Rafael Freyre

Whatever happens in Lima...

Come and see what really goes on here. Machu Picchu can wait!

Lima is a hilarious city. It is definitely a bizarre place full of contradictions and surprises. Over 9 million people live together on a strip of coastland in one of the driest deserts of the world: that means a lot of inspiring and crazy hustle and bustle.

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Rafael Freyre - Photo by Germán Ballesteros Jeroen Van der Zalm

Lima is an informal city: you can practically do, and not do, whatever you like. There are few institutions and definitely no cultural policies that support alternative art projects in a significant way. That´s why the independent artistic scene here exists thanks to the tenacity of the artists and cultural agents which conform it. That means: individual art projects, experimental laboratories, collective creative initiatives. You can go to an exhibition in a half-finished private museum, have a party on the roof of the restaurant next door or meet up with artists in their ateliers in a beautiful colonial mansion.

You shouldn't certainly miss the experience of places like the historical center of Lima, the Gamarra informal markets, the Cachina, the fruit market, the flower market, the beaches of the coast, the arqueological museums, the colonial and pre-Columbian architecture, the varied culture cuisine, all the music from salsa to the last electronic tendencies... All of these tips are just a fistful of them that justify visiting it.

But above all, it is all about knowing people. Not so much for lickspittling or exchanging business cards (although they do it here as well), but simply for getting to know where things are going on!

Whatever happens in Lima...
Well, just come and see!