If Miraflores seems out of place — a prosperous upper-middle class neighborhood in a country where the per capita GDP is only about $6,000 — Barranco feels out of time. The major public square in this small Lima neighborhood is centered around a public library.That was more than enough to gladden my bibliophile heart.
Nearby stands an old electric streetcar with wooden doors and a cowcatcher front. This is a nonfunctioning museum piece, but it sets the mood for other anachronisms, like fifties-style lunch counters.
Hippies are another Barranco anachronism. They run galleries, play guitars out in the public squares, sell jewelry, and hang out with their boyfriends, girlfriends, and dogs.
And while most other parts of Lima use a color spectrum that ranges from concrete gray to Oxford brown, Barranco’s walls and buildings use a much livelier color palate.
For these and other reasons, the neighborhood is justifiably popular with tourists.
At one point, I got the strange feeling that I was being watched. I looked up and saw several large birds emerging from the rooftop of an abandoned church and circling above me. Yes, they were buzzards. I knew that the Inca Trail had taken a lot of out me, but I didn’t know I looked like buzzard food. “Buzz off!” I told them. “You’ve got the wrong guy.”
Speak Your Mind