Out with the Old, in with the New: A Reflection on the Differences Between Lima and Cuzco

After three weeks in Cuzco, I was sad to leave but simultaneously excited because I love big cities, and I was more than ready to see what Lima had to offer. Although we've spent significantly less time in Lima than in Cuzco so far, I've noticed some substantial differences between the two cities—which makes sense given that one is the capital and one is a more of a colonial town. However, both have rich histories and so much to see. I'm not sure if I can pick a favorite—maybe at the end of this blog post I'll have figured it out—but for now, below are some differences that I've noticed between Lima and Cuzco in the last few days:

The Walking Experience
Walking around Lima is probably where I've noticed the most differences from Cuzco. While we meandered around the cobblestone streets of Cuzco and arrived at our destination usually within minutes, the sidewalks here are paved much like they are in the states, but it also takes a bit longer to get to places. In terms of crossing the street, I didn't think that it could get scarier than Cuzco because I'm not a huge fan of walking right into incoming traffic—people think that since I'm from Chicago I'm somehow immune to this, but I swear that our pedestrians and drivers are great about following road rules so crossing the road is just so much easier. However, Lima was a bit of a rude awakening—even at crosswalks with lights for both cars and pedestrians, people can be seen driving across the street even on a red light as long as there is no oncoming traffic and as long as the pedestrians are far enough away. Also, sometimes the most convenient way to get somewhere involves crossing busy intersections without traffic lights—this usually involves me short-distance sprinting across the street as I feel my body pulsing with stress. With the slightly-terrifying street crossing aside, however, the walking experience in Lima is also different because you don't have individuals on the street beckoning you to come into their restaurant or get the coveted "masaje." In that way, I've really appreciated Lima because I love walking around so much that having people bother me along every step of the walk by offering their respective services detracted a bit from that experience. Finally, what I've loved about walking in Lima is the view of the sea. It's been so long since I've seen a large body of water, as I haven't been to the beach in a while, so being able to look out at the sea in a slightly longer-than-average walk has been my favorite part of this visit to Lima so far. Also, the longer walks allow you to enjoy the city more and take the time to look around and soak it all—this got hard in Cuzco when places like Granja Heidi, for example, were only steps away.

The Dining Experience
Though there are a lot of similarities between the foods in Lima and Cuzco—which makes sense given that many of the places here feature traditional Peruvian cuisine, I feel like restaurants in Lima offer slightly more options outside of just traditional Peruvian dishes. For example, though Café San Antonio had empanadas and alfajores, it also had salads, sandwiches, and wraps which combined some more-Peruvian ingredients like quinoa in a vessel that I associate more closely with places like the United States. Another place we visited—Mercado 28—really had a lot of dishes that I felt were a less traditionally Peruvian. For instance, I ordered a poké bowl and felt like a bit of a traitor for not getting a more traditional meal from a smaller establishment, but at the same time, this place was packed, meaning that a lot of people were craving the same thing. This cafeteria-like café also featured a stir-fry place, tacos, and great ice cream. Even here, there is still that combination of traditional Peruvian dishes with those of other cultures—for instance, a lomo saltado stir fry or gelato made with lucuma. Another restaurant that we went to in the Larcomar called Popular continued with with this trend. They featured sushi with fresh-caught fish that combined Japanese and Peruvian flavors, a lomo saltado sandwich, and slightly more elevated chaufa dishes. I also thought it was funny that their menus featured two "popular" figures, according to them—Steve Jobs and Chewbacca—while their paper placemats focused on "popular" Peruvian dishes like ceviche and lomo saltado. Something else that I was surprised about here was that the prices weren't as high as I was expecting. With the exception of Popular, I've paid about the same price here for meals as I did in Cuzco. These meals also often had larger portion sizes, so it ends up being the same amount of money. I wonder why this is—I would expect that prices would have been notably higher here since it is a larger city, but I'm not complaining.

Overall, I've enjoyed the food both in Cuzco and Lima. In Cuzco, however, the food seems to be a bit more focused on delivering more traditional Peruvian cuisine or a fusion between mostly Peruvian cuisine and an international one, while in Lima the food has a bit more international flair without completely losing its Peruvian nature. I think this is often the case in larger cities, so I don't necessarily think that one is more or less authentic than the other or one is better than the other—they're simply as different as the two cities are.

The Living Experience
Life in Cuzco and Lima just seem pretty fundamentally different to me. Again, I think this is for the same reason that I've talked about above—that one is more of a colonial town rooted in the past while the other is a larger, capital city. Nevertheless, even though I expected to experience this contrast, I didn't realize just how noticeable it would be. For instance, despite the fact that there is most definitely traffic in parts of Cuzco, I felt like the traffic around our hotel slowed down later in the night, and it was easy to walk along the cobblestone streets and fall asleep to a relatively quiet night. In Lima, the rush of cars outside can be heard outside the window even in the later hours of the night and crossing busier intersections is even more difficult than in Cuzco. The buildings are mostly much taller and many have a more modern feel to them. Food delivery drivers bike through the streets with the brightly-colored bags of their respective delivery companies, and gas stations are seemingly on every corner. Looking back, I can't remember if I once saw a gas station while we were in Cuzco. Again, each city has its own appeal when it comes to the living experience, but as someone from a bigger city, the hustle and bustle in Lima had a certain appeal to it, and I found myself falling asleep easier with the sound of the rush of cars outside than with the quieter streets in Cuzco.

The Tourist Experience
This category is where I noticed one of the starkest contrasts between the two cities. In Cuzco, being a tourist can be a bit overwhelming because even during the shortest walk to the store or to grab a bite to eat you can get solicited by vendors, restaurant workers, and people offering masajes. Also, every other store (if not every store) seems to be targeted towards tourists and sells a variety of brightly-colored souvenirs. On the way into Lima, we discussed the fact that at any given time there are probably just as many tourists in Lima as there are in Cuzco, but since Lima is a bigger city, this number is far less noticeable, whereas in Cuzco most of the tourists are clustered in the same area. This is where I enjoyed Lima far more than Cuzco because we could enjoy walks to the beach or to the Larcomar without having to say "no, gracias" to a series of individuals on our way there. It also makes you feel a little bit less like a tourist and more like just another resident enjoying the city because you're not singled out by individuals on the street for looking "touristy." Something else that I've noticed in Lima that's been kind of interesting is that servers/store owners don't try to switch to English when they notice that you're not a native Spanish speaker like a decent amount of individuals did in Cuzco. I'm not sure what the reason is for this difference, as I expected that in a bigger city like Lima this switch to English would be more prevalent—maybe it's a result of the more concentrated Cuzco tourism I mentioned previously. When it comes to the tourist experience, I enjoyed Lima more than Cuzco because of the increased ability to join the hustle and bustle of everyday life rather than sticking in a crowd and consequently being solicited by a variety of offers on the street.

The Overall Experience
As I've been writing this reflection, I've realized just how difficult it is to compare Lima and Cuzco even though I thought it would be relatively simple when I set out to write it. Each city has its own experiences to offer and is great for its respective reasons. I loved Cuzco because I could almost feel the rich history of that particular region pulsing through the streets, because of the views of city lights up in the mountains while sitting at La Bo'M, and because of all of the new cultural experiences that I felt were unique to Cuzco and helped me continue moving out of my comfort zone. The reason I loved Lima kind of boils down to one main reason: it reminded me more of Chicago than I ever expected. On our last night in Lima, we walked down to the beach, and the view of cars driving down a busy highway against the backdrop of the sea reminded me so much of Lake Shore Drive that I almost felt like I was home for a second. I had many more moments like this in Lima—I almost felt like I was walking down Michigan Avenue when we went to get churros, and I was reminded of certain places in Chicago when we went to Larcomar. The ability to feel a little closer to home even when I was miles away in Lima was an unexpected experience but was what ultimately made our stay in Lima one of my favorite parts about our time in Peru.