Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [51]
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ORIENTATION
Planted on the sandy foothills of the Andes, Lima is a rambling metropolis composed of more than 30 municipalities or districts. The city’s historic heart, Lima Centro (Central Lima), lies at a bend on the southern banks of the Río Rímac. Here, around the Plaza de Armas, a grid of crowded streets laid out in the days of Pizarro houses most of the city’s surviving colonial architecture. On this neighborhood’s southern flank, around the Plaza San Martín, the Plaza Bolognesi and the Parque de la Cultura, the city takes on a 19th-century veneer, where grand boulevards are lined with extravagant (if decayed) structures built in a panoply of architectural styles, from Victorian to beaux arts.
From this point, Av Arequipa, one of the city’s principal thoroughfares, plunges southeast, through Santa Beatriz, Jesús María and Lince, before arriving in well-to-do San Isidro. This is Lima’s banking center and one of its most affluent settlements. San Isidro quickly gives way to the contiguous, seaside neighbourhood of Miraflores, which serves as Lima’s contemporary core, bustling with commerce, restaurants and nightlife. Immediately to the south lies Barranco, a stately turn-of-the-20th-century resort community. Long the city’s bohemian center, today it boasts some of the most hopping bars in the city.
The airport resides in the port city of Callao, about 12km west of downtown or 20km northwest of Miraflores. The area is also home to a naval base, an old colonial fort and the pleasant seaside community of La Punta.
The principal bus routes connecting Central Lima with San Isidro and Miraflores run along broad avenues such as Tacna, Garcilaso de la Vega and Arequipa. These neighborhoods are also connected by the short highway Paseo de la República or Vía Expresa, known informally as el zanjón (the ditch).
Street Names
The city is generally laid out in a grid with street numbers that are easy to follow, jumping to the next 100 for each cuadra (block; ie ‘cuadra 5’ will be numbered from 500 to 599). However, street names can be confusing. For one, they change with alarming regularity. Second, the same street can have several names as it traverses Lima. Av Arequipa, for example, turns into Garcilaso de la Vega, which is also known as Wilson. Locals will refer to a given street by the name which most suits them; not necessarily the newest one. In some instances, a street can have a different name on almost every block. To keep things extra confusing, some names are repeated across different districts. (When hiring taxis, be sure to indicate which neighborhood you’re going to.) For the purposes of this chapter, the most common and clearly marked names are used.
Maps
A broad map of Lima can be indispensable for cross-town jaunts. The city map produced by Canada-based ITBM (www.itbm.com) features much of the city, including downtown and environs, as well as San Isidro and Miraflores. For a far more detailed map that covers almost the entire metropolitan area, opt for Lima Plan Metro, produced by the Peruvian company Editorial Lima 2000.
If you’re in downtown, the top spot for maps is the Caseta el Viajero Kiosk (Map; 423-5436; Jirón Belén 1002), a cluttered stand facing Plaza San Martín that is run by the congenial Federico Quispe. He carries the maps mentioned, as well as smaller ones devoted to individual neighborhoods. Maps are also widely available in bookstores.
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INFORMATION
Bookstores
Lima is dotted with well-stocked shops that carry the latest bestsellers, natural-history tomes, fiction classics and lush hardbacks devoted to every aspect of Peruvian cuisine. All of the following stores also sell maps, English-language titles and guidebooks.
Crisol (www.crisol.com.pe; 10am-11pm) Óvalo Gutiérrez (Map; 221-1010; Av Santa Cruz 816, Miraflores); Jockey Plaza (Map; 436-0004; Av Javier Prado