Parque Kennedy

Parque Kennedy, together with the adjoining Parque 7 de Junio, is the centre of Miraflores - the square where the district's life happens, with the Virgen Milagrosa church at one end, cafés and ice cream stands around it, artists selling paintings at weekends, food stalls doing picarones and anticuchos in the evening, and buskers and dance classes on the paths. Its distinguishing feature is the cats. Dozens of them live in the park permanently, sleeping in the flower beds and on benches, sterilised and fed by volunteers and by the municipality, which has adopted them as an unofficial emblem; the population fluctuates and there are periodic arguments about it, but the arrangement has held for decades. There is a craft market on the eastern side and a produce and food area. It is where visitors staying in Miraflores end up most evenings.

History

The park's official name was set in 1900, and the area grew after the Virgen Milagrosa church was built in 1939, later being divided into John F. Kennedy Park and 7 June Park. In the 1990s, troubled by rats, local residents organised by the church began leaving cats here, and the cats became an attraction; a bust of Kennedy was unveiled on 21 November 2003, and an underground car park opened on 15 December 2016 (Wikipedia, Miraflores Central Park).

What to look for

• The cats - dozens living in the park, fed and cared for by volunteers.
• The evening stalls - picarones, anticuchos and street food around the edges.
• The art market - painters selling at weekends along the paths.
• The church - the Virgen Milagrosa at the top end of the square.

When to go

Year-round. Evenings and weekends are liveliest. Thirty to sixty minutes, though it is the kind of place people return to.

What to expect

Busy, noisy and surrounded by traffic. The cat population divides opinion locally on public health grounds. Street selling is persistent. Grey overhead from June to October.

Nearby

The Miraflores malecón is a few blocks west; Huaca Pucllana is north-east.

Key facts