Lima’s Parque de la Exposición, Exhibition Park, was built in 1872 for an international exhibition. Today, it’s a tranquil and scenic park boasting ample gardens, a lake and fountains alongside the city’s main art museum, a theater, pavilions, and an open-air amphitheater. It’s not just a peaceful park for lounging and people-watching; it also offers travelers a look into the artistic and cultural life of Lima.
Each year, on October 28th, the largest religious procession in South America takes to the streets of Lima in honor of the Lord of Miracles (Señor de los Milagros). The city is overtaken by a festival atmosphere and by the color which believers don throughout the month in a show of devotion- even the city’s soccer team changes into purple. Because of an image painted by an Angolan slave centuries ago, October in Lima is known as the Purple Month and is marked by festivities and the year’s most prestigious bullfights. October even has its own pastry that bakeries and street vendors throughout the city hawk with enthusiasm: the Turrón de Doña Pepa.
Lima, the capital of Peru, boasts plenty of the urban perks of a large city, from five-star dining to impressive museums. Nature-lovers, however, might want to venture outside of the city, where one doesn’t have to travel far to reach landscapes full of vegetation, abundant wildlife, archaeological remains and historical trails.
Tickets are already on sale for one of Lima’s biggest events of the year: the Mistura Food Festival. Each year at Mistura, foodies from around the world gather for good times and good food, sampling the best that the Peruvian Amazon, the Creole desert coast, and the Andes have to offer. Mistural 2015 is the 8th edition, and will take place from September 4th through September 13th. Once again, the fair will take place on the Costa Verde in Magdalena.
On August 30th, Peru celebrates a national holiday honoring St Rose, the Americas’ first saint. Even if you’re not Catholic, you’ll find plenty of entertainment- like most of the other religious festivals of Peru, the festivities include drinking, feasting, and dancing, with street vendors bustling about adding color and excitement to the proceedings. Thousands of celebrants will gather along the main streets of Lima to watch processions of the saint’s image accompanied by the flags of the countries of the Americas (a colorful reference to Pope Clement X christening St Rose the “primary saint of the New World.”)