When Heather whisked me off to our whirlwind trip through very specific parts of Peru, I was prepared to dislike it. Low expectations equal few disappointments and #BecauseEcuador and yadda yadda yadda. But Peru is amazing and Lima was my favorite part. (Obviously Machu Picchu is indescribably “WHOA AMAZEBALLS”, but people don’t friggin’ live in Machu Picchu … anymore.)

Yes! Lima IS another capital city! A wonderful, developed, diverse capital city with a diverse, educated, considerate population and delicious food! (And Dunkin Donuts! Ecuador doesn’t even have real donuts!) There is shopping – good quality, nice fabrics, affordable prices, all the styles and comforts of home. There are real highways with real public transportation – and also a lot of minivans pretending to be buses, which cost 75¢. Lima also boasts wide avenues and actual green space in the parques. Delightful.

It also came to my immediate attention that a white-non-latino female tourist with a giant septum ring and some other glittery junk stuck to her face could walk down the street without even a second glance. Not one person cat-called me in Lima; NOT ONE.

Okay, but it really is dreary. The coast gets an always-frigid Antarctic current. Lima is an actual desert, boasting a mere 0.3 inches (6.4 mm) of rain per year (Denver, USA receives 15.54 inches; Chicago, USA gets 35.82 inches; and my nemesis Cuenca, Ecuador gets 34.57 inches). Lima is also warm, hanging out between 65 and 80 degrees F (18 and 26 C). Meteorological blah blah blah means it is ALWAYS cloudy. ALL THE TIME. It was possible to tell sometimes in which part of the sky the sun was. But we just assumed it was the sun, we had no visual confirmation.

There you have it: practically perfect in every way. Lima. Go see it.