Day 51 – Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Well, this was the day I was supposed to arrive to Lima by bike. But faith had it otherwise. Anyhow, I had quite an interesting detour to Cusco, Machu Picchu and the Rainbow Mountains.

So this was my full day in South America. I found one last laundry to be clean my remaining stuff. (Yes, I know, I sound like a broken record, but I like wearing clean stuff). The morning was overcast, who would have thought it would later turn into a really hot day.

After some bite to eat, I decided to take a bus to Museum Larco. As usual, I did not do my homework, just saw it was higjly recommended - listing it as a top museum not only in South America, but the whole world. (Note aside: it is the #1 out of 428 activities in Lima and is consistently ranked as the top 25 museums globally).

Cool Peruvians

Baby on the bus

Getting there was a challange and I must admit I lost it a bit. Just outside the historic center was a maze of buses, one coming after the other, people getting off and on even without the bus stopping. Google said I should take line 1228, a thousand (two hundred and twentyseven) others showed up, mine never did. It was even unclear which direction I should start. Worse, no one in the morning rush hour stopped to help, they either did not pretend to hear me or claimed not to speak English. This infuriated me so much (granted, without cause) , that I screamed at the next person ignoring me. He did not care, as he anyhow ignored me.

I calmed down and found an alternative route. It was not full and music wad blaring from the speaker of the driver. I had to change to another line. There I noticed a cafe called Vienna. A few stops later, I reached an utterly different universe altogether.

Entering a different universe

Museum Larco, which is housed in an 18th-century mansion, was tablished in 1926 by Rafael Larco Hoyle, hosting a vast pre-Columbian collection of over 45,000 artifacts spanning 5,000 years history, with stunning gold, silver, stone and textile galleries. We all know about the Incas; the Nazcas are famous for their lines - there are other civilizations called Cupisnique, Paracas, Moche, Wari, Chancay and Chimú cultures. Some lived high in the Andes, others in the jungle, the desert or next to the ocean.

As soon as I stepped into the lush. colorful and carefully maintained garden surrounding the mansion, I knew I was up for something special. The fresh, sweet smell of the flowers was sooo relaxing after the rather hectic journey. My batteries were in a fast charging mode.

I paid for a guided tour and set down to enjoy an espresso prior to the start. I could have spent a couple of hours just sitting there.

Daniela was a friendly young guide - she led the group consisting of I, me and myself. She told many interesting stories and gave a good background of he various cultures from the different regions of Peru. I was so impressed with the exhibition that I repeated it with an audio guide.

Treasures

My mum would have loved wearing this...

Work of art centuries old

Precious metals

What craftmanship!

Fine pottery

Not to mention this one...

Two highlights in the otherwise incredible exhibition:

There was a sizable (a suitable adjective...) Erotic Gallery, portraying explicit sexual acts, anatomy, and fertility. These artifacts depict sexuality as a sacred, regenerative force linked to daily life, nature, and the spiritual world. (I had seen something similar as a teenager in Khajuharo in India, where the temples are decorated by scenes from Karma Sutra).

Erotic pottery

Hundreds of year old...

The other highlight was the so-called "visible storage". Unlike most museums which keep their reserves hidden, Larco opens its storage rooms to visitors. Here, you can walk among shelves lined with 30,000 (!) catalogued ceramics, textiles, and artifacts. This gives a sense of the sheer scale of Peru’s ancient cultures. Truly amazing.

Just a few of the 30,000

After spending four hours there, I re-entered the hectical Lima life, taking public transport again. One of the many vendors on this trip was selling books, I almost bought Shakespeare's Hamlet.

OK, I did not spare words about Museum Larco, but then it was a major highlight of this entire trip.

Arriving to Lima a week earlier, I had noticed a huge bazaar right next to the historic center - back then, I was loaded with baggage, now, with my hands being free, it was time to explore it. While being a lot cleaner and more developed, the mood was clearly reminiscent of bazaars in Karachi in Pakistan, where I had lived as a teenager. I got my sneakers cleaned again, got a bite to eat and started looking for a bouquet.

Bazaar

Getting my shoes cleaned

Where are the shoppers?

The flowers were for later in the evening, a lovely Hungarian couple living in Lima, Bogi and Gábor, had invited me for dinner, The connection was through my mum, who had worked with Gábor earlier.

I did find an entire array of flower shops in the bazaar- guess what, they were all selling highly kitschy artificial flowers. Not a single natural flower shop. A bit outside, I did find a place - with limited options. Then I took a quick refresher at my accommodation, got my hair cut (again) and found the restaurant.

Entrance to a private club

Dancers on the street

Here a question. How many of the top 50 restaurants in the world would you think are in Lima? Four! And where is the #1 restaurant? Yup, in Lima, Peru. Such is the gastronomy in the Peruvian capital.

The place I was invited to was truly amazing. Similar to Museum Larco, one makes a turn from a not-so-pretty street into a different world altogether. It is located in a 200-year old restored mansion; ad I later found out, it had been named as the "Best New Restaurant" in Lima. No wonder, the food was amazing. The breads that were served melted in your mouth, spiced by butter creations. We then shared sizzlibg garlic mushrooms, my favorite. I got a truly enjoyable serving of wok beef with onions (aaah!) and other vegetables. I could barely walk afterwards...

A memorable evening spent with Bogi & Gábor

It was great to share, discuss and debate the experiences of Peru (and Chile, Gábor had lived there) . They also love traveling and made it a point to discover each region of Peru - which is quite a feat, it being the size of UK, France and Germany - combined! The couple is also busy discovering rest of the region. Nagyon szépen köszönöm!

What a nice last full day!