Lima’s cool kid on the block
As galleries, craft beer bars and chic eateries bring a new energy to the raffish Barranco district, Paul Richardson reveals the best of this seaside resort-turned-creative quarter
Asprawling, noisome, dusty Lat Am capital with some of the worst traffic in the world, Lima is a tough place to love. Barranco, however, might be the barrio that redeems the city. This neighbourhood, one of Lima’s 43 urban districts, sits pretty on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean, strung out along two avenues (Almirante Miguel Grau and San Martín) that run like tramlines parallel to the sea. Its heart in every sense is the Bajada de Baños, a promenade sloping down towards the beach beneath a wooden bridge known picturesquely as “Puente de los Suspiros” (the bridge of sighs).
The barrio’s architecture tells you much about its history. During its heyday in the early 20th century this was a seaside resort where well-to-do limeño families had their summer residences. A fanciful holiday style prevails in its mad mix of influences: Tudor beams and Tyrolese turrets jostle with Moorish and art deco stylings. A walk around the barrio is a beauty contest of neocolonial houses painted a riot of candy pink, terracotta, mustard yellow and forget-me-not blue.
If Barranco in the 1980s (when Peru was beset with terrorist violence) became druggy and dilapidated, it has lately regained much of its raffish charm. Nowadays the barrio is an innercity haven where bohemians and creatives come together with working-class locals and foreigners to create an interesting social cocktail. At weekends the beaches swell with limeños desperate for a blast of Barranco’s natural air-con: the cool breeze blowing in from the Pacific. But food and drink, together with art and design, are its major draw. Great coffee, creative cocktails and craft beer are the tipples of choice; the culinary arts are well represented, too, from street stalls selling native snacks such as tamales and anticuchos to the brave New Peruvian gastronomy going down at Siete, Isolina, and Mérito.
Barranco is liberal and laissez-faire by nature. One of the few parts of Lima where everything of interest is reachable on foot, it’s also, by the standards of Latin American cities, remarkably safe. Tourism has discovered the area, rents are climbing steadily, and gentrification is a looming danger – European visitors
European visitors will be surprised Barranco didn’t go the way of Notting Hill long ago
will be surprised Barranco didn’t go the way of Notting Hill or the Marais long ago. But for the moment it retains a delicate balance between old and new. Yes, there are hipster cafés and concept stores selling chic indigenous crafts – but also corner-shop grocers and creaky old bars like Juanito’s where gents slurp Cuzqueña beer and watch the football.
Certainly the reasons to love this eccentric enclave, sitting on its sea-cliff at the southern tip of Lima, are many and varied. Chiara Machiavello, a young Peruvian designer with an international reputation and a showroom in Barranco, says many of her creative friends are moving here, attracted by a characterful and still (just) affordable neighbourhood that fairly bristles with museums, galleries and cultural spaces.
“It’s wonderful having the sea so near, the walk along the Malecón… it’s a very special place,” she smiles. Others – like Jackie Becker, owner of a cool Barranco café – value the barrio for its sense of community. “It’s the last real Lima district where you can still bump into your flower-man or bread-man on the street, and everyone still says hello.”