It’s lunch time. We’re all getting hungry, so Jose walks us across the square and to a little corner restaurant that has typical Peruvian food. We have a choice of Ceviche (made from Ojo de Uva or grape-eye fish), Chicken, a Chicken and cheese concoction, saltada loma (typical Peruvian beef recipe), vegetarian or a stuffed pepper that comes with a potato cake. We of course opt for the ceviche, and keep ourselves satisfied with the fried corn nuts presented as snacks before our meals arrive. And what meals those are! It’s a feast. Everything looks so good, I end up taking pictures of everyone’s food.
Yum.
A little more walking after lunch, passing by the old post office which now has a vendor market running through the main walkway under a beautiful arched roof (originally constructed of glass, but now just a metal superstructure)…
…then back in the van for our ride to Barranca, the bohemian section of Lima. On our way, we get to see first hand the Lima traffic congestion. Fortunately for us, we are going in the opposite direction, but it is jam packed, stop and go for miles on one of the main thoroughfares into the city. Wow. Glad we are going out of the city at this point in time.
Barranca is as advertised, very bohemian, artistic and while not exactly quaint, definitely not as proper and straight laced as Lima city. We stop at an ocean overlook with beautiful sea views in front of us and lovely grand old homes behind us.
Then we walk through the quiet streets to the site of a lovely little park next to an old church which had been damaged by earthquakes and didn’t have much of a roof structure left. Somehow, in the local lore, this church became the pet church, the patron of animals, or some such (I can’t remember the exact reason). When pets died, they couldn’t be buried in a human cemetery of course, so people started coming here and throwing their dead pets into the church. Needless to say, it was a big mess, not to mention a big stink. The church became off limits, but people would still sneak out in the nighttime to throw their pets into the church.
The practice finally stopped a while back when the government finally stepped in and covered up the roof of the church, so no one could just lob their dead animal inside. Odd…but allegedly true! Regardless of the slightly macabre history, the church is lovely and perched atop a rise overlooking the lovely Barranca village as well as the seaside.
We cross over the bridge at the bottom of the church, holding our breath and wishing for good health and success, and walk down the winding walking path lined with restaurants (where Jose said he was going to bring us for lunch but he can’t stand the smell of the bird guana all around),
then up a winding staircase to view some of the murals that make up the street art here in Barranca. These are all government sanctioned and the artist must submit a proposal of their idea before winning the right to paint the walls. The artwork is amazing, the detail and size and scope. Very nice way to trade “tagging” for living art on the walls of the city.
At the top of the stairs there is a great mural of a vulture (which are quite prevalent, still living here from the “pet cemetery” church) – and above the mural, perched on the roof is a live vulture. What are the chances?
This pretty much concludes our tour. We stop at a craft store, where we actually buy a ceramic Toro, which has a hole in its back for incense. Jose says it is traditional from the southern part of Peru. We just think it is cute…so…into the bag it goes.
We stop briefly on the main square of Barranca and a few of our group heads into Starbucks to get frappacinos made from local fruits. We pass on the opportunity –Starbucks? Local fruits or not. No Starbucks. 
Back in the van, we spend a comfortable 40 minutes or so back to the square in Punto where we hop back aboard the shuttle bus to take us to the ship. Very nice tour – once again – and a great day overall.
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