CAMINA EL AUTOR: Juancho's travels in Peru

Chinese New Year in Lima

2012-01-21T23:35:00.000-08:00

On the eve of Chinese New Year, I thought I'd share these photos taken by Liz in Lima's Chinatown during the Chinese New Year holidays in 2008.

Tickets

2012-01-14T13:46:00.001-08:00

My tickets for this year's trip to Lima are purchased!

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-09T22:22:00.001-08:00

Ornaments on this year's tree.

La Tarumba!

2011-11-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

Near the very end of our stay in Lima Willy, Elba, Toya, and Orlando invited us to the La Tarumba circus show in the southern district of Chorrillos.

La Tarumba is a locally developed circus that seeks -and manages- to combine circus with music, song, and dance. Among its directors and performers, for example, they count Amador "Chebo" Ballumbrosio, of the famous musical family from the city of El Carmen. Ballumbrosio, son of his much-admired namesake, brings an Afro-Peruvian musical sensitivity and rythm to La Tarumba.

La Tarumba started in the 1980s as street performers. In the early 1990s they managed to establish an HQ in a house in Miraflores, and in 2003 they were able to purchase their tent. According to their website they felt at then that they were finally "a real circus", and committed themselves to putting on a show a year, every year.

So far, they've kept their word.

This year's installment was Quijote, based, of course, on the story of Don Quixote de la Mancha written by Miguel de Cervantes. It is a story that is well-known in Latin America, Cervantes holding a similar place in Spanish-language literature as Shakespeare does in English. Moreover, Quijote's tenacity of struggle against all odds and his daring to dream of a better world resonate with Latin American's own history of struggle.

The windmill scene

La Tarumba did a wonderful job at creatively bringing the elements of the story to life in the circus ring

Don Quijote

By the end, the audience was visibly moved by the show and Quijote's longing for love and a better world. It really was quite moving and sad, but La Tarumba was not about to let people leave on a down note: Ballumbrosio led the musical ensemble in a rousing number drawn from traditional Afro-Peruvian music celebrating the harvest and celebrating life.

This was my second time attending a La Tarumba show, as I had also gone with Willy and Elba during last year's season. I loved the show each time. I do have a hard time, however, deciding whether first place in the audience's hearts is taken by Ballumbrosio and the musical ensemble, or by La Tarumba's troupe of trained horses.

Convent of Santa Catalina de Siena de Arequipa

2011-10-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

One of the main attractions in Arequipa is the old Convent of Santa Catalina de Siena. Santa Catalina was built in the 16th century to accomodate the desire of the townsfolk of Arequipa for a convent in their city. Informed of thi wish during a visit, Viceroy Toledo, granted the necessary licenses for the establishment of a Dominican convent. As few years later, a young widow, Maria de Guzman, decided to take the vows and enter the nunnery, and in 1580 the convent was formally inaugurated and Maria named "the first inhabitant and prioress of said Monastery."

For four centuries, Santa Catalina was community closed off from the rest of the world, enveloped in a mantle of silence and mystery, which contributed to both idealized imagining of life behind its walls and to lurid rumours. Pehaps each had some measure of truth. Santa Catalina, it is true, was a female-run world that lived by its own rules, laws and customs, dedicated to prayer and religious duty. On the other hand, many of the nuns came from wealthy families and sought to preserve their status and comforts within the convent's walls, bringing servants with them, building -or buying- large personal "cells" with sitting rooms, private kitchens, and running water, and continuing to wear jewelry and gold. One prioress, who tried to curb these practices, was the object of three separate poisoning attempts during her tenure!

At its peak the convent housed some 400 women, about 180 of them being nuns, and the rest servants, slaves, young women boarded there for their education, and women who had been given asylum by the order. In the 1870s by order of the Pope, the servants and slaves were released, being given the choice of remaining and taking religious vows, or leaving the convent altogether.

Several dozen Dominican nuns still occupy a closed portion of the convent. However, earthquake damage in the 1960s led the nuns to construct new quarters at the north end of the convent, fitted now with electricity and running water -in accordance with municipal regulations- and the majority of the convent was largely restored to what it looked like in days past (although most of the upper stories and roof accesses are now long gone) and opened to public tours in 1970.

I have to honestly say that the convent was one of the more memorable places we visited. It is utterly fascinating to imagine the world that its walls must have encompassed, one little changed the course of the centuries. A veritable city within the city, the 5 acre convent has streets, plazas, fountains, a cementary, and districts as any town would, as well as a hospital ward, a laundry, and a communal kitchen. The frequent need for repairs has made Santa Catalina a veritable catalogue of Arequipeno architectural styles through time. I think we took more pictures there than at any other single site

Colca 5: Santa Ana de Maca

2011-10-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

On the way back to Arequipa from Cabanaconde and Cruz del Condor on July 30th, our driver had us stop at the town of Santa Ana de Maca, whose main attractions are a small church and photo opportunities offered by enterprising locals.

Maca, located at 3262 meters (10,702 feet) above sea level, is a small town at the foot of Sabancaya volcano. In 1609 it was made the seat of the colonial bishopric of the region. Today the town lives from farming and a small share of the tourist economy.

The church was built in the 1600s, out of sillar, the white volcanic stone that is characteristic of the region's architecture. It was rebuilt after it was partially destroyed by a fire in 1759.

When we arrived there was a mass going on, and although we were not prohibited from entering, I hung back by the entrance for a bit. I was able to catch enough of the mass to realize that it was a misa de cuerpo ausente, a funerary mass marking an anniversary -likely one month- of someone's death. I chose then to exit and return later.

Outside, however, I was annoyed at a gaggle of European tourists who hung about snapping pictures of the parishioners and mourners as they left, particularly of the women dressed in the colorful traditional attire. I did realize that they had no idea of the solemnity of the occasion, nor were they dissuaded by their own guide, but it still bugged me.

The inside of the church itself is relatively ornate in contrast to the outside, but still less so than so many other baroque churches in Peru. It reflected a small town's best attempts, and evoked a prosperity long gone.

On each side of the nave there were effigies of saints, including a saint (Santa Ana?) in local attire and a 17th Century life-sized Christ the Nazarene. There are also paintings of the Cusqueno school and plenty of gold leaf.

To the left of the altar, in a side nave, there were stored the andas, or litters, upon which the effigies are carried in procession through the town on their holy days. Also kept there was rather detailed, life-sized effigy of the dead Jesus in a glass coffin, no doubt for the Easter Friday procession.

Being at the foot of the volcano and near a geological fault that transects the valley, the church of Maca has suffered damage throughout the centuries. Fortunately it was declared a national treasure in 1980 and has been restored and maintained through funding provided by the Spanish crown.

Next to the church a couple of locals had trained eagles to stand upon tourists' arms, knees, shoulders, or heads. He requested a donation for letting one take pictures with the birds, and no doubt garnered far more that way than if he had requested a set amount.

The birds themselves were quite handsome and surprisingly heavy, as well as patient.

After a few minutes of this we reboarded the bus and continued our way back to Arequipa.

Colca 4: Condors

2011-09-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

Of course, part of the attraction of the Colca and of getting to Cabanaconde is that of rising early in the morning for the opportunity to sight some Andean condors.

The Andean condor is is the largest flying bird in the world. Adult males can attain a weight of 33 lbs, and a wingspan of 10.5 ft, which also gives them the largest wingspan of any land-based bird.

About 15 min outside of Cabanaconde, on the road to Chivay, is Cruz del Condor, a prominence that is not only located across from a prime condor roosting area, but is itself a stopping point for condors as they warm up in the early morning sun, waiting for the thermal updrafts that will carry them up and down the valley, even as far as the coast.

That morning -the 30th of July- we were able to view almost a dozen condors -mostly juveniles, thus still lacking the white ruff that characterizes the adults- circling on the canyon's thermal updrafts, and wending their way down the valley.

By going down a bit further from the overlook platform than I did, Liz, Jacho, and Rafa were able to get a closer look at some condors -the two in the video above- as they stopped at a boulder below the platform. Liz took the pictures below with her phone.

It was pretty neat seeing the condors, specially having the chance to see so many of them at one time. As a child of 10 I had seen a number of them as they flew over the beaches of Paracas (where I was camping with my Boy Scout troop) looking for dead sea lions, but it was always one at a time, and only one or two per afternoon. Over the years Liz and I have also been lucky enough to spot one here and there in our travels - in Huarochiri (in the mountains of Lima), on the road from Huaraz, or high above us, in the skies over Ollantaytambo, so to see a bunch of them at one time, and interacting with each other, in the wild was a true privilege.

Colca 3: Cabanaconde

2011-08-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

On our night in the Colca Canyon (July 29th), we stayed in the town of Cabanaconde, which is the seat of the district of the same name, in Arequipa's Caylloma province.

Beside condors, Cabanaconde is known for the exquisitely embroidered traditional clothing worn by its women. It contrasts from the also highly decorated clothing of the women of Chivay in that the latter employ apliques of sequins and beads to achieve the decoration while Cabanaconde women exclusively use embroidery.

There is also a legend related to Cabanaconde that concerns the Incas. It seems that the Inka Mayta Capac arrived one day with an "army" and built terraces in the valley. There, this "army" build terraces and planted corn at various levels, and once it had sprouted, departed, ordering the local Cabana people to not touch the crop until the Inka's return.

Seven years passed until Mayta Capac returned with another "army", this time of farmers, who harvested the ears. The corn had in the intervening years differentiated itself into seven varieties adapted to different conditions in the valley, and thus gave rise to the Cabanaconde corn, which is famed for its quality throughout the south even today.

Part of the view from our hotel


Ruins of an old private chapel, as seen from the hotel balcony

We spent the night at the Hotel Kuntur Wassi, a place of somewhat ecclectic-seeming design, but friendly service and good food - I had a terrific lomo saltado there (and if you recall what I said previously about eating lomo saltado out you'll understand that this was quite something) and we were treated to a welcoming cocktail, and an after-dinner digestif from a selection of cane liquor macerated with Andean and Amazonian herbs.

An interesting feature of our night there was that the beds were dressed with thick hand-woven wool yarn blankets and the air was so dry and the static electricity so strong up there that in the middle of the night's darkness sparks would flash whenever one rolled over in bed!

It was nice to fall asleep to the baah'ing of the sheep next door and the hee-haw'ing of the donkeys across the way.

Cabanaconde lies near the western, downstream, end of the Colca Canyon and across the valley from the western flank of Bomboya mountain. The mountain is sadly in the Peruvian newsmedia a lot these days thanks to the disappearance four or five months ago of Lima university student, Ciro Castillo. His then girlfriend, Rosario Ponce, was found by rescuers after wandering alone on the mountain, she says, for nine days since she and Castillo argued and went their separate ways. Since the start there were questions raised about Ponce's testimony and the behaviour of the couple in the day, or days, previous to their purported separation. In any case, Castillo's dad has been roaming the mountain since, hoping to locate his son's body, Ponce has been tried in the media, and the case is the talk of the town throughout the the region.

We departed Cabanaconde early on the 30th of July, after a morning stroll and visit to the plaza.

Colca 2: Choquetico

2011-08-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

On the 29th of July the eleven of us, plus my infant niece, who had traveled to Arequipa ventured into the Colca Valley. We had hired a van to take us to the town of Cabanaconde and back to Arequipa on the following day. After passing through the Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve, over the high puna at Patapampa, and through the mountain passes, we descended into the valley near the town of Chivay. After lunch in Chivay we headed down the Colca Valley toward the canyon carved by the Colca River and toward Cabanaconde.

One of the sightseeing stops along the way was at a locale called Choquetico, near the town of Pinchollo. The attraction of the stop at Choquetico -which is simply a stop at the shoulder of the road and a peek over the edge of the cliff- is a pair of carved boulders.

Choquetico is something I had not know about until I noticed what looked like a representation of a carved boulder on a model of the Colca Valley in Arequipa's Museo Santuarios Andinos. My interest piqued, I made sure to ask our driver about it and was pleased to confirm that indeed we would be stopping there.

The reason for my excitement was that what I expected to see, and indeed did see, was an ancient carved boulder made to resemble the terracing on the slopes opposite, on the other side of the river, or at least what they looked like in pre-Inca times.

There are a few similar image stones scattered throughout the Peruvian Andes, perhaps most famously at Saywite. They were apparently instrumental in fertility or rain ceremonies directed at the earth.

If one looks at the photos one will notice the presence of a well atop each stone, with channels leading from it. It seems that chicha or llama blood were poured into the well until it ran down the channel to the terraces carved into the stone, as water from the mountains above would flow down the slopes to water the agricultural terraces. In "watering" the stone's terraces the priests thus symbolically watered the valley's slopes.

Overlooking the site are a pair of tombs placed high up on a cliff. They would be nearly invisible but for the red paint applied by the ancients - in the Andes red was a color assiciated with nobility (the Inca royal "crown", for example, was a red tassel at the forehead). Bothe tombs were sacked long ago, but their presence underscores the sacred nature and ritual nature of the site to the ancient Collaguas -as the people who inhabited the valley before the Incas arrived were known.

Colca

2011-08-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

After about three hours on the road, we suddenly descended from the heights of Patapampa into the Colca Valley, near the town of Chivay. Chivay, at the eastern, and upriver, end of the valley, is the economic and administrative hub of the area. There, one must buy a Colca "Tourism Ticket".

That seems like a bit of an imposition, since one is simply paying to enter the valley, and the roads are public after all, but the regional government has allowed the Colca communities a certain autonomy in running local affairs and permitted them to impose that fee on tourists, so it is as it is.

Near Chivay

At this point, the Colca Valley is just that, a valley. It's a highly agricultural area, and nearly every available hillside is covered in agricultural terracing, some predating even the Inca presence in the valley.

Near Pinchullo

It isn't until near the town of Pinchullo that the river has carved out its famous canyon. By then -shortly outside of Chivay, in fact- the road asphalt runs out and the road turns to one of packed-earth, until it nears Cabanaconde, our destination at the other end of the canyon. At this time of year -winter, and the dry season- the road was bumpy, dusty, and slow, but traversable. I'd hate to imagine what it woud be like at the height of the rains in January or February!

Cantuta blossoms. Peru's national flower.

Near Cruz del Condor

At Cruz del Condor

Volcano Alley

2011-08-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

There is a string of volcanoes in southern Peru that runs from the department of Moquegua in the south, up through Arequipa, and ending in the southern provinces of Ayacucho. Part of that stretch, a bit to the north of the city of Arequipa, is known as Valley of the Volcanoes.

The road to the Colca Valley from Arequipa does not pass through or near the Valley of the Volcanoes, but at a stretch along the Arequipa-Colca highway, across the plateau of Patapampa, one can not only glimpse the southern extremity of the valley, but on a clear day one can take in about 20 snowcapped, mostly volcanic, peaks.


On the left are the volcanic summits of Mt Ampato -where the naturally-mummified body of an Inca girl, subsequently nicknamed "Juanita"- was found, and Mt. Sabancaya. On the right is Hualca Hualca.

In the photos above, you may notice piles of stones. Those are apachetas, offerings left by travellers at the high passes as a gesture to the wamanis or apus of the mountains. There are a lot of them at this spot because, not only is it the high point of the road - 4,910 meters (16,108 ft) above sea level- but it is also a stopping point for viewing the vista of volcanoes, known as the Mirador de los Volcanes.

Liz the Explorer, at the Mirador de los Volcanes. Behind her in the distance is Mt. Chachani.

Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve

2011-08-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

To get from Arequipa to the Colca Valley one leaves the city and skirts around Chachani volcano, following the Arequipa-Juliaca highway, and then takes the turn-off toward Colca. On the way to Colca one must cross the Salinas y Aguada Blanca National Reserve.

The reserve encompasses 366,936 hectares and contains a number of fresh- and salt-water lakes and ponds -for which it is named- plus bogs and other high-altitude wetlands, as well as dry puna, volanic deposits, and snow-capped volcanoes. It was created in 1979 in order to protect the fauna, flora, and natural landscape of the area, and in particular to preserve habitat for vicuñas and guanacos - wild relatives of the domesticated llamas and alpacas.

The average elevation is above 4,000 meters a.s.l. - for example, at one spot where we stopped for a break the elevation was 4,225 m. (13,861 ft. a.s.l.), and at the Mirador de los Volcanes the road passes 4,910 m. (16,108 ft. a.s.l.). Having been in Arequipa for a couple of days already seemed to have helped a bit with the altitude.

ICEFALL

At one point along the way the road passes through the blown-out caldera of an extinct volcano. While that's pretty impressive in itself, it is made even neater by a rather large icefall beside the road.

VICUÑAS

For the visitor, even ones just passing through, one of the primary attraction of the national reserve of Salinas y Aguada Blanca is the chance to see some wild vicuñas.

The vicuña is a wild cousin of the llama and the alpaca, and is one of two nondomesticated South American camelids - the other being the guanaco, which also inhabits the reserve but is rarely seen. Vicuñas wool is among the finest in the world, and a garment made from it can easily fetch (US)$1000 or more. The vicuña population in Salinas y Aguada Blanca is managed by the peasant communities within the reserve, who annually gather the animals for shearing, and patrol the reserve against poachers the rest of the year.

We were lucky enough to spot vicuñas both, on the way to, as on the way from, Colca.

Vicuñas live in small herds of one male and a handful of females. Young males are kicked out of the herd, and wander for a while, until they establish herds of their own or they are strong enough to chase off another male and take over his harem.

Which means that this individual was likely a male a year-old or thereabouts.

VIZCACHAS

Another animal which occurs at those altitude, and which is normally quite shy as well, is the vizcacha. Being usually described as similar in appearance to a rabbit, but really being much more like a chinchilla, vizcachas nest in crevices and spaces in between and under rocks throughout the Peruvian Andes. They are sometimes hunted for their pelts and for food.

We were lucky, on our way back to Arequipa, to catch some sunning themselves on the rocks piles that had been left from clearing the roadbed through the Patapampa plateau, at above 4,800 meters a.s.l. (15,750 ft.).

Yanahuara

2011-08-12T14:28:00.000-07:00

About 1.5 miles from the city center liesYanahuara, a district of the province and of the city of Arequipa. Yanahuara is a mainly middle-class area which is known as one of Arequipa's more "traditional" and picturesque neighborhoods. Many of its buildings, particularly in the area known as "Yanahuara Vieja" (Old Yanahuara), are constructed from white sillar stone, amongst them the Church of San Juan Bautista, on Yanahuara's main square.

Church of San Juan Bautista (1750)

The Church of San Juan Bautista (i.e., St. John the Baptist) was built in 1750, with an addition completed in 1783. With it's ornate carved sillar entryway, it is often regarded as one of the most representative examples of mestizo Baroque architecture in the area.


Liz and I at the mirador, with Misti volcano in the distance.

Next to the park and church there is a mirador, or lookout point, comprised of a sillar arcade, decorated with inscribed quotes from famous arequipeños. From the mirador all of dowtown Arequipa can be glimpsed, along with the three volcanoes - Chachani, Misti, and Pichu Pichu- at whose feet the city lies.

The view from the mirador.
Chachani is on the L, Misti in the center, and Pichu Pichu on the R.

Arequipa is famed throughout Peru for its cuisine and mongst Yanahuara's other attractions are a number of well-regarded picanterías, or restaurants where traditional, old-style regional foods are served.

Clockwise from top L: Chupe de camarones (crayfish stew), and Liz at picantería Sol de Mayo;

spiced pork and beef steaks at Picantería Nueva Palomino; Kola Escocesa (Scottish Cola), a regional soft drink;

Arequipeña beer; Chicharrón de camarones (deep-fried crayfish) with fried yuca, at Nueva Palomino.

More on Arequipa

2011-08-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Arequipa is in the southern Peruvian Andes, at an altitude of 7661 ft (2335 m) above sea level. It is Peru's second largest city and a hub of political and economic life in the south of the country.

Plaza de Armas

In the past, Arequipa competed with Lima for clout as Arequipeños resisted the centralization of economic and political life in the capital. Though Arequipa is a friendly, welcoming city, arequipeños are a proud lot and not given to suffer indignities lightly. Over the years they have even staged a number of uprisings and rebellions against limeño authority. In fact, in the airport and in souvenir shops around town one can buy a "passport" from the "Independent Republic of Arequipa" - offered with tongue very-much-in-cheek, of course. Today, Arequipa is currently one of the fastest-growing cities in the country and, as trade with Chile and smuggling into Bolivia have increased, its economic clout is once again on the rise.

The city of Arequipa -which is the capital of the department of the same name- lies at the foot of Misti volcano, and is flanked on the north by Chachani volcano, and on the south by Pichu Pichu volcano. A bit to the north lie a number of other volcanoes -Ampato, Sabancaya, Coropuna, etc.. Some of them -including Misti- remain active though -mostly- quiet.

Misti volcano

Being in a volcanic zone, it is not surprising that Arequipa is prone to earthquakes, having been almost utterly destroyed in 1582 and, again, in the 1780s. More recently, it experienced strong quakes in the 1950s and in 2001 a quake with a 7+ rating on the Richter scale severely damaged the cathedral and hundreds of homes and historical buildings.

While there, I remembered my mom having mentioned that one thing she found charming about Arequipa was that, with a dose of great common sense, the stones of the Plaza de Armas' archways had all been numbered so they could be more easily put back in place after being brought down by quakes.

I looked up and, sure enough, there were the numbers!

Of course, all that the volcanoes bring is not just woe. Not only do they add beauty to the landscape and water from their snow packs, but they have also literally provided arequipenos with the building blocks for their city.

For centuries, arequipenos have been using sillar, a local white volcanic stone, as building material. Sillar has become a signature of the city, and has given Arequipa its nickname of the "White City".

Arequipa's cathedral

Visiting Arequipa it was easy to see why so many consider it their favorite city in Peru. The streets are clean and traffic is relatively light, the food is great - as are the people- and the clean, dry mountain air and frequent sunshine make a marked contrast to Lima's winter damp and overcast. And, in the background, there are always those beautiful, snowcapped volcanoes ...

We're back

2011-08-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, we're back in California and all is well here, though we had a sprinkler system failure and parts of our lawn paid the price of insufficient watering. The kids and the animals are all well and healthy.

After the apartment in Lima, our house here seems so loud and busy, what with the larger amount of furniture and stuff, and all the movement and noise generated by two kids, a big dog, three cats, and three hens moving through and around the house and yard!

Arequipa

2011-08-05T22:04:00.000-07:00

On the 27th a group of twelve of us ventured south, to the city of Arequipa, located at 7661 ft (2335 m) above sea level in the Andes, at the foot of three volcanoes - Chachani, Misti, and Pichu Pichu.

Misti volcano

We stayed at a nice little hostal, the Hostal Las Mercedes, in a building erected in 1936 in a Belle Epoque style. The hostal was furnished with original period furniture in the lobby and sitting room, which lent the place a grand -if somewhat worn- air.

Our hotel, the Hostal Las Mercedes

The Las Mercedes staff were all very friendly and helpful, making staying there a real pleasure.

Grau Bridge over the River Chilli, with Misti in the background

The hostal is a tucked a bit out of the way, next to a bypass by the river, bit it is a relatively easy 10 min. walk from the main plaza, which made it a convenient base of operations for exploring downtown Arequipa.

Arequipa Cathedral

Apartment

2011-08-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

Among the things that have been keeping us busy in these last days in Lima there has been a bit of shopping and housekeeping.

One of the things we promised ourselves on this trip was that we'd not leave Lima without having obtained a dining room set. For a while it seemed that we'd not be able to keep that promise to ourselves, but then we wandered into Saga Falabella on Ave. La Marina again and found a set we liked.

In addition, we purchased a print by a contemporary Lima artist I like, German Kino Ganoza, who goes by the nickname of "Cherman".

So, bit by bit the apartment is coming together and reaching a "finished" stage - at least in the main parts (The bedrooms still need a bit of work).

Lima Book Fair

2011-08-01T23:33:00.000-07:00

Last night, after resting up a bit after our return yesterday afternoon from our trip to Arequipa (more on that later), Liz and I walked to the Lima International Book Fair. The fair -which this year is in its 16th yearly "edition"- has been held for the past couple of years in the Los Proceres park (also known by its old name of Mata Mula) here in Jesus Maria.

As always, the book fair was a great draw, pulling in enough booksellers and publishers to fill almost 140 stands, including representations from Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, Turkey, and China. Even late on a Sunday night it was packed with people and the line of parked cars stretched for a couple blocks from the event site.

I got some nice books there, but I am most pleased with a facsimile edition of Garcilazo de la Vega's 1609 treatise, Primera Parte de los Comentarios Reales, que tratan del origen de los Yncas, reyes que fueron del Peru, de su idolatria, leyes, y govierno en paz y en guerra: de sus vidas y conquistas, y de todo lo que fue aquel Imperio y su Republica, antes que los Españoles passaran a el. That book, known in English as the Royal Commentaries, was a landmark history and description of Inca Peru as it was the first written by a descendant of the subject of the book - Garcilazo was descendant of Inca emperor Tupac Yupanqui. Lima's Universidad del Pacifico decided to mark it's 40th year of publishing by printing the full-size facsimile edition of the book.

An original copy of the Comentarios Reales displayed in Garcilazo's childhood home in Cusco

On the way home Liz and I mused about the success of the book fair, which draws people in droves, day after day over almost two weeks, and hat makes such an event possible here, as contrasted to the USA where book fairs are smaller and shorter events, with far fewer publishers represented.

Arequipa

2011-08-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

On the 27th Liz and I, and my cousins and some of my nieces, traveled to the southern city of Arequipa. We stayed there until the morning of the 31st, and while there took in the sights and took an overnight trip to the Colca Valley, currently regarded as containing the world's deepest canyon.

We've now got just over a week left here and so are getting rather busy wrapping up loose ends before we head back to the US.

2011-07-26T20:03:00.001-07:00

As I write we have finished packing for an early-morning departure tomorrow to the southern city of Arequipa, a trip that will include a night spent in the famous Colca Canyon.

Unlike the trip to Cusco, where it was just Liz and I, this time there's eleven of us making the trip. Should be fun, with lots to see, and everyone is looking forward to eating some of the cuisine for which Arequipa is famous throughout Peru.

Pisco Day

2011-07-26T19:40:00.000-07:00

Sunday was National Pisco Day and at the Circuito de Aguas there was a pisco and marinera festival, so we headed there to enjoy the fountains and have some pisco along the way.

The city had shut down the large, record-setting fountain in the park and in the esplanade around it there had been set up a number of booths run by various pisco producers. We got to try some pisco sours and classic chilcanos, but the stars were some chilcanos at the Sol de Ica booth prepared with pisco infused with fruits, vegetables, and herbs. We tried a blackberry or mulberry chilcano that we weren't that impressed with, but we had our horizons expanded by a chilcano made with sweet basil leaves and cucumber slices, and a spicy one made with aji-infused and ginger-infused piscos.

In addition, we got to watch part of the game between the Peruvian and Spanish national sub-20 teams being played at the National Stadium next door, as it was broadcast on a giant screen at the water park.

Lima Water Park

2011-07-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

Last night we -Liz, Diego, Rafa, Miranda, Jacho, and I- headed to the water park -the Circuito Magico de Aguas- as it was host to a pisco and marinera festival for National Pisco Day.

We had quite a time getting to the park as it also happened to be the night of the inauguration of the completely remodeled National Stadium, right nextdoor, with a game between the national youth soccer teams of Peru and Spain. To make things worse, the president arranged for the national soccer team which placed 3rd in the Copa America in Argentina on Saturday to be at the stadium, so the crowds were huge inside the stadium and outside.

Eventually, we made it into the park after 9 o'clock and had a really nice time wandering through the gardens and enjoying the fountains.

Most of the fountains are strictly for viewing, some coreographed to music -as in the one in the video above- but there is one that is interactive and a perennial favourite:

No matter what the season or the weather it is always filled with young people trying their luck at avoiding getting soaked.

Rafa and Liz managed to get through with only their shoes getting wet, but Jacho got hit in the behind with a jet of water!

Feeling better

2011-07-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

In coming to Peru people tend to worry -and rightly- about intestinal problems, but we tend to forget that, as in the north, winter here is also flu season. After being laid out for several days with a flu I've finally starting to feel human again.

We went with Willy this morning to take a handwoven Cusqueno blanket to be framed for the living room, and then spent the afternoon at his apartment chatting after a family lunch gathering.

As I write, it is Friday evening and we are sitting at home watching Peru's sub-20 female volleyball team play Egypt in the 2011 World Cup, and I'm chewing on BUK cough drops.

BUKs -or pastillas BUK, as we call them in Spanish- have a long history with our family, as our great-aunt Alicia -Mama Pali's sister- used to own the Dover pharmacy on Ave. Arenales, and she would give us a pack of BUKs as a treat whenever we visited her at the pharmacy.

Don't know what we'll do later, if anything, but we're looking forward to the weekend and to next week's trip to Arequipa.

Birthday Dinner

2011-07-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

Last night, it being the eve of my birthday, Liz and I invited a number of the aunts, uncles, and cousins to dinner at the Restaurante Royal, a large Chinese restaurant near San Felipe.

We had a great enjoying the good company and some delicious food. We've got some leftovers, and were planning on enjoying those at lunch today and tonight as Peru plays Uruguay in the semifinals of the Copa America, but Liz and I have both gotten a cold. So, we'll have to see what we're feeling up to later on...

Devils on the rooftops

2011-07-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

In Paucartambo -and in other Cusco towns- during the feast days of the Virgen del Carmen, in mid-July, dance troupes associated to specific religious fraternities take to the streets and, through their dances, essentially act out religious plays. One set of important characters in these are the saq'ras, or devils, who haunt the streets surrounding the church -being unable to enter it- and on the last day of the festival, when the effigy Virgin is carried in procession through the streets, the saq'ras are reduced to haunting the rooftoops and treetops, emiting their trilling cries, and waving their canes at the Virgin and her worshippers.

In Cusco, on the afternoon of the 7th, as part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the "discovery" of Machupiqchu, Cusquenos made an effort to bring out elements of their folklore. Accordingly, we found a troupe of saq'ras haunting the Plaza Espinar and the Basilica de la Merced.

As Liz said at the time, we were pretty lucky to have chosen those days to be in Cusco!

Cusco: Celebrations

2011-07-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

While we were in Cusco there was celebrated the 100th anniversary of Hiram Bingham's announcement of the existence of Machupiqchu. As part of the celebrations -aside from a ceremony and concert in Machupiqchu itself- there were musical acts and a concert in Cusco's main square.

Some of the acts were folkloric dance groups, called comparsas. The first of the below is from Cusco's Paucartambo province, and the sencond, from Puno.

Maras

2011-07-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

Our last stop in the Sacred Valley was a spot on the western rim that I had been curious to visit for some time: the salineras (saltworks) at Maras. The normal tour of the northern part of the valley passes through the market at Pisaq -skipping the ruins-, lunch at Urubamba, the ruins at Ollantaytambo, and the market and church in Chinchero- but I had instructed our hired driver -a really nice guy named Javier- to skip Urubamba and Chinchero- and make sure to get us to Maras.

The Maras saltworks have been in operation since Inca times and likely well before that. One side of the little valley where they are located has been terraced and the terraces are filled with salt water that emerges from a single spring in the mountainside.

Each family controls 10 to 20 pans. The salt spring's water is channeled and diverted so that all the terraces' pans are filled, and the water is allowed to evaporate and the salt to concentrate, until it forms a layer thick enough to be harvested. The salt is then bagged and shipped out to market, mostly for agricultural use, though some -mainly from the purer top layers is packed in small amounts, labeled, and sold in Cusco, and at the works themselves, for medicinal and culinary use.

We bought about a half kilo of salt to bring back to US with us and some to leave here in Lima. The salt is not "sweet" like fleur de sel nor minerally like Indian kali namak. The overall impression is of ... well, ... saltiness.

Pisaq

2011-07-13T15:32:00.000-07:00

Our first stop in the Sacred Valley was in the town of Pisaq. Pisaq is a market town, famed for its Sunday fair, which is held in the town's main square, dominated by a large and venerable pisonay tree. The tree is a distinctive feature of the town, and it has been there so long that it is nearly impossible to think of Pisaq without it. The town is easily identifiable in early photographs because of the tree.

Pisaq was established by the Spanish in the 1500s but it lies at the foot of the Inca site of Pisaq. Before asking our driver to take us up the mountain to the ruins, we did a bit of shopping, buying some masks to decorate our Lima apartment with.

In that regard I have to mention the service we received at Artesanias Pisonay on Pisaq's main square. When we were short of cash, the owner offered to take a small deposit and deliver the masks to our hotel the next day. Granted, by buying four of their more expensive masks, we were likely making their week's sales in one day, but Alicia, the owner, really did go out of her way to help us get what we wanted. She made a special trip to Cusco, and arrived when she said she'd be there (in fact she apologized for being 10 mins "late", which most of time in Peru doesn't even count!) She even brought the packing materials we had requested.

In any case, after that, we moved to visit the ruins of Inca Pisaq.

No one is quite sure who ordered Inca Pisaq built or when, but it seems likely that it was established in the the 1470s or thereabouts, and was perhaps intended to mark the Inka Pachakutiq's triumph over the tribes of the Antisuyu. It had a clear agricultural purpose, what with its numerous terraces encompassing an area larger than Machupiqchu. However, it also likely served a military purpose, overlooking the pass that contains the Inca roadway toward the lowlands of the Antisuyu and being marked on that side by a strong defensive wall.

Defensive wall along the southern side of Pisaq, and Amaru (serpernt) Gate

The Amaru (serpent) Gate on the path to the temple of the sun in Pisaq

Pisaq is also notable for containing the largest identified Inca cementery. Along a cliff, set so that they face the rising sun, hundreds of Inca ossuaries are set into the cliff face. When I visited Pisaq as a lad of 14 in 1981, there were some tombs yet unraided. I doubt that today any are left unopened.

Inca cementery

Inca baths

Inca Pisaq's residential sector

The Sacred Valley

2011-07-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

On the 6th, our 2nd day in Cusco, Liz and hired a car and driver to take into to Urubamba Valley. We opted for doing it that way instead of joining an organized tour so that we could set the schdule ourselves, stop when we needed a break, and determine the places to visit ourselves.

The Urubamba Valley, also known as the Sacred Valley, was the breadbasket of Inca Cusco, with its mild climate and diverse ecological zones. It was -and is- optimum land for growing corn, and Cusco corn is famed for its size and quality to this day. The Incas lined the valley with agricultural terrraces, carrying fertile bottomland soil up the slopes by the basketful to create vertical fields, and brought in experienced maize farmers from elsewhere in the empire to settle the valley.

The Incas prized the valley as the Inca heartland, holding it as sacred. The Inca nobility established country palaces along the valley, and built temples all along its length. Accordingly, the valley contains a number of important Inca archaeological sites, principally Tipon, Pisaq, Ollantaytambo, Moray, and Machupiqchu. Of these, we were to visit Pisaq and Ollantaytambo, along with the saltworks at Maras.

The Sacred Valley, viewed from Pisaq

Eastern slope of the Sacred Valley, viewed from near Maras

Cuzco

2011-07-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

Liz and I flew to Cuzco last Tuesday (July 5th), arriving late in the morning.

One of the best things about Cuzco is, well, that it´s Cuzco - a modern city superimposed upon a Spanish colonial city built atop the capital of the Inca empire. Everywhere one looks in the downtown portion of town, there are vestiges of the city´s past visible: colonial mansions and churches, Inca walls and foundations, the layout of the streets - even the entrance to our hotel.

Hotel Rumi Punku

At the heart of ancient Cuzco lay the twin plazas of Aucaypata and Cusipata, divided by the Saphy river, which was paved over in ancient times and still runs under the city. The two plazas thus made up a single large open space. Aucaypata (the Plaza of War) was the site for state ceremonies and became the current Plaza de Armas.

Plaza de Armas, with the Church of the Company of Jesus visible

Of Cusipata all that remains is a small square a block from the Plaza de Armas, still known as the "Plaza of Joy" - the Plaza Regocijo.

Plaza Regocijo

Surrounding the ancient, and modern square, were structures that housed the mansions of the Inca nobility, and the Aqllawasi, a sort of convent where "chosen women" served the Inca and the state religion by brewing chicha corn beer and weaving fine cloth.

On our first day in town, Liz and I wandered those streets, many of which still bear their Inca names, soaking in the sights and the history of it all.

We walked down Hatun Rumiyoq, the Street of the Large Stones, admiring the walls of the former palace of the Inka Pachacutiq, and down Loreto Kiqllu (formerly known as Intiqkiqllu, the Street of the Sun) which is lined with some of the finest stonework in Cuzco, in the walls of the former Aqllawasi (which was turned into the Convent of Santa Catalina).

12-Angle Stone, in the wall of the former Palace of the Inka Pachacutiq, on Hatun Rumiyoq

Hatun Rumiyoq

Old Archbishop's Palace, erected atop the foundations of Pachacutiq's palace

Convent of Santa Catalina


Basilica of La Merced

Street of the Seven Snakes

2011-07-09T10:08:00.000-07:00

Hi. Got back from Cusco last night, after spending four days and three nights there. We toured the Sacred Valley and the main sites around town. We were also lucky that our stay in the city coincided with the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of Machu Picchu being brought to the world's attention by Hiram Bingham. There were street events and a concert in the plaza.

Right now, between the internet connection at the apartment being unsteady at the moment and Blogger's new software still being a bit buggy, I can't do much more that this brief update. So, as they say: More later ....

In Cuzco

2011-07-07T16:29:00.000-07:00

We´re in Cuzco. Did the Sacred Valley tour yesterday, and after climbing all those stairs my knees and thighs are complaining!

Right now I´m at a cafe overlooking the Plaza in Cuzco, getting ready to listen to a concert by legendary Peruvian rocker Miki Gonzalez staged for the 100 anniversary of Hiram Bingham´s finding Machu Picchu.

Munich

2011-07-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

Take one old bar, add an ancient piano and one ancient piano player, toss in 1 L steins of cold beer and big plates of sausage and potatoes and you've got a recipe for success, if downtown Lima's Munich Piano Bar is anything to measure by.

Tonight, being "Friend Day" -a "holiday" invented a couple of years ago by one of the big beer companies-, we decided to go downtown for a stroll and a beer. After walking from the Plaza de Armas, overlooked by the Presidential Palace, to the Plaza San Martin, we headed to the Munich, where neither Liz nor I had been before.

Located down a set of stairs off of Calle Belen (also known as Jiron de la Union), and though a barrel-shaped door, Munich has long been a favored hangout for students of the nearby San Marcos and Federico Villareal universities, and for downtown workers.

Tonight, every seat in the place was full, and it took us a few minutes to get a table. Of course, being in the Munich, we ordered what the Munich is known for: 1 L jugs of beer and the Piqueo Munich (Munich Appetizer), which is a grand plate of salchipapas made with three kinds of wurst.

Munich was founded in 1954 -I think by a German immigrant- and soon established its place in Lima's bohemian night scene, becoming one of the city's classic bars. Difficult finances led the original owner to despondence and, eventually, to suicide. His widow tried to run the place for a while but eventually decided to turn it over to the employees, who have run it ever since, and they do seem to do a good job of it.

This evening, business was booming, and a steady stream of people wandered in hoping for a table and showed no sign of slowing when we left around 11 pm. One can hardly blame them, for despite the booming of a discotheque right next door, the old school atmosphere of the Munich makes for a pretty cool watering hole.

Munich Bar
Jirón de la Unión 1044
Lima (Cercado)

San Felipe turns 45

2011-07-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

Forty-five years ago today the first phases of the Residencial San Felipe were innaugurated, and to mark the occasion, there was a small ceremony this afternoon in the plaza of the complex's commercial sector attended by the mayor of the burrough of Jesus Maria, Enrique Ocrospoma, and the students from San Felipe's three pre-schools.

San Felipe is a large residential complex comprised of some 40 buildings amidst walkways and gardens. It was the brainchild of then President Fernando Belaunde, and is a unique space in this city. When it was built it comprised the largest collection of tall buildings in the country -"Little Manhattan" it was called- and was visible from almost any point the city.

Here's what I wrote about it a few years ago:

Today San Felipe has a birthday.

Started as project by President Fernando Belaúnde Terry, who was an archictect in regular life, the Residencial San Felipe was inaugurated forty-two years ago, on July 2, 1966. At the time, with almost 50 buildings in five distinct styles holding apartments for over 10,000 people, it was one of the largest -if not the largest- housing project in all of Peru.

The complex was planned and built, on the grounds of a former hippodrome, as a single huge block with no cross-traffic and interlaced with sidewalks and gardens, and including three preschools and a shopping center. Over time a cooperative school and a chapel were established on the grounds and a clinic was built across the street, meaning that residents could have almost all their needs met within the Residencial itself.

Into the 1980s the Resi was a dominant feature on the Lima skyline, its 15-storey buildings topped only by the former Ministry of Education on Avenida Abancay and the Banco de Credito tower in Miraflores.

its four decades San Felipe has remained a distintict neighborhood, with many of the original families still occupying their apartments. Its mix of buildings and large green areas are unmatched anywhere else in the city, leading to lower levels of noise and atmospheric pollution within its boundaries than is the average in this sprawling city. Its gardens abound with birds and butterflies, and it is even said that they harbor an endemic type of blind snake.

The neighbors recently won an important victory when they defeated a move by the mayor of Jesús María and a grocery store chain to take over part of the parking areas and build a larger supermarket and movie theatre. The neighbors insisted that the project was unecessary and would harm their quality of life by increasing foot and vehicle traffic while reducing parking, arguing that the parking areas -like the gardens- are held in condominium by the neighbors and are not for the municipality to dispose of at will.

Confronted by the organized neighbors, who staged rallies, and weekly cacerolazos in which pots and pans would be banged together from apartments all over the resi at 8:00 pm sharp every Saturday, and a media and internet campaign, the Plaza Vea chain backed out and the mayor backed down.

Such is the hold that San Felipe has on those who live and have lived here, that there is a Facebook group dedicated to it that draws current and former residents from all over the world -as far away from Lima as Europe and New Zealand.

Tonight the celebration of the anniversary will continue with further ceremony and a dance in the plaza and some of us participants in the group who happen to be in Lima will use the opportunity for a face-to-face meeting and, in some cases, reacquaintance. Should be fun!

In Lima

2011-06-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

Were in Lima. We arrived yesterday afternoon without incident. Of course, it's overcast but not too cold.

Fortunately, it turned out that today was a holiday - the feast day of St. Peter and St. Paul- so the cousins were all off work. We could tell it was a holiday because it was so quiet in San Felipe. There was none of the usual morning noises -gardners at work, traffic and construction on nearby streets, etc. It was even quieter quieter than on weekends!

We got together at Juancho's (my cousin, not me) apartment and jointly fixed lunch. Diego contributed a pumpkin soup and rice, Liz a cooked vegetable salad, I lentils with pork and bacon, and Jose and Carla a tres leches cake.

By the time we got finished and sat down to eat, it was three o'clock, and after that hearty lunch, folks took advantage of the holiday by watching TV and taking naps.

Good times so far!

Countdown..

2011-06-26T23:00:00.000-07:00

Less than 24 hrs before we leave for the airport ... and so much to get done between now and then!

2011-06-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

Tickets to Arequipa purchased!

2011-06-07T23:12:00.000-07:00

Hey! Looks like, in addition to Cusco, plans are in the works for a group journey to Arequipa!

"Perú visits Peru"

2011-05-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

At the end of March, Perú launched a new "country brand" with a logo for Peruvian products. Incorporating a spiral into the P the logo gives a nod to Perú's ancient past, and cultures such as Nasca and Caral. Modern inhabitants may be reminded of the final part of the old AeroPerú logograph.

As part of the campaign to get Peruvians to adopt and use the logo, the company hired to produce and promote the brand sent a delegation of Peruvian "ambassadors" headed by chef Gastón Acurio to share Peruvian culture with the 569 inhabitants of Peru.

Confused? Watch the video and all will be explained!

2011-05-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

Liz and I have got our tickets to Lima. We've got our tickets to Cusco. And, we've got a hotel reservation for 3 nights in the Imperial City!

Now, we just have to be patient for a while longer until it's time to go.

Unintended side trip: Costa Rica

2011-05-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

On the way home on May 2nd, I was forced to make a small and unintended side trip. The TACA flight I was catching to make a connection in Costa Rica was delayed on its way to Lima from Cusco. Despite assurances to the contrary, that put us far enough behind schedule that I, and a number of other travellers, were not able to make our connecting flight to San Salvador.

Luckily -it being their error- the airline put us up in a hotel near the airport and paid for dinner and breakfast. Unfortunately, the hotel was near the airport.

The international airport in San Jose is about 23 km from the city proper, and there didn't seem to be much around there other than our hotel, a small, univiting casino, a couple of chain restaurants, and the usual types of business that surround airports - shipping companies, rental lots, Denny's.

It was evening and by the time I got through taking care of all that I needed to in terms of getting ahold of those who needed to be informed in the US it was past 10 o'clock at night, too late to head into town and hope to find much of anything still open. I had an unsatisfying dinner near the hotel, using the airline voucher, at a chain place called RostiPollo. It was basically pollo a la brasa, but served with beans and tortillas instead of the French fries usual in Peru.

The next morning I headed off early to the airport, and in the daylight was able to get some of my first and only glimpses of Costa Rica.

One neat thing about the airport was that at the Britt stores -do they have at all of Latin America's airports?- there was a stand with a guy at each hand rolling cigars from Costa Rican tabacco. Pretty cool if you ask me.

On the leg to San Salvador, to make a connecting flight to San Francisco, the plane was not very full, so I had three seats to myself. Not having anyone to be disturbed should I get up, I sat by the window and was able to look down at the passing Central American geology below, something I don't usually get to do.

It was rather neat, for example, to be able to look down upon the volcanic islands and shoreline of Lake Nicaragua.

Fortunately, the rest of the trip passed without incident, even though the flight from San Salvador to San Francisco was completely full with Salvadoran families laden with bags of Pollo Campero chicken, and Peruvians grumpy at having been delayed overnight.

At one point the airline representatives offered overnight lodging and expenses, plus a $400 travel voucher, to anyone who'd volunteer to get off the flight and catch it the next day. As much as I'd have liked to visit El Salvador, when the lady approached, I laughed and told her she was simply asking on the wrong day. Maybe next time?

An old friend

2011-05-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

In North America these beetles are commonly known as June beetles or June bugs as they tend to emerge from pupation at the start of Summer. In the southern hemisphere they also emerge in Summer, but down here that starts in January.

Every January or February, when I was a kid in Lima, these little guys would start turning up, flying in through open windows at night, to whirl around the lights until they fell exhausted on to the floor or the table underneath. I always had a soft spot for them. With their golden elytra and metallic green thoracic carapaces they seemed like little walking jewels.

This handsome fellow happened to pop in for a visit one night during this latest visit. After snapping his picture, I sent him on his way, letting him fly out the kitchen window.

May Day in Lima

2011-05-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

Unlike the United States, in much of the rest of the world May 1st is Labor Day and in many places it is an official or de facto holiday. In the US, until recently, the date has been relatively ignored despite the fact that it was picked in commemoration of the martyrs of the Chicago "Haymarket Affair" of 1868.

My last full day in Lima was Sunday, May 1st, so I decided I'd take the opportunity to attend the local May Day observance.

This was the May Day rally called by the General Workers' Confederation of Peru (CGTP), the country's largest and oldest labor confederation. About 300-400 people gathered in the Plaza Dos de Mayo and then marched up Ave. Nicolas de Pierola and then down Ave. Garcilazo de la Vega, to rally at the monument to the founder of the CGTP and of the Peruvian Socialist Party, Jose Carlos Mariategui.

I was a bit surprised, given the bad rap that the Shining Path gave Maoism for so many years, to see Mao's portrait so prominently displayed. At right is literature praising the programs of reformist general Juan Velasco Alvarado, who, among other things, nationalized petroleum and initiated agrarian reform in 1969.

Kids from the street youths' union. At right: their representatives at the podium, nect to them, in the white shirt, is Mario Huaman, head of the CGTP

This guys is a left party bigwig, but I can't recall his name. In the past he was associated withe the United Left (Izquierda Unida) coalition, and maybe Patria Roja.

National Teachers' Union, Lima Region: "In Defense of Teachers' Rights! For Free and Quality Public Education!"

Group accusing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori of being complicit in forced sterilizations of poor women during her father's dictatorship

Casa Matusita

2011-05-07T21:19:00.000-07:00

At the corner of Ave. Garcilazo de la Vega and Ave. Espana there sits a relatively nondescript building which is, nonetheless, believed to be one of Lima's most haunted buildings. Painted yellow, with blue trim, and four-pane windows it looks far cheerier today than it did when I was a child. Back then, in the 1970s, the upper story was unpainted and its windows empty of glass and, through them, it was evident that the upper story itself was empty, uninhabited and unused. It is, after all, the second story that is said to be the locus of the haunting.

Then, and until not that long ago, the ground floor of the building was occupied by a commercial house specializing in home appliances and other electronics, owned by the Matusita family, for whom both the store and the building were named Casa Matusita.

Various stories surround the house and the origins of the haunting. One is that the building was once home to a man who abused his servants cruelly. In revenge they laced the food at a dinner party hosted by the man with a drug and locked them in the dining room. When they checked on the man and his guests the next morning they supposedly found that, subject to the hallucinogen's effects, they had brutally killed one another.

Another story is that a man went mad there, and killed his wife and family before committing suicide. And, yet a third and similar one, is that the original Mr. Matusita, founder of the business, found his wife was cheating on him and killed her. He is said, to have then hung himself in grief over that act.

One of the first victims of the haunting was said to be a priest who entered to attempt to put the souls to rest, and died, perhaps of heart attack, in his desperation to leave the place.

The haunting story gained traction in the 1960s when an Argentine radio and TV personality, Humberto Vilchez Vera, was said to have announced that he would spend the night in the upper story. He was said to have emerged out of his wits, babbling incoherently and frothing from the mouth. In fact, I remember being told that very story by my mom, as the bus we were taking home from downtown passed by the Casa Matusita.

Years later and by then back in Argentina, Vilchez wrote that, despite the fact that many people insist that he did, he never spent the night there, and that even though people insist that they saw him go in, he in fact never even entered the place. He said that he was in a hospital about that time, but it was from nervous exhaustion, not ghost-induced hysteria, and that he was interned before he was supposed to go into the Matusita house. Apparently, however, at the time of the supposed events, and since, few believed his explanation.

Whatever the origins, and whether haunted or not, the fact is that in many decades no one has occupied, and barely even touched, the second story of that otherwise sound and valuable property.

Chala

2011-05-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

On the way to La Noche, Liz, Jason, Sara, Jacho, and I stopped for dinner at Chala, a restaurant at the top of Barranco's Bajada de Baños, the picturesque walkway that descends from the plaza to the seashore, where decades ago there had been a beach club, and a boardwalk and gazebo out over the ocean.

Chala, named after a small fishing port about halfway between Lima and Arequipa, labels itself as a "Coastal fusion" restaurant. It's chef, Israel Laura, seems to be one of the few in Lima exploring Ferrán Adria-style "molecular" cuisine, playing with the coast/ocean theme by incorporating foams into the repertoire. However, he manages to do so without the foams and mousses becoming the main element of the dishes in which they appear.

For example he accompanies tequeños -won-ton crisps surrounding a meat and cheese filling- with an ocopa foam which takes a commonplace, very familiar Peruvian sauce, and transforms it into something unexpected through the simple application of air.

Another instance of the judicious use of foam is the Tungurahua. It is one of a selection of "Molecular cocktails" on the drinks menu and is named after one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes. It is presented with a layer of a pisco and strawberry foam sitting magmalike under a layer of clear soda. The red foam "erupts" through the soda upon mixing.

Another nifty dish, and a tasty one too, is the Chita en su nube. "Chita" is a type of fish of the Anisotremus genus, a type known in English as scrod - yeah, I know, go figure. The word "nube" means cloud, thus the name of the dish translates as a "chita fish in its cloud". The "cloud" referred to is a puff of oak smoke held over the plate by a plastic dome. When the dome is lifted a the table, the smoke escapes dramatically, leaving behind a pleasant woodsmoke smell which infuses the fish and its accompanying vegetables and sauce.

The menu is one the more inventive ones in Lima, and in emphasizing seafood, airiness, and by physically lightening up traditional dishes, offers a refreshing contrast to the Novo Andina fusions which often rely on thick Andean sauces.

Chala definitely merits a repeat visit.

Chala

Bajada de Baños 343

Barranco - Lima

www.chala.com.pe

La Noche

2011-05-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

On the night before the wedding, a bunch of us went to the "artists" district of Barranco to catch a show at the La Noche club.

This is the same club at which I saw Magaly Solier, Masacre, and Area 7 perform in August of last year. Playing on this Thursday night was an old school mate of Carla's at the school in San Felipe, Lucho Quezquezana (known to old classmates as "Keke").

Arriving a tad early, we found a table on the second floor balcony, ordered some water and a bottle of pisco, and settled down to chat and await the 11 o'clock show, which -in typical hora peruana (Peruvian time)- started promptly about 45 minutes late.

Quezquezana has made a longterm project of gathering musicians from diverse traditions and instruments and bringing them together to play Peruvian music and his own compositions, which draw heavily from jazz and Andean musical traditions. (I noticed that one of Quezquezana's percussionists was the same bald guy who was Solier's musical arranger and percussionist.) On this night his ensemble was performing a set consisting of his latest album Kuntur ("condor" in Quechua).

The music was good, but I think that to really appreciate it one must be able to watch the musicians play the instruments and switch from one instrument to the next, particularly someone like Quezquezana, who himself plays over 20 wind, string, and percussion instruments. Unfortunately, he is so popular that we were unable to consistently view the stage without craning our necks or staring between people's legs at the stage below us on the ground floor.

Conscious that we were to stay up late on the following evening, and that some of our group did have to work in the morning, we decided to call it a night around 2 a.m. and went home to get some sleep.

Sunset over Lima

2011-05-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

Sunset over Lima. In the background is the peninsula of La Punta, part of the port city of Callao. To the left is the mass of San Lorenzo Island, long ago a refuge for pirates and today a last haven for seabirds and sea mammals along the city's coastline.

La Huaca Pucllana

2011-05-07T14:05:00.000-07:00

Surrounded by a fence, in the midst of Miraflores' modern high rise apartments, there sits a 75-foot tall mound of mud bricks. This is the Huaca Pucllana (also known in older references as the Huaca Juliana).

The Huaca Pucllana is the remains of a 1,500-year old temple complex of the Lima culture, which flourished in the area centuries before the Wari, and later the Incas, left their mark.

In 1981 sustained systematic archaelogical work was begun at the Huaca, and in 1984 a site museum and "historic-cultural park" were established. The 37-acre site includes pryramid proper, and a surrounding ceremonial/administrative sector of smaller, interconnected, buildings and courtyards.

Also, occupying one corner of the site, overlooking the pyramid, there is today one of Lima's most highly-regarded restaurants, the Restaurante Huaca Pucllana.

On the Tuesday of my stay there, Liz and I decided to try the restaurant, joined by my like-named cousin, Juancho. Having decided on going only that same evening, we were not able to obtain a table on the outdoor terrace, overlooking the Huaca, which is part of the charm of the restaurant. Instead, we got the last table available, in a corner near the rear of the main room.

The restaurant, with its reputation for well-prepared food and its great location, is a draw for tourists a grade above the backpack-and-hostel crowd, and for Peruvians with foreign guests, and the prices and ambience do reflect that somewhat.

The main dining room is decorated with ancient oars and feathered capes which, if not original, are reminiscent of the ancients' art. There is also an enormous bouquet made of an entire dried cotton plant that is quite impressive. The ceiling is accented with pre-Inca motifs and great rough-hewn wooden beams, supported in turn by similar wooden posts. All in all, even indoors, the restaurant is quite charming in its attention to keeping with its location on the ancient site.

The service, we found, however left something to be desired.   The waiters seemed rushed and impatient. Granted, we did arrive in the midst of the dinner rush, and it seems that there was a rather large party was expected and being prepped for, but nonetheless it is the wait staff's job to make every guest feel welcome and appreciated.   More than once our waiter rushed off as soon as he deemed our drink or appetizer order had been placed, leaving us with questions unasked.

The wine guy also kept pestering us about whether we had decided on which wine, if any, to order.   We were waiting in order to ask the waiter for recommendations on pairings with dishes, but as the service was slow, we had to wait, and so did he.

The drinks, it must be said were good. I had a better-balanced coca sour there that I've ever had anywhere else. The bitterness of the coca leaves, with which the pisco is infused, was not too evident, nor was the drink overly-sweet as is sometimes the case.

I must also admit, in fairness, that I probably set the restaurant up for an impossible comparison, when I ordered a lomo saltado.   Lomo saltado is, as its name indicates, sauteed beef, cooked with tomato and onion slices, a bit of soy sauce, and french fried potatoes, and served with rice.   The dish is so simple and the ingredients and flavours so well-known that there is not much that a restaurant can do with the dish to make it somehow special. Huaca Pucllana, in its turn, did what other upscale chefs and restaurants often do with it, and use expensive, tender cuts of beef and serve the fries on the side of the sautee to keep them crisp, instead of mixing them into the dish as is the wont of home cooks -including myself.

Lomo saltado is a legacy of Chinese immigrants, combining their cooking techniques and flavorings with Andean ingredients, and is a staple of Peruvian criollo cooking. As such, it is also a staple of Peruvian home cooking and everyone has their own way of cooking it or a preferred cook.   Thus, there is perhaps no way that any restaurant could hope to wow everyone with their lomo saltado or make theirs the "best" one has tasted (an honor usually reserved for Mom or Grandma, I suppose).

We did have fun and did enjoy our meal, but the food, while good, did not stand-out enough to draw us back on its own. However, what makes a restaurant memorable, beyond competent cooking, is the experience. In this case, as Liz pointedly noted, the service was not up to what one expects from a Lima restaurant of that caliber and those prices, and did detract from the experience.

In sum, yes, I'd eat there again, and gladly, but probably not unless were able to sit outside overlooking the Huaca, which is in great measure what the Huaca Pucllana dining experience is all about.

Huaca Pucllana
General Borgoña, cuadra 8
Miraflores - Lima - Peru
www.resthuacapucllana.com

Bocana

2011-05-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

Upon my arrival in Lima Liz and cousin Juancho met me at the airport and whisked me off to San Bartolo, to cousin José's restaurant, Bocana.

In a previous post from an earlier trip I mentioned that my uncle Willy had purchased a home in the beach town of San Bartolo. In time, they were thinking of selling the place as they did not manage to get out there as often as previously, but instead José, along with two friends of his, turned it into a seafood restaurant.

Bocana, like much of San Bartolo, is open only during the summer months, from December to Easter. I arrived on the afternoon Easter Sunday and, though they had planned on closing down after lunch, they kindly held the restaurant open a few hours longer so I could experience it.

I must admit that I was surprised at the transformation of the spaces. Inside, one would not readily recognize it as the same house, even thought no structural features were changed or removed (other than a semi-functional dune buggy). With judicious application of curtains, bamboo accents, plants, and new furniture and wall decor, they have created a warm, inviting, and very pleasant place to eat at or to just enjoy the bar and some music.

The menu turned out to be no less inventive.

The house cebiche is a classic fish cebiche but accented with basil and Bocana's own secret seasoning. To match it, they had their barman come up with a house drink, the Bocana, a lovely pisco chilcano with basil (pictured at top).

Another hit drink is a sour, the name of which I can't remember, with maracuyá (passion fruit). It is offered in two variations, using only the juice of the fruit or unstrained, with the whole seeds left in.

The pisco sours, of course, leave nothing to be desired either -unless it's another round of 'em!

Neither does the chilcano de anís estrella, which is a chilcano flavored with star anise. I believe this drink was first introduced at Malabar restaurant in San Isidro, and it has become a new staple of bars across the city. It is simple in its preparation -simply substitute star anise-infused simple syrup for the regular simple syrup- yet, as we discovered last year when trying to make it at home, it can be surprisingly difficult to execute well. Bocana's barman puts out one of the best, most balanced, chilcanos de anís estrella that I've had.

(This drink provided some opportunities for amusement beyond enjoying the drink itself. As José and his fiancee, Carla, and José's partners were packing up the seat cushions and curtains as we finished our last drinks, Juancho tossed the anise star in José and Carla's direction. They both immediately jumped, thinking it was a large spider, to peals of laughter from the rest of us.)

One of my favourite ways to start a meal in a Peruvian seafood restaurant is to order a leche de tigre. Leche de tigre -lit. "tiger's milk"- is the liquid produced when making cebiche, it is tart with lime juice, spicy with ají, and full of fish flavour. Sometimes served with the addition of a shot of pisco, leche de tigre is a great pick-me-up and, incidentally, can be a quick way to get a feel for the chef's hand at cebiche and Peruvian flavors.

We certainly enjoyed the rest of the meal as well, from the appetizers to the main dishes. I can't recall anyone saying that they found their dishes wanting in any respect, although I have to admit that I was pretty busy tearing into my tuna loin with an almond crust and fetuccini noodles with Huancaína sauce.

Other dishes that were enjoyed were the seared beef loin with yellow potatoes that several people ordered, and the "Thai rice" with fish chicharrones.

José and his partners have done well in their endeavor, and the restaurant is understandably getting a lot of press lately, having been mentioned or featured in several print and TV reports on the Lima summer beach and gastronomic scene.

I just wish Bocana would be open all year long, so I could enjoy it on my own summer vacations.

Bocana
Mar Pacifico 335
San Bartolo - Peru
www.bocana.com.pe

2011-04-28T16:33:00.001-07:00

Went to lunch today with my sisters and my dad. At his choosing we went to the Casa de España restaurant one block from San Felipe. It was a favorite of our grandmothers, and I guess my dad was in the mood for some sangria and paella valenciana.

Then we spent a lazy afternoon napping, and with the ladies getting their nails done at one of the salons in San Felipe. Later tonight we'll be heading out to Barranco and to the La Noche nightclub.

In Lima

2011-04-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well, it's my third day in Lima and am having a good time so far. But, of course, that was to be expected.

On my arrival, we headed straight to San Bartolo for an early dinner at Jose's restaurant, Bocana. The drinks and food were deserving of the rave reviews they had been getting from the rest of the family. They were actually scheduled to close after lunch on that day and shut down for the winter, but since they knew that a number of the family were coming, several of whom had not had the opportunity to try it, including myself straight from the airport, they kept the place open a few extra hours.

Yesterday we ate lunch at my aunt Betty's ... I'm gonna have to get her spaghetti sauce recipe from her ... and then I headed to the Centro, to Quilca street, to buy used books, and I walked away with quite a load of stuff that's nigh to impossible to find in the US.

In the evening I met my dad at Jose Carlos Mariategui Site Museum for a talk on the disagreements between Julio Antonio Mella, Victor Raul Haya de la Torre, and Mariategui in and around 1928. It was a rather interesting talk but the Q&A session turned into a shouting match at the end as a former congressman for APRA, the party founded by Haya de la Torre and currently in government, demanded the floor to refute to the refutation of an earlier longwinded dissertation delivered by him, which had brought the rest of the audience to its feet protesting that beside monopolizing the floor, the guy wasn't even posing a question but simply attacking the speaker. All quite fun!

Countdown..

2011-04-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

I'm just a few days away from heading to Lima for my cousin Mariana's wedding.

I'm told that the plan for when I get to Lima is to head straight from the airport to my cousin Jose's restaurant in San Bartolo, Bocana. I've never been there and that will be on the last day before it shuts down for the winter, so getting a chance to try it makes me very happy.

Got my DNI!

2011-04-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

This weekend Liz and I went to the Peruvian consulate in San Francisco to pick my DNI. The DNI, Documento Nacional de Identidad, is the basic Peruvian ID card. Having it will make many transactions easier and, in some instances -e.g. purchasing air travel within Peru- cheaper.

Normally, it takes about 3 months for the RENIEC, the government dependency in charge of these matters, to send a DNI to a consulate once the request is made, but in this instance, they did it in about half the time.

Lima Sandwiches

2011-03-31T21:56:00.000-07:00

Whether they call it a sanguich, a sanguche, a sanduche, a sanduich, or a sandwich, Limenos love bread and love to put things in bread, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or anytime. Here is a selection of their creations, with pictures I've taken over the years:

Sandwich de chicharrón

This is a classic, and Lima's quintessential breakfast sandwich. Slices of chicharron -boiled and browned pork (think Mexican carnitas without the Coca Cola) are joined in a crusty french roll by salsa criolla (thin-sliced red onions, in lime juice, with a bit of aji), and a slice or two of fried sweet potato. It can't be beat.

Sandwich de salchicha huachana

Another breakfast classic, salchicha huachana -a style of mild sausage somewhat reminiscent of Mexican-style chorizo, spiced with aji panca, black pepper, cumin, and a few other spices, originally from the town of Huacho- stuffed into bread, either with egg, or -as in the photo above- on its own, makes for a nice start to the day.

Choripan

Choripan is a conflation of the words chorizo (sausage) and pan (bread). One of the most popular chorizos in Lima is what is called chorizo parrillero, a sausage meant for grilling. In the evenings, as workers start heading home as the night's chill starts to set in, shops and entrepreneurs throughout the city pull out carts equipped with propane grills, and commuters line up to purchase warm choripan sandwiches on the way to their bus stops.

Butifarra

A butifarra is perhaps the definitive, old-school Lima sandwich. Sold at eateries and from carts all over the city, it -like so many other Peruvian sandwiches- is deceptively simple: slices of jamon del pais (a typical style of ham), with salsa criolla, and -sometimes- a lettuce leaf. That's it. Everything rides on the quality of the jamon and the bread.

Triple

This is another, albeit modern, classic sandwich, consisting of layers of avocado, fresh tomato slices, sliced hard-cooked egg, and a bit of mayonnaise, in between three pieces of white bread with the crusts removed. Hence, it's triple name: three fillings in three slices of bread. Simplicity itself, and great for a light lunch!

Sandwich de lechón glaceado

At Bodega Nishida, on the third block of Burgos street, in San Isidro, they serve a unique and delicious sandwich of glazed pork (lechon glaceado). The pork is slowly cooked with cognac, pisco, red wine, honey, sugar, and aji colorado. Well worth searching out if you are in the neighborhood of the old Clinica Italiana.

Hamburguesa a lo pobre

A recent invention, this sandwich is part of the menu at the Peruvian burger chain, Bembos. Bembos' signature is its selection of burgers with "national flavors". They thus have a "Hawaiian" burger (with pineapple), a "German" one (with Sauerkraut), and so on. The most interesting are the "Peruvian flavor" burgers, in which various criollo dishes are emulated. In this case, it's the classic hole-in-the-wall dish bistec a lo pobre. Bistec a lo pobre -literally 'poorman's-style beef steak'- is a value meal in itself, consisting of a thin-pounded steak, topped with a fried egg, and accompanied by french fried potatoes, fried plantain, tomatoes, onions, and white rice. In this instance, Bembos has combined those elements (sans the rice) into a tasty meal one can hold in one hand, and offered a fun and interesting diversion from the world of run-of-the-mill burgers.

Happy Dance

2011-03-12T10:54:00.000-08:00

Summer vacation trip to Peru has also been scheduled!

Woo hoo

2011-01-15T17:09:00.000-08:00

Have bought tickets to Lima for a cousin's wedding in a few months!

Lima Greets the New Year

2011-01-08T11:24:00.000-08:00

This is how Lima greeted the New Year, filmed from some family's rooftop in the district of Comas:

¡Feliz Navidad!

2010-12-17T17:26:00.000-08:00

Video "Modern Meets Inca"

2010-11-01T17:28:00.000-07:00

Added to the links at right: PBS's episode of Moments of Luxury, this time showing the "softer side" of Lima.

From the program blurb:

"Bill visits Lima's magnificent historic sites and discovers the lasting influence of the Incas on modern day Peru. Peruvian contemporary artisans and designers honor their Incan and pre-Columbian roots in creating some of the world's most fascinating art, textiles, jewelry, modern architecture and food."

Fuerza Godoy!

2010-10-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

This is a bit off-topic but it's an important issue that touches the entire Peru blog community.

On Oct. 29, 2010, Peruvian blogger Jose Alejandro Godoy, of Desde el Tercer Piso blog, was sentenced by a Peruvian judge to 3 years of prison (suspended), 120 days of community service, and restitution of US$107,000, in response to a defamation suit brought by former congressman and gov. minister Jorge Mufarech. The plaintiff argued that Godoy had defamed him when he published links to online news articles referencing criminal and ethical accusations against Mufarech.

Peru's entire blogosphere, and many of its civil rights and journalistic communities condemn this as a farcical and illegal sentence, and a dangerous precedent.

Black clam cebiche in Jesus Maria

2010-09-07T23:53:00.000-07:00

Conchas negras - black clams- are one of the most prized ingredients for cebiche in Peru. Native to the warmer waters nearer the equator, where they grow amidst the mangrove roots, black clams are harvested and shipped daily to Lima, which makes them a bit more expensive than other ingredients - at the market one pays for them by the unit. However, as their flavor is dominant, other blander fishes can be mixed in without significantly reducing the clam flavor in the dish.

However, the best way to have them is alone in a cebiche. They have an almost effervescent quality to them which seems to increase alertness -no wonder they are reputed to have aphrodisiac qualities. They also are the only shellfish in Peru that is used entire, with no part other than the shell being discarded.

Aside from the clams themselves, the cebiche included lime juice, chopped aji limo, salt, aji-no-moto (monosodium glutamate), and chopped onion, with some beans, boiled corn, and toasted corn (cancha) added on top.

The "Crazy Cow" - Now With Sound!

2010-08-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

Video from Diego's camera of Danny and the Vaca Loca at the pachamanca:

Looking back ...

2010-08-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well, mostly what I can say is "wow, what a different kind of trip that was". Eventful, and non-eventful the same time.

Eventful because there was the wedding, and by the end of the trip there were two engagements announced: Mariana's and Cristy's.

Uneventful because, unlike in other instances, it was marked to a greater extent by what we didn't do this time. For example, we didn't leave Lima.

Yes, of course, there were those the trip to Caral and the overnight one to Chancay for the wedding, but both are basically in the neighborhood. Normally, we head off to some other part of the country on a multi-day excursion -at least to Ayacucho, even if not elsewhere- but not this time, even though we did try to plan something around 28 de Julio.

Nor was there a to-do list as in other instances. The apartment is furnished, the taxes paid up for the year, the paperwork apparently in order, so nothing to do on that front.

We did have guests who stayed with us around the wedding, and we showed them around town. But we didn't hit any museums or ruins on those outings, and we ended up going to the same places -the Centro, Barranco, Miraflores- as each new set of visitors arrived.

The result was that at lot of time was spent as one does when one is at home: chatting, watching TV, reading, waiting one's turn to use the shower, etc. And, partly due to people's work schedules, most of the outings involved meeting cousins, aunts, and uncles for meals at favorite restaurants or trying new ones. I guess that's reflected in the amount of posts from this trip that deal with food and restaurants. However, there were many more worthy restaurants and meals that were not mentioned, even though I had family members telling me "Did you bring the camera? You've got to tell people about this place!" Places like Vivaldino, Chala, Merlín de Cabo Blanco, etc.

Heck, I didn't even hit any museums or bookstores until my last three days in Lima! Now that is a different sort of trip for me.

Miscellaneous Family Pics

2010-08-10T10:04:00.000-07:00

Area 7 and Masacre

2010-08-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

The night following the Magaly Solier concert, and my last full night in Lima, Jacho and I returned to La Noche, this time for something a bit different. On Thursday night there were listed two acts of a more subte nature: Masacre and Area 7.

Masacre was the headline act. I didn't remember this at the time, but Masacre is a metal band that has been around since the 1980s, and is a mainstay of Peru's metal scene along with bands such as Kranium. Instead, I had half-expected a punkish-type concert.

Masacre is an accomplished band and is likeable enough, but truthfully I found some of their music to be pretty standard metal fare. I was more impressed with the opening act, Area 7.

Area 7, it turns out, is a band that was started in 1999 by lead singer Diana Foronda, as a metal cover band. As the lineup changed, the band began to compose their own songs and evolved into an example of Peruvian "Nu Metal" (i.e. 'new metal').

Area 7 stands out for being one of the few all-female Peruvian rock bands, and they're quite good at what they do, to boot. They were a lot of fun to listen to. I'm sure, however, -in fact I know- Jacho would disagree.

It was actually kind of an amusing scene. We two forty-somethings posted at the end of the bar with an expensive bottle of pisco, surrounded by disheveled teens and twenty-somethings drinking beer out of 1-L plastic tumblers and whirling about the mosh pit. Jacho's such a good sport for having gone with me!

Here's a video of Area 7 in action that I found on YouTube:

The quality on videos of them on Youtube generally is fairly poor, but good recordings can be listened to here. I specially like "Fuerte, Intenso".

From the stage Diana announced that they'll have an album coming out for download by the end of the month. I look forward to getting it.

Magaly Solier

2010-08-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night Diego, Jacho and I went to Barranco to see Magaly Solier, who was appearing the La Noche nightclub. We thought that she might just perform a few songs to prommote her album, Warmi, but were pleased to find that she performed basically the entire album, plus a couple of other songs, including a rendition of Ricardo Dolorier's "Flor de Retama" which was among the nicest Ive heard.

"Flor de Retama" was written about the brutal police repression of a popular strike for education in Huanta in 1969, but it regained popularity in the 1980s as an oblique protest against the police and military repression endured by the population of Ayacucho during the civil war. Solier's own songs also reflect her experiences and those of the region's populace during the war years, expressed -in Warmi- through the voices of several female characters (warmi means "woman" in Quechua), like those of "Citaray", who lost loved ones to political violence, and of "Maribel", the main character and a "young woman who dares to help other women who are determined to not let themselves be abused by their men".

All three of us were impressed with what a nice, simple person Solier seems. She's famous, with a several movies out, a musical album, and her face on Nescafé adds all over the place, but she's still able to confess that she gets "very nervous" whenever she steps on stage to sing for an audience. The audience was small, but the space was also small, which lent the event a bit of intimacy, and there were some people she knew among the audience and she seemed comforted and pleased by their presence.

Nonetheless, she didn't seem to let her nervousness affect her performance:

Magaly Solier performing 'Ripu Ripusajmi' at La Noche, August 4, 2010

All in all, we were very impressed and glad that we made the effort to go to the concert, and I made sure to buy the album the first chance I got (in fact I'm listening to it as I type).

Packing up

2010-08-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

We're having a beautiful, sunny day. It feels like spring here.

Jacho and I met at the Bodega de la Trattoria in San Isidro for lunch. We ate on the patio in front of the restaurant and enjoyed the warm sunshine after so many cloudy, damp days. Afterward I walked a few blocks over to Wong for some last-minute purchases.

I've just finished packing my suitcases for the trip back to the US and have about three hours to kill before I meet the cousins for dinner and drinks before heading to the airport tonight.

I forgot that I wanted to bring back a small amount of chicha de jora to see if I could use it as a starter to brew a batch of my own but I know the market stalls in Magdalena and Jesus Maria will likely be closed by this time of day. Right now it doesn't seem worth the effort to go to the fair at the Campo de Marte to buy it...

Larco Museum

2010-08-04T16:44:00.000-07:00

After lunch at Toshiro's I ventured to Pueblo Libre and the Larco Museum. The museum, between its permanent exhibits and storehouse, houses one of the most extensive collections of pre-Columbian artifacts in Peru and has long been one of the foremost museums in Lima.

The museum was established in 1926 by Rafael Larco Hoyle to house and exhibit the private collection he and his father had amassed, primarily by purchasing and merging other private collections from hacienda owners in the north of Peru. Originally housed in 17 rooms in the Larco family's Chiclin hacienda near Trujillo, the collection was transported to Lima in 1949. There, Mr. Larco purchased a 17th Century mansion to house the museum and established a foundation to ensure its continuity and promote the study of the artifacts.

Although it contains significant examples metallurgy and weaving from anciet Peru, the bulk of the collection consists of ceramics; some 45,000 pieces, almost all of which are on display to the public, as the museum is unique in that it opens its storehouse to the public.

The storehouse consists of room upon room of pottery -almost all of it from northern Peru- classified according to culture of origin and distinctive features (form, imagery, etc.). The objects in the storehouse are only minimally labelled as they are not part of the exhibits per se, but are a research collection.

Nonetheless, wandering its passages, one can find interesting examples of the ancient Peruvian potters' art, for example depictions of disease and other maladies.

Many of the nicest and most representative pieces are, of course, on display in the permanent exhibit:

Moche portrait vase (c. 150 - c. 800 C.E.)

Inca keros or ritual chicha vessels (c. 1200 - 1533 C.E.)

Post-Conquest kero (16th Century)

Inca urpus or aryballos (c. 1200 - 1533 C.E.)

Inca quipu (c. 1200 - 1533 C.E.)

Inca quipu (c. 1200 - 1533 C.E.), detail

Moche war maces (c. 150 - 800 C.E.)

Moche silver "coccyx protectors", part of Moche war gear (c. 150 - 800 C.E.)

Detail of Colonial-era painting depicting the "Kings of Peru"

Moche depiction of a warrior (c. 150 - 800 C. E.)

Unopened mummy bundle, pre-Inca

And, despite all their not incosiderable skill, it is refreshing to know that even for Moche potters all did not always go as planned:

What the Larco Museum is most famous for is, of course, its collection of "erotic" pottery. The ancient Peruvians, and the Moche in particular, were not shy about depicting all aspects of life in their ceramics, including sexual themes.

Many of those are clearly for ritual use, and most probably bear some religious significance. Many of them are quite frank depictions of coitus, fellatio, and mutual masturbation.

I once read a book by a young woman who visited Peru, I believe in the 1940s, and paid a visit to Mr. Larco. He proudly showed her his collections, but demured from showing her the huacos eroticos, which he kept behind a curtain, as they were not "appropriate for a young lady". Fortunately, by the time I toured the museum with my third grade class from Colegio Abraham Lincoln, attitudes had changed and, to our delight, we got to see all the exhibits.

Due to the content, I decided not to bother taking pictures of that part of the collection on this visit, but when I saw the expression on the faces of these two, I couldn't resist snapping their picture!

Toshiro's

2010-08-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well, all the visitors have gone back to the US, save only dad and I, and I've got just until Friday night, so I've had to at the same time try to fill my days, and prioritize things so that what I do end up doing is worthwhile.

So, one of the things I decided to do yesterday was take myself to lunch at a place that I'd been curious about for some time: Toshiro's sushi in San Isidro.

The first thing I noticed was that the signage had been changed from Toshiro's Sushi Bar to Toshiro's Japanese Restaurant - yes, like that, in English. I presume the change also reflects a change in focus for the restaurant, as sushi was a minor part of the menu.

My cousin Juancho, a foodie like his namesake, had peeked into Toshiro's once and disliked the ambience and thus had been resistant to going there on occasions when we've gone out for sushi. The thing is that the restaurant occupies a mezzanine inside a casino and is not itself visible from the street. Even though it has a separate entrance from the casino itself one must still pass through a small bar lobby, in full view of the slot machines, to reach the steps up to the restaurant proper, and it was that bar that he had seen. Once inside the restaurant, however, it is as if the casino did not exist.

I was surprised to find the place empty of diners even though it was lunch time. The itamae told me that it was fairly unpredictable but that on Mondays they tended to be full more often than on other days. Anyway, it good for me as I was well-tended-to and I got to chat with the itamae.

I ordered a beer while I perused the menu at the sushi bar. While in Lima -as in the California- most sushi restaurants focus on rolls and tend to be quite creative with the ingredients and extensive in their combinations, Toshiro's tends to focus its sushi on more traditional styles -nigiri, very simple makis (think tekka maki), chirashi sushi, and so on- fancy maki rolls occupy a back page in the menu and there are only eight or ten listed. Now, don't ask me if it's Edo style or what else as I don't know, but the point is that the point of Toshiro's sushi is the fish.

I started with a sushi selection, which is left to the discretion of the itamae based on what's available. I was not disappointed. The fish was very clean tasting and delicious. At first one think's "that it?" but near the end of the plate one realizes that there is actually quite a bit there.

I followed that up with a couple of pieces of uni - sea urchin roe. The roe was from Peruvian waters, and my itamae explained that it was a lucky day in the urchin deparment as Toshiro Konishi, the owner and exective chef, is very picky about urchin roe, more often than not rejecting what other restaurants would gladly purchase.

In the US a lot of people seem to not like sea urchin. In part, I'm sure, it's that it's roe and that it's urchin, but the strong flavor of urchin roe available there must dissuade a big part of it's detractors. If they'd tasted this uni, they'd likely change their tune. The absolute freshness of this urchin made all the the difference. I could still taste the ocean when eating it but it had no "fishyness" at all, rather an underlying sweetness and butteriness... It was simply delicious.

As a parting courtesy, I was given an on-the-house cebiche of Peru's excellent scallops, served with a dab of avocado, a mix of tartar sauce and grated maca root, and topped with tobiko. It was a nice finish to a fine meal.

Toshiro's Japanese Restaurant
Av. Conquistadores 450
San Isidro - Lima

Sunday Family Lunch

2010-08-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, as a sort of despedida to those who were leaving the following morning (i.e. today), and mostly, for simple pleasure of hosting everyone, we fixed a big family lunch at our apartment.

The main dish was a 12-lb piglet that we baked with oranges and rosemary.

We served it with corn, glazed carrots, and a trio of native potatoes, boiled and then baked with olive oil, rosemary, and garlic.

Afterward, everyone hung out, and the boys -not unexpetedly- broke out the cards and chips.

Book Fair finds

2010-07-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, after lunch I made time to head to the 15th Lima International Book Fair which is being held at a park near San Felipe, Parque de los Proceres -which everyone still calls Matamula, even though it's name was officially changed in the early 1970s.

Aside from a book on early photography in Ayacucho and one on the events in Bagua last June, I was rather pleased to find some older books which can be rather hard to find in Spanish, including a translation of Capital that was previously unknown to me.

Particularly pleasing was the opportunity to pick up a copy of the bookbound edition of Rafo León's Caín y Abel.

Caín y Abel originally appeared as a series of vignettes in the monthly No! supplement to Lima's Sí magazine in 1987. The storyline was told from the viewpoints of two twin brothers, Caín and Abel.

Caín was a rebel, part of Lima's "underground" (subterraneo or subte) music scene, and something of a black sheep. His contributions were punctuated with swear words and lyrics. Abel, on the other hand, was a sweet, studious boy, who wanted nothing more than to please his mother, and who's sanctimoniousness drove Caín crazy and made his father worry for his sexual orientation. The humor lay in the disparate ways that each described the very same events and the way that León was able to so fully convey each of his character's idyosincratic world-views.

Embarcadero 41

2010-07-30T17:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a holiday so we took advantage of that to have a lunch gathering of the cousins. At my cousin Mariana's suggestion we met at Embarcadero 41, a seafood restaurant in Surco. We had a nice time chatting and joking, which we hadn't all had a chance to do at the wedding last weekend nor on the 28th when we had met for drinks at Mama Batata's, a club in Miraflores.

It was kind of funny when Erin, a guest of Sara's, commented that "it seems that if we aren't shopping, we're eating". She concluded that that was fine however as the food in Lima is "great". We all agreed that if one likes seafood, Peru is the place to come, and that the variety and freshness of the seafood here sure beats the "clams and salmon, and maybe a halibut," combo that is the staple of US seafood cuisine.

The food at Embarcadero 41 was no exception, although it did seem that in their ambition to provide variety the cooks hadn't really mastered all their dishes. The cebiches and tiraditos were right on the ball, as were the rice-based dishes and causas. The soups and stews seemed like an afterthought, relegated to the back of the menu. This was confirmed by the shrimp stew, chupe de camarones, which Liz ordered and which all declared good but a bit plain, and no standout.

Another dish that received mixed reviews was the grilled octopus that Liz, Carla, and I ordered to share. Many of our party liked it, but the three of us thought that it delivered rather less than it promised; that it was well marinated, in terms of tenderness, but it lacked somewhat in flavor. That simply slapping some anticucho sauce on it at grilling time was uninspired. Maybe our standards have been raised a bit higher.

The whole fried fish, on the other hand, -in this case, cabrilla, prepared "Nikkei" style- was a hit. The vegetables were crisp and fresh, and the sauce sweet without being cloying.

Nor did the dessert cart leave much to be desired ...

Of course, the true show stealers were the kids!

Embarcadero 41
Calle Fleming 141
Santiago de Surco - Lima
http://www.embarcadero41.com

Dictator

2010-07-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

We went to the movies last night in San Isidro. While waiting for the showing we noticed that in the audience a few rows ahead of us and to the side was sitting Francisco Morales Bermudez Cerutti.

Mr. Morales Bermudez is a former Peruvian Army general. He is also a former president of the country by virtue of having presided over the military dictatorship that ran the country from 1975 to 1980. Morales Bermudez and his cronies overthrew the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces headed by Gen. Juan Velasco Alvarado.

Velasco and a group of reformist military officers had overthrown the democratically-elected government of Fernando Belaunde Terry in October of 1968 and quickly set about restructuring the Peruvian economy to break the power of the old aristocracy and to break the stranglehold of foreign capitalism over key resources. They nationalized oil resources and refineries and then the mines. When the oligarchs objected, the military nationalized their newspapers and handed over to labor unions. And, in the biggest move of all, they expropriated large landholdings in the mountains and on the coast -including some of my family's- and redistributed the land amongst peasant communities and agricultural cooperatives.

Inevitably, there arose even within the military itself, sectors who felt that the reforms were going too far. Enter: Morales Bermudez, Velasco's head of the Ministerial Council and Minister of War.

On 29 August 1975, Morales Bermudez moved against Velasco, removing him from office and forcing his sympathizers to resign their offices or move into retirement.

The Velasquizta reforms were quickly halted and Peru brought back into the fold of the IMF, with the accompanying economic "shock therapy". The inflation, constant monetary devaluations, and shortages of consumer goods and basic foodstuffs, and plain old corruption, got old really fast.

As restiveness with Morales Bermudez's counter-reformist policies grew, the old bugger kept us under increasingly-frequent states of emergency and nighttime curfews. People were killed, opposition figures -specially from the left, including Velasquistas- were jailed or exiled, until it all got to be too much and the military organized elections for an assembly to draft a new Constitution, and later to elect a civilian president.

Today, there are more than a fewPeruvians who hold Morales Bermudez in high regard, viewing him as an elder statesman, who credit him with returning Peru to democracy and saving Peru from the "excesses"of the Velasco period. I am not among them.

Nonetheless, I couldn't help but feel for the old general, sensing how irritating it must have been to him, as an old military man, to have people moving about during the national anthem -played before the movie, as yesterday was Independence Day. Whatever he must have been feeling, he stood at attention, singing, throughout, and as the last note faded, his voice rang out in the theater: "¡Viva el Perú!"

Wedding and Pachamanca

2010-07-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

(Photo by Daniel)

On Saturday afternoon, the entire family and guests were driven about 78 kms north of Lima along the PanAmerican Highway in two buses and several personal cars, to Chacra y Mar, near the town of Chancay. The purpose for the trip was to celebrate Sara and Ted's marriage.

The site selected for the festivities was the Casa Darenas, some family's rambling country home, surrounded by mandarine orchards, which is now sometimes rented out for events. The house sits on a bluff within sight and sound of the sea, and has room for thirty guests to sleep in beds, and several more on the numerous couches and armchairs. The place itself was beautiful, and an inspired choice for the event, despite the added difficulties due to the distance from Lima.

I was so focused on greeting relatives whom I had not seen in years that I didn't take many pictures on the first day there, other than of the wedding itself - which I won't post here (I'll let Sara take care of that via her Facebook or elsewhere).

Nonetheless, here are some details:

The chapel

Sara selected an Andean theme for the wedding


Detail of the house's decor

The party afterward was a lot of fun. Lots of good food, open bar, music, and dancing. It was great to catch up with relatives I hadn't seen in forever -some since I left Peru when I was but a kid, and some I only knew via internet.

Sometime after midnight Ted's groomsmen stripped down to their shorts and jumped into the pool. It was cold so they didn't stay in long!

For the second day of celebrations, Sunday, Sara had organized a pachamanca for the immediate family and selected guests -still close to 100 people. Pachamanca is ancient cooking method from Peru's central Andes -including Ayacucho, where our family is from- in which meat and tubers are cooked in a stone and earth "oven" in the ground. The word pacha is Quechua for the "earth", and manca is "pot" or "cooking vessel". Thus pachamanca literally means "earth pot".

Pachamancas come in several "flavors" -e.g. "three-flavored"or "five-flavored"- according to the number of meats being cooked. The particular combination of meats, and adjuncts, can vary according to regional tastes and customs, as do the seasonings and herbs used in the cooking. For this event a friend from Ayacucho was hired to do the pachamanca.

(I paid close attention to the process as Liz and I hope to some day host one of these in our backyard.)

To create the proper festive mood, a band had been hired, and fireworks purchased, including a vaca loca or "crazy cow".

The "crazy cow"

First, the crew dug shallow pits in the ground and stacked bricks around them. Fires were built inside the towers and stoked for several hours.

Normally stones are used, but those must be carefully selected to not contain any sulphur or other compounds which could impart off-flavors, and must be such that they will retain heat adequately and not burst in the fire. Such are not always easy to find in a given location, so these days -specially in the cities- bricks are often used instead.

As cooking time approached, the bricks were "cleaned" by whisking them sprigs of herbs.

When it was time to start cooking, the upper brick were removed, leaving a shallow ring inside the hole. The embers were removed, and the floor of the oven lined with cool bricks. The meats were placed in the hole, with layers of fresh alfalfa in between each layer-first, lamb, then pork, and lastly, chicken. The alfalfa used in this instance was there because it helps keep up the humidity inside the oven, but does not contribute any flavor.

As the layers built up, heated bricks were added to build up the oven. "Gato", the pachamanquero, explained that because bricks were being used the meats were wrapped in banana leaves. When the proper stones are used, the meats can be deposited directly on a bottom layer of heated rocks with herb sprigs.

After the meats, a layer of potatoes was added.

Next, a net bag of fava beans, and on top of that a layer of sweet tamal-like humitas, followed by a final thick layer of alfalfa.

After the foodstuffs had been all added, the whole thing was covered with wet cloths and the dirt removed in digging the hole. Finally, as custom requires, each of the two mounds was topped with a flower-decorated cross.

When the time comes for the pachamanca to be opened -after 1.5 to 2 hours- there is a specific ritual to be followed, if the thing is to be done right according to Ayacuchano custom.

First, the padrinos each take hold of the cross and lift it out of the ground. Padrino is generally translated as "godparent" (literally it is "godfather"; the female form is madrina), but in festivities it is taken to mean something closer to "sponsor" and is sometimes given to honored guests, even though they may not literally be the sponsors of the feast. Ted's parents acted as padrinos for one of the pachamancas, and my dad and my mom's friend, Margaret, did so for the second.

Next, the padrinos offer chicha or beer to the Pachamama, mother earth. Then, together, they remove the first shovelfuls of dirt from the pachamanca.

The oven is then dismantled and the foods, now cooked, are removed and readied for serving to the guests, who greet the occasion with dancing...

... and more fireworks...

... including the "crazy cow"...

Quick and dirty update

2010-07-25T20:27:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy few days. Between last Thursday night and Friday dawn Susana, Danny, Carla, and accompanying parties arrived and as part of the activities planned we went to Rustica on the Cost Verde beach for the lunch buffet.

From there we went downtown to show our guests the city center and the catacombs under the monastery of San Francisco de Asis. That was followed, late in the evening, by taking in the floor show at Brisas del Titicaca. Brisas is a Lima institution. For decades it has offered a polished show of regional Peruvian music and dances, and a good dance band as well. Peruvians of all ages go to the show and love to take their foreign guests there.

Unfortunately, something from that damned buffet got to a couple of us. In my case it manifested itself at Brisas in the form of nausea, followed by projectile vomiting - fortunately in the restroom. I went home and spent the rest of the night puking my guts out, which left me terribly sore all over my body.

Luckily, I have the sort of constitution which allows me to expel the bad and be OK the next day, which -even though still delicate- allowed me to enjoy the festivities around Sara's wedding this weekend.

Birthday lunch: Malabar

2010-07-21T09:34:00.000-07:00

Monday was my birthday, and fortunately I was feeling human enough to start going out and doing stuff. So, Liz, Nico, Diego, Sara and I went out to lunch. It being my choice, I opted for Malabar, a restaurant I had been curious about for a while.

Malabar's cuisine is a bit hard to pigeonhole. It is definitely in the vein of Novo Andina cuisine in fusing culinary academy -basically French, I guess- techniques and aesthetics with native ingredients and flavor. In contrast to Novo Andina, which focuses on Andean and criollo ingredients and dishes, Malabar's chef has turned to Peru's Amazon hinterland for inspiration. Consequently, the menu abounds with jungle fishes and fruits.

Part of what puts Malabar consistently at the top of Lima's restaurant lists is the quality of the experience. The chef, Pedro Miguel Schiaffino, remains present and in charge of his restaurant. In fact, he greeted us as we walked in. The place itself is discreetly set into the ground floor of an office tower in San Isidro. The windows are opaque and plain. Inside, however, is a white-tablecloth restaurant decorated in a mix of jungle-like elements (stuffed impala heads over the bar), a collection of antique glass in a corner cabinet, and a large painting of a pair of swimmers clad only in swim caps.

The food was very good indeed (although most Peruvians might complain that the servings are a too small). Diego ordered a "dry soup" of shrimp, which was essentially a rissotto with an intense flavor of a classic Peruvian shrimp stew, chupe de camarones. Nico had a rice and bean dish (tacu tacu) topped with a sautee of vegetables and seafood, which he declared excellent. In fact he barely talked as he ate it!

Liz, on the recommendation of the waiter, selected a beef medallion with glazed vegetables. It was good, and tender as described, but she said she found a bit ordinary.

My selection, an inchi capi of paiche was perhaps the most interesting and surprising dish at our table. Inchi capi is an Amazonian soup, usually made with chicken and thickened with corn meal and featuring yuca. In Schiaffino's reinvention, the soup is a thin but intensely-flavored broth. The corn shows up as crust on the serving of paiche, a large jungle fish, and the yuca as a tapioca topping on the fish and which adds texture to the broth as it is mixed in.

Other notable dishes were some river snails and mushrooms atop a palmito puree and topped with shredded chonta palm, and a tiradito colored with ayrampo, a small cactus fruit long used as a colorant in the Andes.

Malabar is a very good restaurant and deserving of its reputation. However, it is expensive and thus not a casually-made selection. I don't know that I'd return, just on that account, but I enjoyed myself a lot and am glad to have tried it.

Edo

2010-07-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

One evening this past weekend, between sleeping like 16 hours a day due to my cold, I managed to join the gang for some sushi at Edo, down the street on Av. Salaverry.

It was a nice time, and the sushi was well done. It was different from US maki-sushi styles, but we found nothing out of the ordinary for Lima makis. Liz, Nico and I concluded that part of the issue was likely due to to having been in a group and letting my cousins order for the group, which eliminated part of what makes sushi fun - choosing tempting rolls and interesting ingredients for oneself.

Unfortunately, it was then back home and back to bed for me.

We may go back on our own later to give it a better try.

Edo Sushi Bar
Ave. Salaverry 3230
San Isidro - Lima

2010-07-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

Nico and Sara arrived today, Sara nice and early at 4:40 am.

I've been a bit under the weather. Got a slight cold, that had me kind of worn out. Took a nap yesterday and today and Liz gave me some Mydol and Sudafed, and that helped.

Arrivals

2010-07-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, the remaining people have started to arrive. First, my dad, and yesterday, Liz came in.

She was tired and sore from the trip, but quite hungry so we went out to dinner in Miraflores.

Everyone's getting excited at the prospect of seeing each other again.

Southern Cone

2010-07-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

Visitors to Lima might at times be perplexed to hear residents refer to the city's "cones". A glance at a Lima map reveals that, as it has grown, the city has formed a rough triangle, with vertices extending along the Panamerican Highway to the north and south, and east up the Rimac Valley and along the Central Highway. Those points of the triangle are referred to as the "Cones."

Fourty, thirty, even just twenty years ago, many of those neighborhoods -if they existed at all- were haciendas or small isolated settlements surrounded by agricultural fields. Many, if not most, of the rest were no more than open desert. Just dirt, sand, and rock.

Over time those areas were taken over by migrants, fleeing poverty, and later, war, in the interior of the country, desperate for a place to establish a home. (At one point, in 1988, it was estimated that Lima was receiving 1,000 internal migrants per day.) To that was added the growth in Lima's own population, particularly among the poor, who -unable to buy into the rising apartment buildings- have no option but to expand the city horizontally into the desert and up steep, rocky hillsides. There, they built their homes and businesses, bit by bit, as means allowed.

From Casuarinas, looking south toward Villa Maria del Triunfo and San Juan de Miraflores in the distance.

Distance -and not only geographically- means that much of the time the Cones and their inhabitants are absent from the thoughts and lives of middle class Limenos who live in the central part of the city. There is, on the one hand, the not unfounded impression of those areas as dirty, unpleasant, and crime-ridden. On the other hand, the simple fact of the distance and the availability of so much throughout this huge city, means that it's poor suburbs -as much as it's wealthy ones, of which there are a few- are areas that by and large a resident of Jesus Maria, Lince, Miraflores, San Miguel, etc., would not have reason to go to save in rare circumstances and for specific reasons - usually business.

San Juan de Miraflores.

This morning, Willy, Diego, my dad, and I, ventured out to the Southern Cone in search of the home of one my grandmother's maids, Lucha. My grandmother had grown very fond of Lucha and her son, and they of her, and the family has kept in touch with her since my grandmother passed away and helped her buy construction materials. However, because the area where she and her family managed to settle is so remote and steep, services have yet to be established there, nor does it even have an official name. There is no sewage, nor electricity or phone service, which means that the only way to actually get ahold of Lucha is to navigate the unpaved, unrmarked streets of the shantytown and find her home amid the shingle of the hillsides.

We tried. Made a number of wrong turns through Villa El Salvador, and finally having located what we thought might be the right hill, realised that we had not the time to visit with her and make our lunch appointment at my aunt's home. So, frustrated in our designs, we gave up and headed back toward the paved and electrified parts of town.

Villa El Salvador.

Barranco food festival

2010-07-10T22:37:00.000-07:00

After a sleeping in after a boys-only night out with the cousins and uncles at an Argentine-style BBQ restaurant, followed by a late night of conversation and Scotch, Diego and I spent the morning cleaning house, followed by watching the World Cup soccer match and then lazing away the afternoon.

Come evening, however, I was itching to get out and play a bit, so we headed to the seaside bohemian neighborhood of Barranco, which is home to poets, artists, musicians, good restaurants, and fine examples of Republican architecture.

Tonight, however, we found that it was also home to a craft and gastronomic fair. Diego and I settled ourselves on stools at one of the booths and whiled away the minutes with pisco sours while we waited for cousin Juancho to join us.

We were there so long, and had so many rounds, that the young woman tending the bar got kind of familiar with us and that led to some amusement. A while later, after she had traded out with another bar tender, she came back to the booth to get something and when she saw us, she chuckled and exclaimed "You guys are still here?!" Diego responded with some flirty comment and she mentioned that she had actually just switched booths to one around the corner. As we didn't like the new bar tender's touch, we decided to relocate to her booth for another round as Juancho joined us. The young woman brightened up when we approached, and Juancho remarqued that she seemed to know us, to which she replied that of course, as we were "loyal customers." We finished the round, then walked around and found ourselves in need of a bathroom, what with six pisco sours apiece in our systems. We found a restaurant that let us use theirs, and when the door to the bathroom opened up, who should emerge? Our bartender, of course! over which we all got a laugh, with Diego swearing -truthfully- that we had not, in fact, followed her there.

We then walked around the plaza, checking out the fair, while we again waited , this time for Jose and his girlfriend, Carla, meet us.

There were booths selling handicrafts from various places around the country, though nothing that one doesn't find nearly anywhere else here. The regional food booths were more interesting and we sampled some manjar blanco, and Andean cheeses, of which I ended up buying a wheel.

When Jose and Carla arrived, we adjourned to the prepared foods section for a late dinner.

We ended up ordering a bunch of dishes from which we all sampled freely until we'd had all we wanted -save Carla, who managed dessert- and there was naught left to do but take ourselves home. Below is some of what we sampled:

Anticuchos, rachi, and choncholines: grilled beef heart, tripe, and chitlins.

Tacu tacu montado: Bean and rice patty with steak and egg.
(We got a double-yolked egg!)

Rocoto relleno: Rocoto hot pepper stuffed with spiced beef and cheese.

Parrillada de cinco sabores: five-flavored grill, meaning it includes five kinds of meat
- chicken, beef, pork, pork sausage, and cabanossi.

Tallarin verde con milanesa de carne: Pesto noodles with a breaded beef fillet.

Aji de gallina: Shredded chicken in a spicy cheese and pepper sauce.
(This is one was a bit too salty.)

Flags going up

2010-07-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

This month the country dresses in red and white. Well, not literally, but everywhere flags are already starting to go up, as July 28th is Independence Day, and by custom -and, it used to be by law but I don't know if it still is- every building must bear a flag or other decoration. By mid-month the skyline will be filled with waving red and white banners.