Exploring Lima: Markets, Culinary Delights and Water Shows

Day 12, 2025 Grand World Voyage

Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025; Lima, Peru.

I seldom spend the evening ashore, even when we stay overnight in a port. I always say I’ll go back at night, but it doesn’t usually happen. I’m either tired after a day of touring and exploring or I don’t find someone who wants to go.

Tonight was an exception, and a fine one at that. Friends and I booked a private tour that combined two different itineraries, concluding with an evening at the Circuito Mágico del Agua, or Magic Water Circuit. It comprises 13 water fountains and features, spread out in a 19-acre park, making it the largest fountain complex in the world.

When we arrived after dinner, cars were circling the area looking for parking. Our driver Julio dropped us off right by a gate, and guide Cesar worked his magic so we could walk right in, avoiding the long lines. Thousands of people – mostly locals – filled the park. Kids played in some of the fountains, adults (including some of us) ran through a water tunnel. The highlight each hour is a laser light show presented against the background of fountains, illustrating the history and culture of Peru.

Perhaps the only thing that improved on yesterday’s tour exploring museums, archeological sites and a horse estate was a great tour guide and a fun group of friends today.

I’ve toured before with Haku Tours and really can’t recommend them enough. The company was started by a man who came out of a Lima shanty town and continues to give back to communities living below the poverty line through his foundation, Reciprocity NGO. Of course, that wouldn’t matter much if they didn’t provide excellent small group tours.

Six of us started out in early afternoon, taking the shuttle to the commercial port’s gate where Cesar and Julio met us. We headed down the coast to the beachfront communities of Miraflores, Barranco and Chorrillos.

It’s hard to pick one highlight from the day, but certainly near the top of the list was our dinner, prepared in Haku Tours’ cooking facility in Miraflores. They built the kitchen and facilities for their tour offerings of cooking classes. I had requested they include a Peruvian dinner on our tour, as we were combining an afternoon of sightseeing and the evening of the water and laser show. Dinner started with ceviche with two kinds of corn, followed by beef cooked as we watched and of course potatoes. Peru has more than 4,000 varieties of potatoes.

Dinner was accompanied by our second pisco sours of the day. Earlier, while walking through the arty Barranco district, Cesar pointed out the República del Pisco and we decided to stop in (an advantage of the flexibility of a private tour).

Barranca is known in part for its many murals and what is perhaps the only park dedicated to the vulture.

We started the afternoon at an overlook on the site of a major battle between Peru and Chile. We could see both the coastline and some of the many pueblos jóvenes, or shanty towns, surrounding the city. These communities started when millions of migrants from the countryside could only find housing as squatters on undeveloped hillsides. Standing above the overlook is Cristo del Pacífico, inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Cesar also gave us a tour of the Mercado Dos, or the market frequented more by residents than by tourists. Vendors were happy to give us samples of some Peruvian fruits, such as aguaymanto, granadilla and tumbo (varieties of passionfruit) and lucuma. They all were delicious. We didn’t see all 4,000 varieties of potatoes, but we saw plenty.

I’ve said it before, but I need to plan a more extensive trip to Peru. It’s always a delight and a surprise, and the country has much more to offer.

Many on our cruise took advantage of our two-and-a-half days in Lima to visit Machu Picchu. I originally had booked a tour there. But the cancellation deadline was two months ago, at a time when I wasn’t completely over intestinal problems caused by a parasite I picked up on my Japanese cruise. Fortunately I’m over that now, so I’ll just have to come back.