PeruNorth's musings on events & destinations in Northern Peru, Amazonia ... and beyond. Detailed tour reviews.
It was not until 1935, the year of Lima's 400th anniversary, that Lindley created a carbonated soft drink based on the native plant Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citrodora). This was given the name Inca Kola and launched with the strapline 'Solo hay una y no se parece a ninguna' (There is only one, and it’s unlike any other).
In the excitement of the recent commencement of international flights between Panama and Chiclayo, I became curious as to why Chiclayo Airport (CIX) was named after José Abelardo Quiñones Gonzáles. It turns out, I had been regularly looking at his face, ever since I arrived in Peru - his face and aeroplane have appeared on the s/.10 note since 1991!
Most visitors to Lima's Colonial Centre get a tantalizing glimpse of a district that starkly reflects Lima's contrasts. Visible just north of the Presidential Palace and San Francisco Monastery, across the natural boundary of early Colonial Lima, the Rimac River, is the district named after the river.
Being so close to Peru's post-Conquest heart, the area has a number of interesting and historic attractions, but it is also evidence of the rapid, chaotic, urban growth that characterizes much of Lima from the 1960s onwards.
Despite living in Lima, it is seldom that I actually go to the centre. Over the last 30 years, the economic, cultural and tourist focus has largely shifted to the coastal districts of San Isidro, Barranco and Miraflores, and there are few practical reasons to visit.
So the visit of my photographer friend, James Brunker, offered a great excuse to explore once again, in the company of someone with a keen eye for the details, contrasts and absurdities that central Lima offers in abundance.
