So I dragged my laptop to the cafe this morning for breakfast and to type up a bit of an extended datasheet on Lima. No point in doubling up on Lima datasheets, ill just add to yours rick.
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Brief Overview of the City
Lima is a pretty cool city, the touristy spots are typically touristy. I managed to get out and about in the city including up into the mountain area of Chaclacayo which was great because local Lima is nothing like touristy Lima.
My advice, get to Lima, get comfortable with the city in Miraflores or Barranco and then get adventurous and hit the outer suburbs. I never once felt unsafe, was not mugged or robbed etc.
The Women
Like all cities, there are some really hot women, lot's of average women and a some ugly ones. Overall I was pretty impressed given the negative publicity Lima seems to get on the forums.
Game
What are the chances of hooking up? If you cannot get laid in Lima, you need to seek professional help and fast. I certainly did not have the same experience as rick, but I still managed to clock 2 a week.
I did well at night game in pizza street etc, but I found I did far better with a much better standard of women in the outer suburbs.
Nightlife Recommendations
Miraflores obviously has the well known calle de pizza's which is very touristy, full of puta's (whores) and generally I found it to be a little boring.
Elsewhere in Miraflores & Barranco has some awesome venues that I highly recommend hitting up.
Outer suburbs in Lima, such as San Juan has awesome locations, full of locals and I can assure you that you will be the only foreign person in the place. The staff in these places are also less familiar with foreigners (living in suburbs away from Miraflores generally = less contact with foreigners), these staff will in general treat you very well, they know you have money and are willing to make sure you get looked after for a small tip, usually no more than 1 - 2 soles here and there, but it makes all the difference.
OM
OM is in Miraflores, its a house turned into a discotech and quite cool, it is in an absolute bitch of a location, to this day I have no idea what the address is, but the taxi will. I went here on a thursday night and it was pumping around 1am, plenty of talent. The music is a mix of western club music and latino music, by far my favorite venue for hitting the dfloor and dfloor game.
Ayahuasca (Barranco)
Gentlemen this bar is going to introduce you to my good friend "coca sour" and my personal varient, "coca mojito". For those of you who do not want to get shit faced on the real deal, this is the next best thing. I found the real thing a bit later on in the trip, wow.
This bar is also frequented by quite a few hotties, it is more of a sit down and chat type place, less dancing. Don't worry about your lack of spanish, the women here are in general very curious, again very few tourists come here as it is not in the most prominent location.
Tropicana (San Juan)
Tropicana is a salsa club in the little district of San Juan de Miraflores.. These people are obsessed with the name "miraflores".. I had an absolute ball in this venue and I do not dance an ounce of salsa (well after 4 weeks here I am learning slowly).
Highly recommended, for talent and the simple fact that you are going to be a rare commodity.
Kapital Sur (San Juan)
This place is huge. The little chicks who run around getting you drinks are hot. Now the quantity of talent is not as high as say OM, but a 9 in here is yours for the taking, no questions asked. Group sets, no worries, it seems to be a big thing for a peruvian to have a gringo for a friend, your new amigo will bring the women to you.
There are other clubs, but I found that the above really stood out for me. I would seriously only spend the first weekend out in Miraflores or Barranco and then spend as much time in the outer suburbs as possible.
Other Info / Recommendations? (optional)
Learn spanish, forget the rosetta stone as it is useless, they all talk with slang, going around saying "como estas" just makes you look like more like the typical tourist.
I started using this buenos entonces, its argentinian and sold on the net ($84). It is great, its fast paced, lots of slang and casual talk, things that will come in handy and make you seem more of a local expat than just a tourist.
Food. Peru and food seem to go well, unlike most asian countries they actually make some very nice dishes. There is this amazonian themed restaurant that makes the best meat dishes.
I was not sick once, I did however avoid the really dodgy looking places and generally stuck to the better ones, in saying that a hamburger at a local hamburger shop (not mcdonalds or burgerking, they cost 2x as much) will set you back 8.50 peso ($3usd) including fries and chicha.
Personal Experience
I have been in Peru for a month now, I am really glad that I decided to hit it up and I would certainly spend more time here in the future.
On the whole I have some amazing stories to tell from this stop, it was lots of fun and I might share the stories at a later date.
The Bottom Line
Fun, easy, a good introduction to latin america.
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