We actually slept!  The only time we woke up was to grab a wine and beer from the dinner cart, and then for breakfast.  Yay!  Because there is no time difference between Lima and Eastern Standard Time, we really don’t have any jet lag, and are fairly well rested and ready to go as we start our descent into the city. 

The views from the plane are gorgeous, transitioning from gorgeous empty mountainous region to – OMG – the city!  Talk about sprawl – it goes on and on and on for absolutely ever.  Wow!

Off the plane in a jiffy – being up front is definitely a bonus – we are through passport control in absolutely no time – I mean totally smooth.  Then out to get our luggage, again, completely smooth.  We arrived about 45 minutes late, and our poor taxi driver has been waiting all this time – bless his heart!  We’ve been texting him giving him updates, and we finally connect with him outside the baggage claim.

It takes forever to get the apartment – the traffic is crazy, plus there is construction for an extension of the metro system here, which makes for even more congestion and diversions to go around tunnel construction.  We spend the whole time talking to our driver in broken English and Spanish.  Sweet.

It takes almost an hour to finally arrive to the apartment building in the Miraflores area of Lima.  But once there it is an easy check in process – grab the keys from the 24 hour front desk guys and up the 16^th floor we go.  It’s a very cute and well equipped apartment – basically one long room that has been divided into living/kitchen area and bedroom area with sliding glass doors.  And a great view out to the water.  Perfect space for us for the next 3 nights.

After organizing a bit and freshening up, we hit the streets to get our bearings and start trying to get our bodies used to the heat and humidity.  Ugh.  We start the trek over to the marketplace where our 3:00 chocolate making class will be held (we switched it from 12:30 to 3:00 in case we wanted to nap after the flight – but don’t need that now) – exploring the neighborhood and the different dining options. 

Explorations handled, we decide to stop for a quick drink at a little café we found on the edge of a craft market. Unfortunately they don’t have wine by the glass, so we settle for splitting a big beer.  Oh well, it’s at least refreshing!

We wander a bit more, find an ATM, get our Soles, and head over to a cevicheria we had found and dug into a fantastic lunch – unfortunately far too much lunch – but still!  A combination plate of ceviche and Chaufas – which is a Chinese/Peruvian rice dish – and a whole order of Chaufas mariscos.  Excellent – but oh my – way too much food!  We paid an extra peso for a bag and box, and took the extra Chaufas home for dinner another night!  Accompanying our meal though was this great beer (yeah, again with the no wine!) that had 75% protein and was made of seaweed we think.  Whatever it was, it was this wild bright green color and excellent tasting.  Anything Probiotic is a good thing, so, hey, combined with beer?  Even better.

After lunch we hit the grocery store for supplies and headed back to the apartment.  By the time we had everything stowed and did a little more organization, it was time for our chocolate class at the ChocoMuseo.  We signed up for this because we figured we’d want something easy and light our first day – and well, chocolate!  How can you say no to chocolate – especially when you are in the part of the world that grows the best chocolate.  This class was so much better than either of us even expected!

It is held outside, in the middle of an artisan (read: craft) market, so it was toasty, but a great space – with props set up all around the main “workstation.”  Our “teacher,” Romy, is French. She is the museum owner’s sister and moved here during the Pandemic to help her sister. She ended up liking it so well here, she stayed and now does this full time.  But she also has a dream, or I should say quest, she wants to hike the Appalachian Trail before she turns 60 in 2 years.  Couldn’t have a better couple of students!  So now we have a new friend who we have threatened that she better come visit us when she is hiking the trail!  That just set us off into a fast friendship and an excellent couple of hours learning all about chocolate, how it grows (on trees – each tree only producing about 100 pods per year, enough for 10 to 15 chocolate bars), the cacao pods (got to see the real deal, and how they are encased in this pulp that is actually very good to eat – it is sweet like cantaloupe maybe), and how the fresh pods look purple when they are cut open before drying. We got to taste different types of chocolate and then learn about the harvesting process (all by hand), the drying process (all by hand) and then the roasting process (again, all by hand – no wonder real artisanal chocolate is so expensive!).  We even learned how to select the beans (look for fat larger beans) and were able to roast the beans we selected ourselves in this little clay oven.  Super fun!

Then we shelled and ground our beans in a mortar and pestle and got to make traditional drinks with the roasted beans and the hulls, which are made into tea.  The tea wasn’t so bad, but it was tea – and well, you know me!  Then we made hot chocolate.  Ed made the traditional Mayan type, with water and then he added chili peppers.  I was a princess who made the European type with added milk because they liked to sweeten everything!  They were both really tasty, although the spicy chocolate was muy picante!

Our last lesson was in actually making chocolate candies.  We both chose the chocolate we wanted – Ed dark, me a mixture of dark and milk – chose our molds and began to fill them with the chocolate and whatever filling we wanted.  I used a lot of chin chin, Peru’s answer to M&Ms!  Along with raisins and this other dried fruit, the name of which I can’t remember.  Ed of course used the chili pepper spices, plus coffee beans and little rice crispy things.  It was all great fun, and a wonderful learning experience.

We left our chocolates to set in the fridge, with the promise to come back tomorrow to pick them up, then gave Romy, our new friend, huge hugs and promised to stay in touch, and then headed home to freshen up and think about dinner. 

On the way home we ran across a big protest at the entrance to Kennedy Park, across from the Mayor’s offices.  There was a huge mix of people there with signs and chants about we think the parks. We’re not exactly sure, as we couldn’t really translate the signs.  But there were tons of protestors and tons of police presence.  While peaceful, we decided it was best not to dawdle, and continued our walk down to the malecon part of our avenue and our apartment.

Scoping out all the restaurant choices from our balcony, we settled on a place called Saha, which had a great menu of ceviche – and had a reputation as a huge party place, but later on in the evening.  They also had an all you can drink deal, which of course we didn’t want, but it was really reasonable at either 69 or 89 Peruvian Pesos, which converts to $18 or $24 dollars, depending upon the package you chose. We decided to take our chances and called for reservations, just in case.  Great move!  While we didn’t really need the reservations when we got there – there were only 2 other tables taken – we sure needed them about 30 minutes later.  The place was packed!  But not rowdy or anything yet, just a bunch of people eating and drinking. Although the place did live up to its loud reputation – with really loud music and diners voices reverberating through the garden.

The setting was wonderful, outdoor patio outfitted with fake vines and bushes for “walls,” great menu and service – and good wine and beer.  It was a wonderful way to spend our first night in Lima, eating our way though ceviche (some of the best I’ve had!) and Pulpo Antichuchero – octopus cooked in the traditional Peruvian way of course! – for Ed. 

We made our way back to the apartment, had a night cap out on the balcony overlooking the lights of Miraflores, and then took our tired little selves to bed after a thoroughly delightful day.