Vegan Lima Guide | Markets, Ceviche & Local Life | Lorenzo Borghesi

Link for the show notes

In today’s episode, we’re chatting with Lorenzo from Vegan Trotters, a travel blogger and content creator who, together with his partner, shares vegan-friendly guides from destinations all around the world. He’ll be talking to us about what it’s like living in Lima, Peru, and how you can spend an incredible 48 hours there—from local markets and hidden vegan spots to vibrant neighborhoods like Miraflores and Barranco.

🌿 Our Paris & Dordogne 2027 vegan group trip is now open!

Join us for a beautiful journey through charming villages, local markets, château landscapes, and incredible plant-based cuisine — all shared with a small group of like-minded travelers.

👉 Discover the trip and grab your Limited-Time Early Bird Offer

Check out our website | Check out all the podcast show notes | Follow us on Instagram

Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome Lorenzo to The World Vegan Travel Podcast. I'm so happy to have  

you joining us.  

Thanks for having me. Hi everyone. 

Thank you so much, again. I'm really excited to have you on because you are doing some really fun things in the vegan travel space for your audience, and you are growing very quickly. I was just having a little look. Would you mind telling us what it is that you are doing in the vegan travel space?  

Yeah, of course. I represent a couple. My partner couldn't make it, so I wanted to introduce to you, my little project. We're called Vegan Trotters on Instagram and TikTok. So we've always been passionate about travel, but every time we travel, the people would ask, 'How can you enjoy your trip being vegan?' 

So that's why we decided to create this space just to represent 

what we're doing. So the way we travel [00:01:00] and 

how we 

try to experience 

 destination beyond the typical tourist perspective. We 

wanted to show 

 everyone how we try 

to connect with people, how we try to explore every tradition and understand how it is to live each day as a local. So being vegan is not who we are but just what we are doing with our 

lives. 

It simply shapes the way 

we explore the world. 

We explore it, we respect with curiosity 

and awareness.  

Oh, I love that.  

I definitely recommend everyone check out Lorenzo or Vegan.trotters, I think it is, on Instagram because you seem to have a very sort of, consistent way of producing content, and there's your Instagram carousels; have a lot of value in there. And I was very interested when I was looking before, and I saw you recently went to [00:02:00] Azerbaijan. 

I also recently had a short visit to Azerbaijan. I see we went to the same places. That's so fun. Did you enjoy Azerbaijan? 

Yeah, it was really amazing. We enjoyed it a lot. Yeah. 

Yeah. Really, really cool. 

  

Okay. We are going to talk about Lima in Peru. I have not been to this city, so I'm excited to learn more about what your experience was in Lima and Peru. But tell us, what inspired you to go to Peru and spend a lot of time in Lima in  

the first place. 

  

So, as you can tell, we are both Italian, but we moved to Lima because my girlfriend is working and I'm a digital nomad. I will work 

wherever I want. So we decide to move 

to Lima, and we decide to stay 

as long as 

my partner is having this job. The first time I arrived, Lima was a little bit chaotic, so I just thought it was some chaotic city that will [00:03:00] not bring me any joy living in. I discovered another phase of the city, so 

that it's more peaceful, more respectful, more enjoyable. 

So I wanted 

to introduce you to this beautiful city and 

to show you how you can 

spend a weekend in Lima. 

Yes. 48 hours in Lima. That sounds like a good amount of time. I think most people would probably come to Peru and want to spend at least a weekend in Lima before going out and doing all of the other things that Peru is so famous for. So let's talk about that. What would be, in your opinion, a fabulous weekend or 48 hours in Lima? Yeah.  

I would start from the market. 

So I would start from Saturday morning visiting one of the best 

markets that I ever visited, Magdalena del mar market. This is one of the most historical markets in Lima. As soon as you enter the market, you [00:04:00] can see it is not a touristy place, but everyone living around the market, 

they go 

there to buy 

 fruit, to buy everything that is necessary for them to eat. You can see entire 

families shopping there. And you can enjoy really fresh fruit that you can never find in the supermarket, in Peru. I tried like some of the most exotic fruit from the  

Amazon Forest. 

You can ask for fresh juice in the market. I suggest you to try lúcuma. 

That is one of the Amazonian fruit I was telling you before, and maracuyá as well. 

I was very interested when you mentioned lúcuma, the Amazonian fruit, because I think lúcuma is often sold as like a super food in North America. Like, you can buy it and you can add it to smoothies and things like that. So is it like a vegetable or a [00:05:00] fruit or you eat the flesh or the seed?  

No, it's a fruit, but it is not like a typical fruit. 

If you eat a small quantity, you get full.  

Oh. Right.  

It is better to eat it in a juice or in the liquid form. 

Interesting. Interesting. That is very cool. I think, going to see markets is such a fun way of, you know, getting a bit of an insight into a city. Okay, so I'm guessing we spend like an hour or so wandering through the market. 

What might we do after that? 

  

So after that, 

I will say, 

we go to Miraflores. That is one of the most aesthetic neighboring in Lima, from which you can see the sea. I will visit EM Pastelería because they have a lot of pastries, vegan pastries. 

Is that right? Okay. We can say that this is breakfast. Go to the market [00:06:00] early and then go and have a breakfast at the bakery. 

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's it. And then you can walk in Miraflores because it's a really, peaceful neighborhood where you can 

 walk and also sit just to see them surfing. You can watch people enjoy their sports while you eating cake.  

They can be active and we can just eat cake. I love it. 

Yeah. After the EM Pastelería, I will suggest  

you have a walk in Miraflores and then, moving to Barranco. That is the neighborhood close to Miraflores. You can see a lot of art, street art, a lot of galleries, a lot of fancy bars where you can have coffee. So it is really nice to walk down the street of Barranco. You can also reach the sea and have a walk on the Malecón. It's really nice. 

Oh, right. Okay. I didn't [00:07:00] realize that Lima was by the ocean. Are you saying Lima is by the ocean? 

It's by the ocean. That's because it's so big. You didn't even consider it as a ocean city. 

And are the beaches beautiful? 

I wouldn't expect like the Caribbean but it's nice to enjoy 

the sun on the beach. The only thing is, especially in summer, they get really, really full there because Peruvians typically spend their Sunday, Saturday on the beach eating, playing cards. 

So if you enjoy being around people, I suggest you visit the beach as well.  

 What do you think we should do after walking around, walking on the  

Malecón. 

That's the seaside prominent. It's like the walkway that goes  

along the beach, right?  

Exactly. Exactly. Then after enjoying the walk, I would suggest you go visit a friend of mine that is here. It is called 'dark [00:08:00] kitchen', but in English, I would say 'own restaurant'. He has his own own restaurant at home, of course. And he is one of the few people that prepare ceviche, that is one of the most famous dishes in in Peru, completely vegan and using ingredients that are Peruvian, but they are almost forgotten. 

So they use some sort of algae that grow just on the lagoon of the Andean. And since he's from Lima, you can also get all the tips for the next day. 

I see. And that is it Yuyito? 

Exactly. 

Yuyito, yeah.  

Okay, but it's not a restaurant. It's sort of like a home restaurant. That sounds like such a fun experience and what a great way to get some local interaction. I think some people listening to this podcast might not know what ceviche is. I hadn't really tried it very [00:09:00] much until I went to Ecuador this year. Can you explain what ceviche is and how a vegan version is different?  

Yeah.  

So ceviche is a fresh, and raw fish mixed with a sauce that is made out of lemon, oil, cilantro, onion, garlic as well. It's a really fresh sauce. It could be like some sort of sashimi, but the Peruvian version of sashimi. In the vegan version, they use mushroom to replicate the texture and the flavor of the fish. 

Yes. That's been my experience too. And sometimes they used hearts of palm, which is, I think, another locally used product, as well, to give that kind of flakiness that that fish might give. I love ceviche. If it's on the menu, I'm going to order it. It's so, so, so [00:10:00] good. Okay, so we finished, we've had dinner at Yuyito. Can we go out for a drink or some entertainment after dinner, or are we having an early night? 

I mean, if you want to go out, I would suggest you to go back to Barranco because it's the place where a youngster go to have drinks, to enjoy the night. You can ask for a classic Chilcano that comes with pisco and lime juice, and the fruit version can be with mango, can be with every type of fruits they have. 

Oh wow. Yeah, the fruits, the fruits in that part of the world are so, so good. And of course, nightlife is really nice as well, in that part of the world. So I think people should definitely consider going out and having some drinks after dinner, for sure. Okay. We go to bed. Hopefully, we get a good night's sleep because we want to explore Lima on Sunday. Tell us what we might 

do.[00:11:00]  

So, what's left is the historical center, where you can enjoy their buildings that represent one of the UNESCO places in South America. So they still have a building that they built where Lima was founded. So you can enjoy this very nice view. And also, the city center is something magic. It's kind of crazy what happened there because they also have a big square where everyone can  

introduce themself and start 

 their own sort of,  

 spectacle. You can find 

them having dancing for a theater. 

So I suggest you to visit the center, and to find this little spot where you can see how they try to draw their attention to their spectacle. So it's kind of nice to visit 

the city center.  

So when you go and see [00:12:00] these spectacles, is it like busking where you are expected to give a little bit of money at the end? 

They walk by after they finish their  

spectical, asking for money. But it is not mandatory. So every time I go there, I bring with some coins. It's really nice because you can also see them 

dancing all their traditional dances from the Amazonian 

Forest. 

So they come with all the traditional dress, dancing, and also playing some instruments. 

Yeah. You're making a good argument for timing your visit to be at the weekend, for sure. All right, so we've seen some amazing spectacles and some street theater. What  

should we do next?  

So you can finish visiting the museum. There are a lot of museums in the 

city center. One of them is of the literature or you can also visit the historical theater. 

You can go there or [00:13:00] reserving a spectacle or just visiting the structure of the building. And then, I suggest you 

to finish the tour with a big restaurant that is in the city center that is called, Consulado Vegano. It's one of 

the  

best vegan restaurant in the city center. 

And it's a great opportunity because they offer a big, 'all you can eat' buffet. So you can go there and try all the traditional dishes. 

It'll be like, eight euros. You can try all the typical food. They have a lot of  

pasta type of food because of the Italian immigration, as well. So you can try all the typical food, in the same place for a reasonable price. 

Oh really? Okay. Alright. That's so interesting. And that certainly sounds like a fun restaurant to check out. We'll, of course, have it linked in the show notes there. So if I'm remembering correctly, we've had lunch and now we have the [00:14:00] rest of the afternoon. What do you  

suggest?  

For the rest of the day, I would suggest, either to go back to Barranco to have a drink with your friends because it's the best place to go have a drink or go to the beach and enjoying the sun of the summer. 

I see. That sounds lovely. Okay. This sounds so much fun. I'm curious, how long have you been living  

in Lima now?  

We've been living here for five months, and we're going to be staying here for three more months. 

Oh, fun. Fun. And you've had a great time whilst you've been there. 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I suggest everyone to visit Lima. Even if it's just for a weekend, but I suggest them to visit. 

And, what is a good time of year to visit. What's the climate like, and does that impact what you can do?  

I would say, from January to March, because it's summer. It is [00:15:00] not that hot. So you can have a stroll without sweating all your water, and it's amazing because you can go and also, enjoy the sea. 

I see. Okay. And I'm just so curious about you living in Peru. Have you had some really wonderful experiences whilst you've lived in Lima. Anything that stands out that would be interesting for our listeners? 

Okay. So, one thing that I wasn't expecting, is when you go to a market to buy fruit, they always ask you, when you are going to eat it because if you're eating it today, they're going to give you the best one. If you're going to eat it within the next five days, they're going to give you the exact fruit that is going to expire that day so that you're going to enjoy the fruit at the peak. So it's something that is really nice for them to do. The other thing that I [00:16:00] wasn't expecting, was the way they keep their culture. You can stay in a park and they're going to show up with their big instruments. They're going to start dancing and singing in the park.  

Fabulous. Fabulous.  

Lorenzo, thank you so much for taking time to be on the podcast, and to tell our listeners about Lima, that's so much fun. I've not been to that part of the world, but I'm really excited to get there, one day. You have got lots and lots of vegan travel guides and recommendations on your Instagram. So can you tell us some of your most recent posts, and again, your Instagram handle? 

Okay. Yeah, my Instagram is Vegan.trotters. And one of the last posts is a vegan guide of the city of Lima. Of course, in which I try to put all the restaurants of the city so that you can download it, and just visit [00:17:00] all of them during your stay. 

I love it. Lorenzo, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I hope our paths  

will cross in the future.  

Thank you again for having us.