Barranco - Artists' Community

The Barranco neighborhood of Lima is known as where the artists and musicians and artsy people hang out. It’s about 10 minutes by taxi from where we’re staying in the center of Miraflores. We had met a young woman who works at the bookstore who had told us that she lives in Barranco and prefers it because she is a plastics artist. Today we finally checked it out. We spent the day walking around trying to figure the town out. It has a lot of beautiful old decrepit buildings, most in very poor condition. There are some cafes and restaurants and bars. A pleasant parque central. Beautiful view out over the Pacific – which of course every community around here has if you walk to the edge!
We stopped for pisco sours and a snack at an artsy fartsy little art café on the park – Iskay – less than $US 10 for all that – in a pleasant and relaxing place. Later we stopped for lunch at a neighborhood bar/café on the other side of the park. I finally got to try Anticuchos, beef heart pieces on a stick. Very tasty, but a bit tough. Will have to try again. Another pisco sour. Gene had the Lomo Saltado, another popular local dish (sautéed beef). It tasted great. It was a great afternoon walking around. We still don’t know if we would prefer Barranco over Miraflores. We’re pretty stuck on Miraflores I think. We need to spend another day wandering over there.