uruguay, but we finally got to enjoy, and found another ‘after work massage and wine special’ that we did a couple of times too. We did a walking tour of Lima’s historic district, the oldest part of the city, with many UNESCO world heritage sites. We visited an old monastery with a bell tower which constitutes the highest point of the historic district. We explored the markets, which despite being quite touristy still have many souvenirs and items of clothing that I want to buy and send home. And we visited a chocolate museum, tasting chocolate from the different regions of Peru as well as a chocolate tea, and a surprisingly delicious mango, passionfruit and chocolate spread.

Otherwise, our days were filled with beach mornings and pool afternoons, brewery tastings and cocktail happy hours, salsa dancing and live music, lazy days and movie nights. It was an excellent home base for a while. Slightly more expensive than anticipated, mostly just the apartment cost, but otherwise I’d happily live there longer.

Thanks for following along on my crazy adventures!

 Ros ♥

If you’re interested in how I got here, or where I went next, check out the rest of the story!