The Magic Water Circuit in Lima

When I went to Lima the other year, the only thing I was really looking forward to was visiting it's world famous restaurants. During my few days in town, I had booked two of its top restaurants months ahead. At that time, they both ranked top 10 within the World's Best 50 Restaurants so I wanted to make sure I didn't miss my opportunity to go there because it was highly unlikely I would be going back to Lima again, at least not in the near future. Other than that, Lima was really my entry and exit point for Peru only.
Or so I thought.

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After spending two weeks in the Sacred Value and Macchu Picchu, I didn't have much expectation of Lima, so it was a pleasant suprise when I found out about the Magic Water Circuit inside the Park of Reserve (El Circuito Mágico del Agua, Parque de la Reserva). The Park is 8 hectares big and opened in 1929 to honour those who fought in the 1881 Pacific War defending Lima City.

One of the main attraction in the park is the Magic Water Circuit. This opened in 2007 and has 13 fountains of different designs and sizes, and is the world's largest fountain complex. The Magic Water Circuit opened with some controversy due to its cost and design, and that is was located inside the Park that had so much historical significance for the City. I can understand why some may feel this undermines the original purpose of the Park, particularly if their ancestors were involved in the Pacific War. Yet, on the other hand, this does rank as one of the top tourist attraction in Lima, so for there's always two sides to everything.

Back to the Magic Water Circuit, apart from the fountains, there is a Fantasy Fountain show in the evenings. I timed my arrival at late afternoon when it was still daylight, and lingered around in the evening so I could get the best of both times. Let me show you some of the fountains now.

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Tunnel of Surprises

You may (or may not) remember from my previous post that I love anything that is interactive. And I didn't expect to find anything so interactive here. The Tunnel of Surprises is a 35 meter long walk with water shooting from one side to the othe forming an archway above head. In the evening it changes colour. This was probably the most popular fountain and there was always a constant stream of people inside it.

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Walk in Dome Fountain

Here's another interactive fountain as you can tell by its name. This one provided a bit of a challenge as you had to walk in in between the water without getting wet. Actually, it wasn't that difficult.

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Dream Maze Fountain

If you thought the last two fountains were interactive, this one takes it to another level. This 23m wide fountain has water spouting out to form 4 circles. The best part of this fountain is its randomness and you can challenge it by going inside to try not to get wet. By the looks of these people, they lost the challenge, or perhaps it was more fun to lose than win.

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The Magic Fountain

This is the original fountain built in 1929 and the largest in the complex. I wonder it this is what inspired the City to build the Magic Water Circuit? There are eight smaller fountains dottted outside this main one, and the most famous thing about this fountain is its central geyser which shoots up to 80m tall. My photo shows neither of these two main features as all the other photos are too blurry😊

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Harmony Fountain

Harmony is probably an understatement for this. I love how the design creates the pyramid and the beautiful walls.

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Tangüis Fountain

This is another one of the original fountains. You may notice part of a monument on the left hand side of the photo. This is the Fermín Tangüis monument. Tangüis was a agriculturist and scientist from the 19th century, and he developed a seed that was used to produce the Tangüis cotton which helped to save Peru's cotton industry. The fountains here are designed like the flowers which produced the famous seed.

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Rainbow Fountain

I wish I took a video of this as it was so beautiful. This single photo, especially with my skill and technique does not do it justice at all.

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Fantasy Fountain

Now it's finally show time. The show is a combination of water, laser, image projection, hologram, light and of course music. The biggest section was 120 meters long and 20 meters wide so that allowed a lot of people to watch it all together. This was great because you could pretty much get a good view point from any angle. I can't remember how long the show was, probably 15 minutes? It was really mesmerising and however long it was, it wasn't long enough.

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The Magic Water Circuit is open every day of the week except Monday from 3pm to 10.30pm. There's a modest entrance fee of S/4 (USD 1.20) and that includes the Fantasy Fountain show, which in my opinion is worth much more than that. There are three shows every evening, except Monday at 7.15, 8.15 and 9.30.

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