We really grew to like Lima, especially the Barranco district, but I think that had a lot to do with a local friend showing us around. Lima has a tough skin to crack, and we have spoken with a lot of tourists who literally hate it, and I can see why. Miraflores, or where basically all the info desks and everything guide you, is insanely Americanized, and not in a good way. For us it screamed “avoid!” Prices in dollars, American fast food chains and multiple casinos. Bleh. Lima has no public transportation system. I’m not kidding. Your choice is to take cabs, or learn the insane gyspy bus system. We found it really hard to stay in our budget, constantly – but the amount of amazing, literally amazing, food everywhere had a lot to do with that.

In fewer words: I would be careful how much time you plan on spending there, in Lima. It’s a big, commercial city. The best of our experiences in South America came from tiny cities in the middle of nowhere. Plan just a few days in Lima, but leave yourself flexibility in case you want to stay longer. You really don’t want to be stuck there if you don’t like it.

We never took Spanish, but after our first month in Mexico, we knew enough to get by day to day, and continued learning every moment. Maybe just some learning at home will be enough to get started?

We hope that when we are done with our year abroad we can actually come back to Perú, and to Lima. We’d like to rent an apartment and take cooking classes for 2 months, and then return to Arequipa and Cusco for another month each. We are in love with the country, absolutely.