Changing of the Guard at the Presidential Palace
the conqueror Pizzaro as Judas). Major Tip: If
you dine at MAP Cafe ($50, Plazoleta Nazarenas
231) you’ll savor top notch nouvelle Peruvian
cuisine and also get to tour the extraordinary
Museo de Arte Precolumbino, which is just
upstairs and closes at 10 p.m. Excursions to t he
Sacred Valley of the Inca are an absolute must.
Hire a driver to see the unusual ruins at Moray
where enormous circular terraced depressions
were used by the agriculturally savvy Incas to
study the effects of 12 microclimates on 3,000
species of various crops. Take time on the way
to see the salt evaporation ponds at Maras, in
continuous use since Inca times. Individual
families tend each of the 5,000 plots and you
can buy excellent salt and salt-based cosmetic
products at the nearby gift shop.
LOSTCITYOFTHEINCAS
The Incas built Machu Picchu to be close to
the gods and modern visitors will likely share
those mystical sentiments upon first sight of the
incredible mid-15th-century stone citadel high
atop a mountain ridge overlooking the Sacred
Valley. You’ll need plenty of stamina to climb
the hundreds of ancient steps connecting the
ruins of South America’s premier archeological
site. Be sure to buy a guidebook because there
are no directions or signs to explain what you
are seeing as you explore the remains of 200
buildings, including three primary treasures: the
Temple of the Sun, a marvel of Inca stonework;
the Room of the Three Windows (hewn from a
WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
The Plaza de Armas at Cusco
singe rock); and the Intihuatana, or “Hitching Post
of the Sun,” a stone column that was the object of
pagan worship. Be sure to climb to the upper part
of the ruins before you start exploring. Be sure to
arrive as early in the morning as you can because
the sun gets very hot. After all the hiking you’ll
have time to enjoy a late lunch and shopping in
the town of Aguas Calientes before heading back
to Cusco or exploring the Inca Trail.
AMBASSADOROFPERU
Luis Miguel Castilla’s Favorite
Places
The first thing I do when I return to Lima is to visit
the almost hidden “secret” restaurants offering
highly original cuisine. At Grimanesa Vargas in
Miraflores, I’ll order some authentic anticuchos
(beef kebabs). I know that Salon Capon, a
restaurant known as a chifa, will always have the
best mix of both Peruvian and Chinese cuisines.
Westin Lima Hotel lobby
I also set aside time to visit some museums, which
I never finish exploring completely. The recently
renovated Museum of Art of Lima’s collection
includes valuable works of contemporary art.
Mario Testino’s museum, MATE, specializing in
contemporary photography, is another must-see.
If I have some extra time I like to travel to the
National Reserve of Paracas, near to Lima,
a sandy, family-friendly beach where you can
observe sea lions, flamingos and other birds.
One of my favorite hotels on the Bay of Paracas
is La Hacienda Bahia Paracas. For my morning
run I’ll go to the Costa Verde, a circuit of beaches
bordering the Pacific Ocean.
| O C T O B E R | washingtonlife.com
Pre-Columbian treasures at Lima’s Museo Larco
75