Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Don Ignacio La Casa del Pisco $
(Plaza de Armas; mains from S10)
One of the best pisco-biased restaurants on the main
square where you can dilute the local 'rocket fuel' with typical food from the area, includ-
ing memorable crawfish.
PERUVIAN
Getting There & Away
From Cañete, catch a
combi
to Imperial (S1, 10 minutes), from where
combis
also run to
Lunahuaná (S3.50, 45 minutes). Faster
colectivos
(shared taxis) wait for passengers on the
main road, just downhill from the plaza in Lunahuaná, and then race back to Imperial (S4,
25 minutes).
Chincha
056 / POP 194,000
Gloriously chaotic or frustratingly anarchic (depending on your tolerance for dust and
noise), Chincha is Peru uncut and unpackaged, an unregulated mess of buses, taxis and
jay-walking humanity. On the surface it could be any Peruvian town in any south coast
province, but closer scrutiny unearths some engrossing details: sugar cane juice sellers,
black African figurines offered as souvenirs, and menus advertising
criolla
specialties (
sopa seca
anyone?). Chincha is the font of Afro-Peruvian culture, a small and little-known
component of the national whole that testifies to a brutal slave past.
Sights
There's not much to see in the city center, although the main square with its terracotta
church
and tall, sinuous palm trees is surprisingly salubrious. The local wine industry is
evident in the shops that line Av Benavides between the square and the bus station.
La
Plazuela
(Av Benavides 501)
will pour a few gratis miniglasses of the eye-wateringly
sweet local wine and the mega-strong pisco. The owners run a restaurant next door should
you fancy further top-ups.
VILLAGE
El Carmen District
