Lima

A sprawling pre-Inca pilgrimage complex of adobe pyramids and the Temple of the Sun overlooking the Pacific, occupied for over a thousand years before the Spanish arrived.

Boat tours circle guano islands teeming with sea lions, Humboldt penguins, and boobies, passing the mysterious Candelabro geoglyph etched into the desert cliff.

The oldest city in the Americas — a 5,000-year-old UNESCO site of pyramids and sunken plazas in the Supe Valley, contemporary with ancient Egypt.

Ceviche

Peru's national dish: day-boat fish cured minutes to order in leche de tigre with red onion, ají limo, sweet potato, and toasted corn.

Try it at: La Mar Cebichería, Miraflores

Lomo saltado

Wok-flashed beef, onions, and tomatoes over fries and rice — the chifa-born stir-fry that defines Peru's Chinese-criollo fusion.

Try it at: Isolina Taberna Peruana, Barranco

Ají de gallina

Shredded chicken in a silky yellow-pepper and walnut cream sauce, comfort food from Lima's criollo kitchens.

Try it at: Panchita, Miraflores

Pisco sour

Peru's frothy national cocktail of pisco, lime, syrup, egg white, and bitters, reputedly invented at Lima's Hotel Maury in the 1920s.

Try it at: English Bar at the Country Club Lima Hotel