Gene drew this picture to symbolize our travels. What do you think he's trying to tell me? He's the one that came up with the title for this year's travel blog, too. Like it? Feel free to comment on it or on any of the blog entries to come.

Bienvenidos a Costa Rica - Welcome Home!

So far we've been welcomed home by friends, rain, an eartquake, and numerous aftershocks. "Welcome home," the world seems to be saying. We were thrilled to be met at the airport by friends Emma and Jon. As we all enjoyed a snack and conversation on the way home, we got to see rain for the first time in two months. My first priority is to find out what the hell is wrong with Gene's foot and get it fixed, so the first thing I did was call my doctor and get an appointment for him to see him on Tuesday. Then yesterday we took a taxi down to the mall to make our deposits for our permanent residency status (that ridiculous time-sucking procedure that's been going on for a year with absolutely no logic involved). While at the bank, the entire mall proceded to shake like somebody had put it into a paper bag with some flour and seasonings and was preparing to fry it. It lasted about half a minute I think. Most people started running outside. Some, like us, stayed on to watch the immediate reporting of the event on the tv in the bank. It was strange watching the newscaster continuing to report on what was happening around her as we saw everything in her building moving around! The bank closed, as did most of the other mall businesses. A lot of people were hanging around in the parking lots discussing the quake, calling people on their cell phones. A lot more were racing to get home to check on their families. We went to lunch and experienced another good shaking while we were eating. We continued to have modest movements throughout the day, although it is difficult to say how many because our house always vibrates in a most nerve-wracking manner. Gene says it's from the continuous winds on our hill. To me it feels more like something coming from the earth. Either way there's always this constant gut-wrenching rumbling. Last night there were two more really good ones. Apparently there were actually hundreds of aftershocks, but most of them too small to be noticable. At our house, there were some books and things that flew off the shelves onto the floor. Some spice jars on the floor in the kitchen. And that's about it. We were lucky of course. We hear in the news that there were deaths, injuries, a lot of property damage. There are a lot of roads out from landslides. Of course anyone who has their google alerts or other news monitoring service set to monitor news of Costa Rica was immediately aware of the news. But this time, even CNN reported on the earthquake. So we know it was major news because the news media outside the country generally appears unaware that Central America exists. Of course we were getting phone calls (what would expats ever do without Skype and weekly phone calls) and Instant Messages all night long from friends and family who were worried when they read that the epicenter was 20 kilometers from Heredia. Rest assured everyone: we are well. My only real problem today, other than the fact that I want Gene's foot fixed, is that I failed to buy shoes in Lima.
I should quit now. But you know I won't. There are always a few more pictures I just have to post. And a few more thoughts about our travels that I just have to share. Of course you don't have to read them. But I have to write them. I can't help myself!

See Ya Soon!

So this may be my last post for a while, since I'm not sure if we have wireless at the hotel. But you know me: I still have a bunch of random stuff I want to post when I get a chance, even though the trip is coming to an end.

If you're one of those who've been following our daily adventures and mis-adventures, but haven't left a message or registered as one of our blog followers, please do one or the other now. Leaving a quick message is easy - and you don't have to register or anything. Just click on Comments at the bottom of any post. Then you can write a quick comment and click on the Anonymous button under choose an identify. Then click on Publish Your Comment. And you're done.
And while I am at it, a million thanks to those who have stayed in touch during our travels. Traveling is great - but it's even better when you continue to hear from friends and family who you miss.

Give us a call. We're dying to see everybody!!!

Our Last Sunday Nite in San Telmo

Nice that it's only 2 blocks to Plaza Dorrego - and Gene decided he was feeling much much better - enough better in fact that he wanted to walk up to the plaza and enjoy some empanadas and watch the tango dancers. Once all the antique dealers fold up their booths on Sunday evening, the music starts and everybody starts dancing. Amazing. Actually at one point, there was a tango band, another band, and a guitar player - all in different corners of the plaza but clearly audible to us. Confusing? Well, yeah, a little! But a lot of fun. I was desperately trying to get close enough to get photos of the dancers' feet. Dancing with a gorgeous woman wearing those gorgeous 4" - bright red no less - was a guy dancing in flip flops! A couple of other people were trying to dance in sneakers. We even saw one guy dancing in hiking boots. There are always great scenes in the plaza! Sad that this was our last Sunday here. We've enjoyed it.
For more photos, click here

Life is what happens while you're making other plans

Right after New Years, Gene started feeling sick. For a day or so we were afraid that he was seriously ill. I was tracking down information on where to take him to get emergency medical care while shoving water at him, trying to figure out to do and giving him "poor babies." All of you who know me also know why I didn't become a nurse. When he first became sick, he had the symptoms that he had had before when he ended up doing an extended stay in the hospital with a complicated urinary tract infection. It came on suddenly just like it did that other time: the shakes, fever, crappy feeling... That was Friday night, I think and I was wondering about getting medical care on a Saturday. I was hoping I could find an English speaking doctor, near impossible here from what I've been told. At some point that evening, we decided that he was probably going to be ok if we waited til morning to see how he was doing. In the morning he felt totally crappy but clearly not in need of emergency care. So we continued with the water treatment, fruits, rest, etc and he has gradually improved. It appears that perhaps it was just one of those sneaky nasty viruses that can sneak into your body at the most inopportune times. Yesterday he was feeling a lot better and wanted to go up to the plaza for dinner. So we got to sit outside and enjoy the wonderful evening, watching about 50 couples dancing the tango, listening to the music. It was a wonderful evening. I will post some pictures separately. Today he is better still, but still in need of rest. Combine this problem with his ongoing problem with his foot and you can imagine how frustrated he is over our final week in Buenos Aires. But ever the optimist, when I went to get cash from the ATM machine this morning, he told me not to worry if I got too many pesos because we can use them when we come back! Tomorrow we check out of the apartment and check into a hotel for our last night here - just to make it simpler to get a taxi to the airport at 4:30 in the morning on Wednesday. I just want to get him home to get him to the doctor to find out what is causing this foot problem. The other problem I think is going away on its own. In spite of everything, we both still love Buenos Aires and want to return. It truly is a city like no other.

New Years Eve

"Everybody" knows that everything in Buenos Aires is closed on New Years Eve. A few places open back up later in the evening. Everybody knows that if you want to eat out, you make a reservation in advance. And of course dinner is sometime 11 pm or after. But we just never knew what we wanted to do in advance to actually make a reservation. And we knew that Gene couldn't walk far. And we knew that public transportation would be close to non-existent. So we did what we do so well - play it by ear. Bonnie and David had invited us to start the evening at their apartment with some friends. They were making pizza. We really wanted to go. But even those half a dozen blocks sounded like a challenge with Gene's walking problems. So ultimately we walked the two blocks to Plaza Dorrego - after all it's one of our favorite places. We ate a couple of big steaks at one of the two places that actually was serving food. Outside only of course. The inside tables were reserved. This was fine, except for the first time since we've been here, it felt chilly. So while Gene waited for the wine, I ran back to the apartment to get our jackets. The evening from then on out was great. Bonnie and David showed up just before midnight, along with a bunch of friends. There was champagne and beer flowing freely. There were flamenco dancers. There were fireworks being set off in the middle of the plaza. I ignored my fear of fireworks and stood under them taking pictures! (Interestingly, none of the pictures were later to be found on the camera. In a champagne and beer buzz, did I forget to turn it on or what!) Feeling like very boring people, we quit at 3 am - just when everyone else was getting geared up to get partying! But we had a great time doing New Years Eve in Buenos Aires!
Click Here to See More Drunken Photos!

Afternoon in the Plaza

Nice Way to Spend an Afternoon

Our Apartment in Buenos Aires

Click here for more pictures of our apartment. They will open in a separate window and then you can click on slide show to see them all.

La Boca

Click here to see full-sized pictures of our day in a separate window - slideshow and all

Many Spanish and Italian immigrants who arrived in the booming 1880's ended up working in the meat-packing plants in this port area. Left-over paint from the barges was used to paint their corrugated siding of their houses, creating the unique colorful style that is still "La Boca." Along El Caminito, the area's most famous and most colorful street, there is a street market on weekends. There are street vendors and artists of all kinds. Music. Dancing. Sidewalk Cafes. So we tried it all, wandering the streets, drinking beer and sandwiches at a cafe, watching the dancers, enjoying the music. What a great afternoon. We plan to go back before we leave. It's an intriguing area.

How Slow is This - Comments Please

Is it just me or is this blog really slow? Maybe it's my little laptop. Maybe it's my WiFi connection. Or maybe I just need to delete a bunch of pictures and slide shows to speed it up. I'm just wondering if it is extremely slow for others looking at it?

Scenes from Home

I was talking to Gail last night and she said I should post some pictures of our apartment. I thought I had already done that, but I guess not. So now I realize I don't have many. I'll have to remember to take some during daylight hours tomorrow. Meanwhile, you can see everything that we knew about the apartment when we rented it sight unseen over the internet:
Our Apartment

Ines-My Favorite Tango Singer

 

This is another video that I can't get to upload properly!

Bar El Chino

There's way too much to tell about Bar El Chino. Since the first time I read about it, I knew I had to go there. I've been watching the video about it for months before this trip. It makes me cry. It was my new favorite film. Now it's my new favorite bar. We start the evening being passed up by four taxis who will not take us to Pompeya (one of the many barrios, or neighborhoods, of Buenos Aires) just because they're not familiar with the area and so don't know their way around. We finally find one who is willing to find it for us. Our worries about our table being given away when we arrive 50 minutes late for our 10 pm dinner reservation melt away as soon as we walk into the brightly lit, nearly empty restaurant. We are all greeted Buenos Aires style, with hugs and cheek kisses all around. We feel like we have found a home. Later, when families start arriving for dinner, we realize why a reservation is necessary. By then the show has already started at midnight. People seem to know each other. No one - other than us - appears to be a tourist. The flooring reminds me of the linoleum from when I was growing up. This is not a "designed-for-tourists" place, in spite of a fabulous video being made about it. There are at least 8 different singers throughout the evening. When not serving food, our waiter is dancing. He is great - and obviously enjoys dancing with everyone. Bonnie gets asked to dance and is hesitant at first, but gets up and shows that she has at least had a few lessons! Later she and David dance together. I spot Ines at the bar. I remember her from the film and boldly walk up and ask her if she is going to sing. Yes, after the break she says. And sing she does! By my calculation from the remarks on the video site, she is somewhere around 80. And she is belting out the tangos! I could have listened to her all night. And we nearly did. Actually, I think that when we left at 3 this morning, we were the first to leave. I want to go back again and stick around to find out what time they quit. I'm sure it must be at least 5 am. We had invited Bonnie and David to go with us. They, too, are charmed by this amazing place. We are so grateful that it seems not to have suffered change from its celebrity. It would be worth living in the neighborhood to be able to become a regular!
Again, I can't get videos to upload here.
But here are some connections to sites about this place. If you click on the second link, and then click on "EL BAR" at the top left, you can see some of the video and hear some of the music that we love so much. If you click on the first link below, you can read about the film. Once there, click on "the characters" to read about my favorite singer, Ines:
About the video
About the bar & show

Help! Can't Upload Video!

OK. I know that somebody out there is reading this and is going to tell me how to upload some of these incredible tango videos I've taken. I know I am supposed to do it, but can't seem to make it work. I've tried following the Picasa instructions to upload first to my web album or to YouTube and the uploads consistently fail. I would love to show you some of what we've been seeing/hearing. It is unbelievably fabulous! HELP!

The Foot - the Latest Theory

So our landlady comes over with her husband in tow to fix the leak in the bathroom. Such a multi-tasking husband she has. He's brain surgeon by day and a plumber on the side. After fixing the leak, he demands to see Gene's foot! He wants to see the x-ray. "Ah ha!" he exclaims, when he sees the pin in his foot on the x-ray. Oh, that's just from when he broke his foot 20 years ago, we tell him. The good doctor insists that something is going on related to the pin and that it almost certainly needs to be removed. And in the meantime, he tells us to go to Ortopedia Alemana to get a plantilla a medida (insole thingee) to put in his shoe. We're thinking that this makes more sense than anything else we've heard so far. Why didn't the doctors at the hospital suggest this possibility, I wonder. Probably because we kept telling them that he had fallen. We were so convinced that the fall had started the whole thing that we convinced them of it!

Salami & Cheese Cart

Did I really need a two-foot salami from Cordoba? Well, probably not really. But how many times in my life am I really going to have the opportunity to buy salami off a street cart? The cheese was great, too - yeah, you get to sample - but I didn't buy any because I was running out of cash and was in search of a working ATM machine at the time - a major consumer of time in Argentina - searching for cash.

Tango in the Plaza

Buenos Aires - Tango!

This is actually a video, but I can't get it to upload properly!

The Amazing Walking Stick!

So later in the evening, Gene decides he should take his new cane for a walk! So we walk up to Plaza Dorrego again and enjoy a glass of wine. Sitting on the plaza with a couple hundred other people, listening to a jazz combo, we suddenly realize they are playing the same songs we used to listen to at Sushi Blues in Hollywood, Florida where we met! We order a mini-pizza and more wine and tell each other how amazing it is that we are actually sitting in a plaza in Buenos Aires listening to music at midnight. The combo stops playing and the musicians join a big crowded table next to ours. They're all talking and drinking and laughing and having a great time and I want them to be my friends. One of the men at the table - a big guy in his 60's starts to sing and after a couple of motions across the table, a couple stand up to dance. Someone at their table hands them a handkerchief. I am not sure what to call the type of dance they do with the handkerchief. But they are indescribably fabulous. The music is magic. A while later we hear Peruvian pan pipe music coming from the other side of the plaza. It makes me want to cry...

Don't Cry for Me - Argentina

It took us forever to figure out where to go to get Gene a cane. We actually found a very cool place by the plaza that sells beautiful antique canes of all kinds - in the $US 600 range. Oh, well, we finally figured out that the block after the hospital that we went to before is the place to go. Once we were there, we realized there are something like a dozen medical equipment places in that one block. No problem. A real cane, adjustable, properly designed and weighted and all that, decent looking - 68 pesos - $20. Good deal! Hopefully it will help. So before you start feeling sorry for Gene hobbling about on his cane, go ahead and look at our photos for the day. Just a casual afternoon in Plaza Dorrego - 2 blocks from our apartment - tapas, beer, tango... Don't Cry for Us!

Scenes from My Neighborhood

Gene's Foot - Another Statin Side Effect?

It doesn't seem to be getting any better. Actually it seems to me that it keeps getting worse and worse. This theory about a sprain getting bad 2 months after the fall and then continuing to get worse to the point where he can't walk just isn't hacking it to me. There has to be a different answer but we can't figure out how to find out. Then Gene is talking to friend Michael on Instant Messenger and Michael asks him if he is taking statins (cholesterol medication)! Turns out that Michael's father had a similar reaction to statins and many months later is still not completely back to normal. We know that many people have had really bad reactions to this medication (google it). This thing never occurred to us. It certainly is possible. Nothing else makes any sense. Gene does not have extremely high cholesterol - just slightly high. He decides it will not be a risk to stop taking them. We will see what happens. And tomorrow we will find a cane - come hell or high water.

Buenos Aires - Tour of the City

We did this 3-hour tour of the city on a bus today. We figured it would be a good way to get an overview of the city without Gene having to walk much. From that point of view, it was ok. Our tour guide was good, but spent a lot of time pointing out the various embassies and telling us how much the real estate sells for in the expensive parts of town. It would have been more interesting to hear more about the history of the city and the people. After 2 hours Gene's foot/legs were really bothering him, so we blew off the end of the tour when it passed through our neighborhood. We'll go to La Boca neighborhood on our own another day. It's walking distance (or normally would be) from our apartment anyhow.

New Friends

We had dinner last night at the charming apartment of our new friends Bonnie and David. They served the most amazing ravioli which Bonnie buys fresh and ready to cook at a local place called La Leonesa, which is very close to where we are staying. I am dying to get over there to check out their offerings and do pasta at home. This stuff was incredible. Spinach pasta stuffed with calabaza (pumpkin). And Bonnie says they have many more pasta offerings, all of which are delicious and cheap. Bonnie and David are fun people who came here from the states to experience Buenos Aires. They were both already fluent in Spanish (David is a Spanish teacher) and Bonnie plans to go to law school when they return to the States next year. We had originally met them through couch surfing when Bonnie offered to check out one of the apartments we were considering before coming down. The 4 of us are planning to get together again for a night out at Bar El Chino and Bonnie has offered to give us mate lessons! More on both of those subjects later!

Becoming Carnivores!

Gene decided he could walk some tonight, so we walked down to Plaza Dorrego (2 blocks) and then continued another block or so to a little restautant called Vieja Rotiseria for dinner. More good steak. But the fun part here isn't the great food. It's the character of the places. I loved the neighborhood feel of this place, with its checkered tablecloths, wine stored on the walls, friendly waiter and even a bit of conversation with the couple at the next table. In spite of being in a very touristy area, it really seemed like just the place on the block where people go on Saturday night. Most people there seemed to be locals. It's interesting that even when there are people lined up outside to get a table, no one rushes you to leave when you're done. It's a very comfortable place. Gene still says my steak always looks better than his! I had a conversation with the waiter about which steak cut is more flavorful and ended up ordering the Bife de chorizo again. Gene keeps trying different things and then being disappointed that mine is better, even though he knows that I'm ordering the best cut again. Anyhow, it's nice that someone is being adventurous! This was one of our more expensive meals. We ordered a nice bottle of Malbec, a roasted red pepper appetizer, 2 steaks, coffees and desserts and our ill was 101 pesos ($US30). I love this place and want to go back.

Demonstration on Avenida de Mayo

So we were actually out and about. After our lunch at Cafe Tortoni, we had a coffee at a sidewalk cafe and enjoyed the actual on the famous Avenida de Mayo. It's still hard for us to believe that we are really here! We were enjoying ourselves so much that we didn't realize that it was rush hour already. We were in el centro and it was impossible to get a taxi. So we went back into Cafe Tortoni and enjoyed a bottle of wine while waiting for the traffic to let up. But then we heard a lot of noise outside and realized there was a huge demonstration going on in the street. Must have been a hundred thousand people or so banging on things. We eventually gave in and started walking in the direction of our apartment, although we really didn't want Gene on his foot. Eventually we caught a taxi home and had something to talk about over dinner. There's always something new going on. When I asked the taxi driver about the march (which apparently was about the ongoing dispute with the government about taxes on food exports), he threw up his hands and said that they are always demonstrating about something!

Cafe Tortoni

Stepping into Cafe Tortoni feels like stepping into a place in history. I just knew that someone at one of the little marble tables was working on the next important South American literary work. I love this place and want to go back. Of course Gene says I always like "old things."

We had decided to pick out a cafe from the guidebook and take a taxi there so that Gene wouldn't need to do any walking while we see some of the famous places. Founded in 1858, Cafe Tortoni has always been known as the meeting place of intellectuals, politicians and artists. The walls are filled with history. The same marble tables that served the literary giants and revolutionaries of the past, and in recent years, Juan Carlos, King of Spain, and Hillary Rodham Clinton are there waiting for us.

We went wandering up to Plaza Dorrego this afternoon and came across a Flamenco Dance performance. Pretty amazing finding something like that 2 blocks from where you live! We love flamenco - almost as much as tango!

Parque Lezama

Another nice walk and fun park for me to discover. Hopefully I will soon be able to show Gene all these places I'm discovering! He still has his foot up!

Sunday Afternoon - Plaza Dorrego

Gene gets to stay at the apartment with his foot up, but I get to explore the famous Plaza Dorrego Sunday antique and art fiesta. Music, dancing, art, antiques of every kind and a lot of people! What fun! Hope that Gene will get to see it next week!

Buenos Aires - What a Beginning!

Our first few days in Buenos Aires haven't been exactly what you would expect. We arrived Thursday morning at 5 o'clock and drank coffee at the airport until 9 o'clock when it was time to check in to our apartment in San Telmo. After more coffee and pastries at the coffee shop on the corner, we spent most of the day sleeping or resting. Our little apartment is very cute and comfortable, fully equipped with everything we could need. There are probably at least a dozen cafes and restaurants within a block of the apartment. We quickly discovered the the medias lunas (croissants) here are cute little things instead of the huge ones we had in Lima. They are also sweeter. You get a cup of coffee and 3 medias lunas for as little as 7 pesos (about $US2) and they are delicious.
A good part of Day 2 in Buenos Aires was spent at the hospital. You all know how much we enjoy checking out hospitals in foreign countries. Hospital de Clinicas San Martin is a large teaching facility with every known type of specialty and a walk-in clinic. Gene decided to check it out! Back on September 15th (Independence Day in Costa Rica) while walking in San Jose, Gene tripped over something and fell. He hurt his foot, but it didn't seem to be anything serious. As time went on, it was still bothering him, but it didn't occur to him that it was anything serious enough to seek medical attention! So then on November, we start traveling, and of course, doing a lot of walking everyday. And the foot hurts worse and worse. By the time we get to Buenos Aires on the 4th of December, he can hardly walk! So on Friday, our second day here, we head out to research the local medical system! The conclusion seems to be that he has a bad sprain and that continuing to walk on it for 3 months was not the correct thing to do to get it to heal. I'm still questioning this conclusion. I mean it's been 3 months for crying out loud! But he was seen by 2 doctors and a bunch of other people. He was x-rayed. He got a shot in his ass (just for pain apparently). And he has been sent home to rest with his foot up, icing it every 3 hours and taking some pills for pain and inflamation. At least it's not like it was with me in the hospital in Madrid for 2 weeks! [By the way, medical costs were 10 pesos for the consultation at the walk-in clinic, 14 pesos for the x-rays, no charge for the injection and second doctor, and 12 pesos for the medicine. Total, I guess of about $US 11] It is now Sunday and we haven't seen much improvement. That may be because we decided that it wouldn't hurt him to walk for a few blocks yesterday (ended up being about 10 blocks) and then later out for dinner. He was doing ok on the way to the restaurant for dinner (about 4 blocks), but on the way back he could hardly walk and I didn't think he would make it to the apartment. So I don't think we'll try walking around for a few days at least. I will go out later today and walk down to Plaza Dorrego to check out the Sunday market. But he is definitely not going! Pobrecito! Will keep you posted on his progress. Oh, by the way, the steak last night was fabulous!

Comments & Speed

OK, so I just fixed the comment thingee. So for those of you who didn't leave comments because you didn't want to log in or have an identity, or whatever, it is now fixed. I didn't realize that it had been set that way. So now if you go all the way to the end of any post and click where it says "Comment" or "#comments," you can say whatever you want without signing in or any such foolishness. Just write whatever you want in the box and then at the bottom where it says "Choose an Identity," just click on the "Anonymous" circle. Then when you click on "Publish Your Comment" at the bottom, your comment will appear on the blog at the end of that particular post. Hope this helps. I'm also working at making the blog work faster. I had not realized that I had not resized my photos before posting and some of them are huge. So for those of you with slow internet connections, it should be better soon!

San Telmo - Street Scenes

Our Time in Peru Draws to an End

As always, we finally start meeting people once we are about to leave. On Sunday we decided to have lunch at the Sunday afternoon take the family out for some great food place - Rincon Chami. As usual, it was packed and we ended up taking an inside table rather than wait. This turned out to be a lucky move as we sat next to a really cool group of people who gave us advice, insisted that we call them if we need any help at all, etc etc. They were a lot of fun to talk to - and were amazed at all the different foods we have tried! Meeting them and having a real dinner table conversation made our day.

Then on Tuesday we stopped back in to the bookstore to tell Sandra about our trip to Barranco. We wanted to let her know that we had followed her advice and spent the day in her town and that we like it. Sandra works part-time in the bookstore but is an artist who says she lives in Barranco because it's a nice quiet town and it's where all the artists live. She has a 1 1/2 year old daughter. We got talking about art (of course!) and other things and she offered to bring in some of her work on Wednesday (our last day here) to show us. So on our last day, we did a whole show-and-tell thing on the floor of the upstairs room in the bookstore. She ended up giving us one of her awesome paintings, so I have to make sure it makes it home in my backpack safely! I sure hope that we get to see Sandra again.

And our favorite coffee shops now know what we want when we walk in. Like I said, once it feels like home, it's time to leave.

My Last Lunch - Rosa Nautica

Gene keeps laughing at me because I keep having "last" things: my last lunch in Lima, my last ceviche, my last dessert, my last night in Peru. "You would think," he says, "that I was taking you to some terrible place, not to Buenos Aires!" OK. It's true that it was Buenos Aires that I wanted to go to in the first place and Peru only happened because it was on the way. But I love this place. So for our "last lunch," which isn't really the last one at all since we will still be here tomorrow, we decide to try the bar at Rosa Nautica, a beautiful expensive place which sits way out on a pier. We do the bar because it sounds like a fun place, the restaurant is too expensive and we could never eat all that food anyhow. We order the 4 Piqueos specialty. We get to select 4 different appetizer items to share. We choose conchitas a la parmesana (scallops), brochetitas de corvina (sea bass), tempura de pescador (fish tempura) and, of course, ceviche. We expected a little appetizer plate. We were served this enormous platter of scrumptious food! And of course the pisco sours. Nice way to spend our "last afternoon!"

Things We Still Can't Get Used to...But Would Like to

• Taxis that don't aim for you. Even at crosswalks with a "walk" light, we look at each other, wondering if they're really going to sit there and let us cross - or if they're going to jack-rabbit at us as soon as we step into the street
• The amazing variety of food
• The low prices of food
• The fact that it never rains
• Fresh, breathable air
• Restaurant service

Huaca Pucllana ***

Somehow you don’t expect to find a huge pre-Inca adobe pyramid mound in the middle of a city. I don’t know why it seems odd. Of course the most desirable sites are used by one culture or group of people and later, after they’re gone, that same site is still seen as desirable by a future group of people. So of course they build there. And they grow and build a city. And they don’t care about the earlier people, so they just destroy the earlier buildings – or build on top of them. Hundreds of years later, while leveling the land for yet another culture’s building expansion, things are found from the first one. Broken pottery. Bones. Pieces of broken tools. What will they find when they unearth pieces of our culture hundreds of years from now? Plastic Coca-Cola bottles? Microwaves? Laptop computers?
We walk the ten blocks from Parque Central to the site. It strikes me as a beautiful place – all brown adobe bricks. The people now referred to as the Lima people built the pyramid in the 5th century AD, and abandoned it in the 7th. It was later used by the Wari culture. We don’t learn a whole lot of history today, but we do learn that these people clearly knew something about building design, building their structures with the adobe bricks stacked vertically, looking like giant bookcases, to better withstand seismic disturbances. We also learn that they made human sacrifices, but always sacrificed only young women, and very important ones at that. So clearly it would have been a good idea not to be very important. When the leader died, the pyramid was filled in and another built on top of it, so that it became successively higher. After these early cultures disappeared, the area was pretty much built over and forgotten until twenty or thirty years ago, when an agreement between Miraflores and the National Cultural Institute enabled research, conservation and restoration to begin.

*** A “huaca” is a burial mound. Pucllana is the Quechua name used for the site in the 16th century.

Things Not Here

We're constantly hit by new things. There's a discovery to be made around every corner. But it's often the things that are not there that make a place feel different. Suddenly you realize you haven't heard a dog bark - in days - or:

• Most people on the street are not talking on their cell phones
• No one sleeps or passes out in doorways or on the sidewalk
• There is no trash in the streets
• There are no potholes
• There are no refrigerator-sized holes to fall into in the sidewalks
• You don't see bare midriffs on the streets

And about those dogs - many people walk lovely dogs in the park - there's even a designated dog potty place - but apparently they've all had their voice boxes removed. Lovely.

Gene Takes a Flying Leap

...& the Kindness of Strangers

So we’re walking along the sidewalk by the park minding our own business and the next thing I know, Gene is lying face down on the sidewalk beside me, sort of on his side. Groaning. How did you get there? I ask. At least half a dozen people, including park workers and police and lunch takers from the nearby cafes, surround us wanting to help. There is blood dripping from somewhere on his head. Someone brings a chair and once we decide nothing appears to be broken, three or four of us get him up off the ground and into the chair. He is an amazingly hard person to lift. A backpacker appears from the café with a fully equipped medical emergency kit. He’s a hiker from British Colombia and travels fully prepared. He supplies bandaids and antiseptic wipes. Turns out there is a small gash on his eyebrow. That’s all. The EMT’s who have now arrived want to take him to emergency to get a stitch. He doesn’t want to go. There’s a doctor trying not to interfere with the EMT’s, but hanging back and watching in case it appears that he is needed. He is indicating to me that a stitch is not needed. We decide to go to the hotel and get cleaned up. Can’t remember where we were going now. Probably to lunch.
It’s amazing how easily Gene can draw a crowd. We have done a similar performance several times now, trying to entertain people wherever we go. Later in the day, Gene discovers that the did wound himself elsewhere. His big toe is ugly and bloody and clearly it going to lose it’s nail. Gross! We wander around trying to buy some bandaids or bandaging and tape or something. None of the farmacias seem to have any such thing. We know this because we have searched before when Gene developed blisters on his feet. How on earth does anyone deverlop blisters wearing old broken in shoes? We now determine that they also don’t have hydrogen peroxide (peroxido hydrogeno), except, as one clerk informs us, in a crème! What? Finally we find someone in a pharmacy who understands what the hell we’re talking about and manages to find us some gauge pads (gaza esteril), tape (cinta quirurgica) and hydrogen peroxide. It’s amazing how difficult such a simple thing can get in a strange country where suddenly the terminology is all different even if you do speak the language.
Several days later, finally fully equipped with various medical supplies, we have decided that he definitely is going to live to travel another day. And he’s not going to lose his toe. His face still looks a bit like I’ve been beating him up again, though!

Things I Love About Peru

• Fresh Breathable air
• Sidewalk cafes
• Architecture - balconies
• Food variety
• Low prices
• Walkable sidewalks
• Parque Central
• Artists in the park
• Street food
• Lack of rain
• Daylight in the evening
• Clean streets & parks
• Beautiful clean fruit carts on the street
• Markets
• Variety of fresh fish
• Restaurant service

Sunday Morning in Search of Coffee

Or Please – Just a God Damned Cup of Coffee!

I am very please with myself. I can now get angry in Spanish. I didn’t think I could do it, since usually I get so frustrated I can’t speak in any language. Actually I thought I was doing really well this morning. I stayed in the room showering etc while Gene went to Starbucks to use their internet. By the time I got there, he was still busy, so I went wandering off to figure out where to have coffee. As expected just about every place was closed on Sunday morning, but I found one little café open near my favorite Donatello’s. I met Gene back at Starbucks and we walked around to see if there was any place we liked better but found nothing open, so we went back to my newly discovered hole-in-the-wall. I am now feeling really proud of myself because I have done all this walking about and haven’t even had my first cup of coffee yet. And I am in a good mood!
First the strange young woman in charge insists that we must sit inside underneath the television, rather than outside in the patio where life is good. She takes our order for two cafes con leche and two huevos fritos con pan (fried eggs with bread) each, informing us that no, they can’t toast the bread. Oh, well, we’ll live. I’m still, believe it or not, in a good mood! But then the only other customer in the place, an old man drinking beer, apparently in an attempt to please us, turns the tv to CNN in English and turns the volume up. I can’t take it so say that I am going outside on the patio whether she likes it or not. And if she doesn’t like it, she can refuse to serve me. This does not seem to disturb her and shortly thereafter she brings us two tall glasses of hot milk and one foil packet of instant coffee granules. It is now 11:30 in the morning and my good mood is sinking fast, but I decide that since this is not the first time that this strange coffee thing has happened, apparently there are things about the coffee culture that I do not understand, and that, as a foreigner, I should probably be a little more tolerant than I am feeling at the moment. So I move both glasses of the offending hot milk to the edge of the table, along with the disgusting foil package of dirt, not saying a work of objection, but making it perfectly clear that I certainly have no intentions of putting any of it into my body. Shortly thereafter, we are each served 2 fried egg sandwiches. Two fairly nice rolls on a plate with a fairly recently cooked fried egg inside. Each. Not really bad. Not really what we had expected. We each transferred one of our eggs onto the roll with the other egg, thus making a two-egg sandwich on a roll. Not too bad actually. Eating the eggs, with part of the roll, took the edge off of whatever it was that I was feeling. Now approaches the waitress. Do we not like the café con leche, she wants to know. I can’t take it anymore. I have lost my determination to be culturally sensitive. “No es café con leche,” says the foreign blond bitch. “Es leche para bebes con polvo de piedra.” [It’s not coffee with milk. It’s milk for babies with powdered stone} Later I think there was probably a much better way tos ay this. The waitress looks shocked and offers me a “café pasado.” I have seen this phrase before and it positively mystifies me. Sounds like yesterday’s coffee to me. I ask her if this is what it is and she brings a pyrex coffee pot with some very vile old-looking strong coffee in the bottom and offers to pour it into my baby’s milk! The beer-drinking man has now appeared to try to help and is trying to offer me a different type of instant coffee, while trying to tell her what he thinks is bothering me. She is getting mad. I ask how much we owe her. We pay and leave. The beer-drinking man catches up with us in the alley and tells us that Rincon Chami around the corner (one of our favorite places anyhow) will serve us a real cup of coffee. We walk over there. They do. All is well. I am happy. It is 12:30.

Keeping Miraflores Clean

When we first got here I kept wondering how everything could be so clean. I've never even seen so much as a gum wrapper thrown on the ground. I've never seen anybody throw anything onto the ground. These street sweeper people are at work all the time. As a matter of fact, I looked out from our balcony at 2:30 in the morning once and one of them was working away across the street. Amazing! The other amazing thing is that they all wear masks and gloves.

Chorrillos

Chorrillos-The Beach & Climbing the Cliffs

I had been reading about this area called Los Pescadores (the fishermen). Down by the beach where the fishing boats come in, a bunch of little restaurant stalls with the freshest and best fish anywhere. Sounds like our kind of place. Gotta go. Fortunately, I think, we took a taxi. I say fortunately because the taxi driver told us ahead of time what was going to happen when we arrived. Otherwise it would have been pretty startling. As our vehicle approached the restaurant area, right on the beach, we were accosted by a dozen or so people standing in the road. One of them stood directly in front of the taxi and put her hand out to stop us. As we exited the taxi, they all vied for our attention at once, the one who had stood in front of the moving car being the most aggressive – and also having the best smile. She led us around – and then followed us around – insisting that we come to her fish shack for our lunch. All this while there were several others all trying to get us into their places. The scene was bizarre. There are about a dozen different little outdoor “cafes,” each serving the same fish menus as near as I could see. We finally decided on the café of the aggressive, smiley one. I liked her, in spite of her forcefulness. This is the system that the taxi driver had warned us of. It’s all part of the game, and every new customer is treated this way.
I had thought I would find this aggressive attack behavior to be overwhelming. Normally in that type of situation, I would have wanted to leave. Once we got used to it, we found it to be fun. And by the way, this is probably the best fish in the world. We absolutely have to get back there. If you get to Lima and have time to get to only one place, take a taxi to Los Pescadores in Chorrillos. I promise the best fish ever. Have the ceviche. Have the jalea (fried seafish). Try everything.
The ride to the beach afforded fabulous views of the bay as we wound down the cliffs and then along the oceanfront. It was Saturday. The people were out having a great day in the sun. Life is good. Being at the beach is cool and refreshing - like being at the ocean in Maine - instead of sweltering and sweating. The fried seafood even tastes like Maine. This is incredible.
After our meal, as I gazed at the modern pedestrian bridge across the main road, and admired the rock stairways up to the top of the cliff, I jokingly said to Gene: “Listo? Ready?” I wasn’t expecting the casual yes answer that I got. And I certainly didn’t think that I could get any further than the short set of stairs up to the bridge. Off we went, with me expecting to be returning down shortly, gasping and in search of a taxi. We ended up going all the way up to the village – with ease! It was fun. The views were great. I want to go back. What a day. Ever since we arrived here at sea level, I have been walking around everywhere without thinking about breathing. The air is great. I can breath. It feels great. But I had no idea that, at sea level, I would be able to walk all the way up to the top of that cliff! I can walk forever. I feel so incredibly great! I will never live above 100 feet again. I love this place.

It's My Blog...

And I’ll Post What I Want to…

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know this blog is supposed to be about our travels in South America. But my son just emailed me this picture of my grandson Austin with a butterfly on his shoulder. Is he not just the cutest thing?

Barranco - Artists' Community

The Barranco neighborhood of Lima is known as where the artists and musicians and artsy people hang out. It’s about 10 minutes by taxi from where we’re staying in the center of Miraflores. We had met a young woman who works at the bookstore who had told us that she lives in Barranco and prefers it because she is a plastics artist. Today we finally checked it out. We spent the day walking around trying to figure the town out. It has a lot of beautiful old decrepit buildings, most in very poor condition. There are some cafes and restaurants and bars. A pleasant parque central. Beautiful view out over the Pacific – which of course every community around here has if you walk to the edge!
We stopped for pisco sours and a snack at an artsy fartsy little art café on the park – Iskay – less than $US 10 for all that – in a pleasant and relaxing place. Later we stopped for lunch at a neighborhood bar/café on the other side of the park. I finally got to try Anticuchos, beef heart pieces on a stick. Very tasty, but a bit tough. Will have to try again. Another pisco sour. Gene had the Lomo Saltado, another popular local dish (sautéed beef). It tasted great. It was a great afternoon walking around. We still don’t know if we would prefer Barranco over Miraflores. We’re pretty stuck on Miraflores I think. We need to spend another day wandering over there.

Thanksgiving Day

Had totally forgotten what day it was in the US until somebody sent me an email wishing me a happy day! Well, in spite of the fact that they actually grow turkeys here, and we see it on menus all the time, we didn’t happen to have any today. Our wanderings around landed us at lunch time at Erni’s, a little sidewalk café near the park. They offered set menus for 7.5 or 9 soles or a set menu marino (fish) for 15 soles. Guess which we had! For appetizers we had a Pulpo de Olivo and a Tiradito Bicolor (similar to ceviche but without the onions and with 2 sauces). Fabulous. Then Gene ordered Tacu Tacu with Mariscos (flavored white beans and rice fried together – oh, my God this is so much better than it sounds! Topped with seafood) and I had Jalea de Mariscos (fried fish) and I swear to God the first bite I took was exactly what I remember Maine fried clams tasting like in the summer when I was a kid. Yes, I was in Heaven! Some Thankgiving Day Feast. And yes, we are very very grateful for all of you! Our Thanksgiving Day would be perfect if only our friends and family were here with us.

Lunch in My Favorite Alley

We may be splurging a lot on those $6 to $8 ceviches and fried fish plates and such (all of which are big enough to share and then some), but you really can eat well cheaply around here. Most places have a set “menu” with an appetizer, main course, drink and sometimes a dessert for a few dollars or less. This great little place in the alley in my favorite neighborhood has a great lunch offering for 6 soles ($US 2, or 1,000 colones). I had Tallarin Verde (green spaghetti) and Milanesa and Gene had something delicious, too – which I can’t remember.

Back in Lima

We're back in Miraflores. We enjoyed Trujillo and I absolutely adored the beach town of Huanchaco. But overall I guess both of us prefer the city. It's nice being back. The bus ride was better this time. I knew how to work the seat. There was no diesel fuel coffee offered in the morning.

We did a lot of walking around today. Found another really nice neighborhood in Miraflores where we could... Stopped for lunch at a nice little Italian place called Arugula.

Back to the Beach

Since Chan Chan only took an hour, there is plenty of time to continue on to Huanchaco for another lunch at the beach. Can’t resist this place. There are bigger waves today. We listen to the pounding surf as we enjoy another fabulous lunch in a second story restaurant with a view of the entire town and the ocean beyond. It’s quieter here today than it was on Saturday – and we thought it was quiet then. There is only one other table of people at the restaurant. We shared another unbelievably good ceviche mixto and a fish in a garlic sauce, along with one of those big bottles of beer. We could…
Later in the day we met two cute brothers from Naples, Florida. Probably in their late 20’s or early 30’s, they said that people here really give them a hard time because of their accent. They moved from here to Florida when they were pre-schoolers. Their parents are both Peruvians, so they speak Spanish “fluently,” but it is not their first language, and their pronunciation, and their phraseology, is off. I guess people are more patient with us because they look at them and think that their Spanish should be perfect, like a native. Listening to their experiences traveling to the country of their birth as foreigners was interesting. They were just happy to find someone they could speak English to! They thought their dear mother was being ridiculous a few years ago when she insisted on buying a lot right on the beach in Huanchaco, which is where she grew up. She paid $US 10,000 for it. Her sons are now shocked that small houses right on the beach are selling for the outrageous price of $80,000 - $100,000.
This is our last day in Trujillo. It was a good day. We like it here. But we’re looking forward to getting back to Miraflores, which we love. Tonight’s another big bus ride.

Chan Chan - Sandcastles

Chan Chan

It’s hard to describe Chan Chan. The guidebooks tell you it’s the world’s largest adobe city. Just 4 ½ kilometers outside of the city of Trujillo, the ruins of the ancient city of Chan Chan stretch for miles. If you’re riding a bus from Trujillo to the beach town of Huanchaco, you may not realize that you’re passing through this historic 8 square mile city, the capital of the Chimu Kingdom back in 1300 AD and a UNESCO Historical and Cultural Heritage Site today. In its hay day, Chan Chan had a population of 100,000. Today, from the road, it pretty much looks like more desert, with nothing to distinguish the brown adobe walls from the brown sand that is everywhere. Upon closer observation, it seems we might learn something from these people. Although only a small portion of the site has been excavated and restored, the grandness of the walls is obvious. The friezes that decorate the walls are shaped like waves, fish, seabirds and mammals, fish nets. Their patterns are clear today. I wonder what will be left of today’s architecture in another eight or nine hundred years. There was a vast underground system of underground aqueducts. There are no written records from the Chimu, and their origins are only conjecture. But what is known is that the beginning of the end of their culture occurred in the 1470’s, when Inca armies cut off the aqueducts supplying their water. As my friend Emma says, it’s always all about water. It’s a fascinating story and intriguing to see the progress of dozens (probably 100’s) of archeologists as they undertake the task of uncovering this massive complex . It takes only an hour to walk through the part that has already been somewhat restored. I’m sure that some people could spend days going through such a place. We were fascinated. But we had seen all we needed to see in an hour.

Why We Love Demarco's

Croissants & cafe. Little tables crowded about the room. White-shirted, black-vested, black-bow-tied waiters rushing about making sure everyone has what they need. Front of cafe opening through French doors to the ever-changing street scene. Sparkling selection of wine glasses hanging above the bar on the far wall. A language that I don't understand being spoken at the next table. Swedish maybe. Soft classical music. Free wireless! Paris maybe? London? Madrid? No, we're in Trujillo, Peru's 3rd largest city. Not as cosmopolitan as Lima, not quite as sparkling, it nevertheless feels more like a European city than what I think of as Latin America. The Colonial city part of it reminds me a bit if Granada, Nicaragua. It's nice. We like it. But not as much as we like Lima.

El Mochica

It’s the sort of place you take your mom on a Sunday afternoon. Big menu. Excellent local dishes, some of it the kind that Mom used to make back when Mom used to cook. Several big dining rooms available. Going all the way to the back one, expecting a more intimate environment, we found – guess what! A very lively, very loud band! Probably great music but nearly as loud as the stadium. Gene saw the glazed look on my face and grabbed my arm, dragging me back into the very pleasant entry area room. Tranquilo. Cabrito with beans again. Love that stuff. Here, in the country where I came to eat fish, I am getting hooked on meat, which I always thought I didn’t much care for. Gene had a fabulous steak – 300 grams worth – and it was delicious – cooked rare just the way we like it. Add a Pisco Sour (Catedral – super sized!) for me and a media jarra de sangria for Gene – and we are happy!

Cursed with Good Hearing

There’s a free dance concert at the stadium around the corner from our hotel. It’s in a place that reminds me of my old high school gymnasium. Where we played basketball. But of course here there are soccer nets. We noticed a sign about the concert the day we arrived. So I really tried. I really wanted to see the dancing. And hear the music. But as we sat waiting for the folkloric dancers, the recorded “music” from the speakers assaulted us. Gene was enjoying it, I think. He should have stayed for the concert. I couldn’t. I was in physical pain. First my ears felt like they were bleeding. Then my stomach started doing flip flops. We decided we’d rather do lunch…
But I’m wondering, short of having my hearing surgically destroyed, so that I will be “normal” like everybody else, and be able to go to concerts and things – there has to be another way. What about that gizmo that they advertize on tv? The thing that allows the old geezer to hear his television without disturbing his attractive but bitchy wife. Do you supposed it works in reverse? To turn the sound DOWN for the user without disturbing anyone else? I’d be willing to pay good money for that.

Caballitos de Huanchaco

No, they don't have little horses at the beach. Those intriguing looking boats that you see in the pictures are called "caballitos," little horses. There are pictures of caballitos on some of the pottery found at Chan Chan, indicating their use 3,000 years ago. They are made of totora reed and while still used by some fishermen, they have become largely a tourist attraction.

Huanchaco - Day at the Beach

More Bad Coffee - & then Off to the Beach

Oh, my God! For coffee this place is the worst! Did that stupid thing again this morning of going downstairs for the included breakfast! Poured myself some “coffee” out of the little white pitcher. Added some “milk” from the other pitcher. Took a taste – of cold axle grease, I guess! Jesus! Am I ever going to get a decent cup of coffee in this place??? So I asked the waiter what the hell is this all about! He explains to me that I am supposed to pour myself a cupful of hot water out of the big coffee urn. Then I am supposed to add a bit of the strong cold black stuff that looks like axle grease. Then I can add some of the weird tasting “cream” if I want. OK. So that’s closer to an actual cup of coffee, but, I really just need a real cup of coffee in the morning! Without all this work!
So ultimately we find a place that will serve us an actual cup of actual coffee. After that we are able to function well enough to decide to go to Huanchaco, the nearby beach town. Fun day. A real beach. Beach-town type restaurants. Great ceviche and cold beer. We’re happy again! It is fun wandering around a beach town but not burning up. It was so comfortable. And tranquilo. Not wild and crazy with weird tourists. Just really pleasant. Kind of like a Maine beach town. Nice town, good food, cold water. But here they surf it wet suits. Looks pretty weird, but they all seem happy. I like this place.

Trujillo Architecture

Trujillo is known for it's beautiful colonial architecture. We could just walk around all day looking at buildings.

To see some more of what we saw, click here. The photos will open up in a separate window and you can click on Slide Show.

Arrival in Trujillo - Please Just a Decent Cup of Coffee

Well, first off the bus ride wasn’t as great as it sounded, but I think it was all my fault. I just couldn’t figure out how to make the seat work right and it was dark so I couldn’t see what I was doing. Everything else was ok and if I could have got my seat adjusted, it would have been very comfortable. Definitely recommend bringing munchies and drinks. The little sandwich and brownie things didn’t look bad – wasn’t hungry, didn’t try them. But first thing in the morning, as we wheeled into Trujillo, the “conductor” came around with what I thought was to be coffee. Just what I needed at that point. Thank you. I took one sip and nearly spewed it across the bus! I don’t know what it was. Something like a strong blend of very old coffee and engine grease, maybe? With about a half cup of sugar added, so that it had the consistency of syrup and the taste of – well, I don’t know what, but trust me, it was really bad! After a week of raving about how incredible the coffee is in Peru, it was all destroyed with that one sip!
At the bus terminal, while I was in the bathroom, Gene, friendly guy that we all know him to be, befriended a charming taxi driver who wanted to help us out with all of our plans. Well, of course, the bitch traveling with Gene didn’t want help from anyone about anything. She simply wanted to be taken to Plaza Central, so that she could find a decent cup of coffee. No, she did not want to be taken to Huanchaco because all the hotels in Trujillo were full. No, she did not want to check in to the hotel in el centro that he recommended. She just wanted a damned cup of coffee. Finally convinced, and tired of the discussion I assume, he managed to drop us off at a coffee shop a block away from plaza central. The worst coffee shop I’ve ever been in. Absolutely the worst coffee I’ve ever had. Well, ok, even this was not as bad as the bus coffee thing. But still! We’re talking a tall glass full of lukewarm milk with a little side pitcher of coffee. Helloooo! This is what I get when I ask for “café con leche!” The waiter didn’t seem to understand and asked me if I wanted “coffee with milk.” OK, I agreed to that, not understanding why he didn’t understand it in Spanish. Well, apparently they do coffee differently up here in the North. By now it was looking like I was never again going to get a decent cup of coffee. Somehow we walked around (with fully loaded backpacks) until we found a normal coffee shop and obtained really good cups of cappuccino. OK. Happy now. After our first cup, I left Gene at the café with all of our bags while I walked around and quickly found a hotel. The one I was looking for, the charming old, slightly run-down colonial building one, of course was closed. Just because the guidebook says it’s there … OK so I find a hotel. Good location. Even has wireless, so I can do a little blogging. Has all the usual stuff. But a bit boring. A newer hotel with little or no character. But fine. And it’s in the area that we wanted. Lots of cafes and colonial architecture. We’re good.
Later in the day we stumbled into a great little neighborhood restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately I don’t remember now where it was or what it was called. But we had some fabulous food! Cay Estofado (Guinea pig), Papas Huancaina, Arroz Chaufa.
There is some interesting colonial architecture here, as promised. But I think I’m going to miss my sidewalk cafes. And good coffee. And the park.

Waiting for the Bus

Since we’re leaving on the night bus for Trujillo, we packed and checked out of the hotel this morning, then left our backpacks at the desk so that we could wander around town without carrying them. The bus leaves at 11:30 pm. It’s about a 9 hour trip. We have seats that recline all the way back into beds. Apparently there’s a movie and they supply blankets, drinks, a snack, etc. Sounds pretty luxurious compared to any bus we’ve ever been on.
First thing this morning we had coffee at my new favorite coffee place, Donetellos. Then after packing, I went for my second cup at my new favorite coffee place, La Favorita. Somehow our wires got crossed and we ended up in different places at the same time, so I had my second cup alone while Gene walked around town trying to figure out which of my new favorite places I was at. I suppose some of you must thing that all I ever do is have coffee. This is definitely not true. In the afternoon we went to Alfresco’s for lunch. This place is fancier than the other places we have fallen in love with. We had different types of mixed seafood plates, which were great. But it’s really not as good, or as much fun, as my new favorite places. We also walked over to the market again so that I could buy an alpaca shawl in case it gets cold on the bus tonight. After that, we stopped at a little corner café for a jarra of Chi Cha Morada. There was some time in there somewhere at both the South American Explorer’s Club and Starbucks on the internet.
So now we’re off for our second location on this trip: Trujillo – further north, but still on the coast. I need to put a map on here somewhere.

Not Couch Surfing Again

So we really want to experience couch surfing as travelers, since we have had so much fun hosting people. We had been told we would be welcomed at the home of a couch surfer in Trujillo. He had written to us twice and he and his family sound very interesting. We are interested in learning about the volunteer program for poor children the he is involved with. But surprise again! When I go to email him again to confirm our planned arrival, his profile now shows that he is traveling and cannot host anyone. I send him a message anyhow, just to be sure, since he had previously told us we could stay there. When we receive no answer, I try one other person, but he responds that he also is no longer hosting, since he had rented his spare room out. Guess we may never get the chance to couch surf. Que lastima! We will find a hotel when we get there.

Amazing Supermarkets

And as if the mercados were not enough, there are also incredible supermarkets - with deli-type counters, all kinds of fish, a couple of dozen types of potatoes (that was for you, Emma!) I love this place!

Starbucks in Latin America

There are really only two reasons to visit Starbucks in Peru. Firstly they offer free wireless. So for the price of a Latte Alto, 7 soles (about $2.25), you can check your email, surf the net for a couple of hours, find lodging at your next stop, and update your blog. Nobody seems to care how long you've been there - or even whether you've acually bought anything. It"s a busy, cheerful atmosphere. Other than the five Californian cyclers we've just met, most customers appear to be Peruvians. The cyclers, all probably in their 50's, have just finished a 500 mile, three week bike trip, stopping along the way to help build a couple of schools and provide a meal and clothes to a bunch of street kids. They do a trip like this every year. Travelers are more interesting than normal people. Also crazier. 500 miles on a bicycle! Anyhow, the other reason for hanging out at Starbucks in beautiful Miraflores, Peru, is the bathrooms. Immaculate. Seats. Soap. Hand dryers. After a few weeks of pedaling through remote villages, you just want to hang out for a while.

Lobo del Mar - Had to Do Lunch There Again!

Thank God for La Favorita

There's No Such Thing as a Good Free

breakfast. Since breakfast is supposedly included with our room, we decided to go up to the rooftop cafe this morning and check it out. While waiting for Gene, I sipped on a cold coffee. Ten minutes after he joined me, Gene had still not been served coffee. We were the only customers up there. So much for breakfasts included with hotel rooms. Don't think I've ever had one worth bothering with. Every other cup of coffee we've had here has been really great. This was bad.

Why I Love My Room on the Park

Well, for starters, it's on the park! At any time of night or day I can look out from my balcony and watch the activity across the street. Sometimes I time the kissing couples. So far the couple with the record kissed for over an hour. I'm talking straight on lips contact with no discernable motion for over an hour. I thought they had suffocated each other and died.
I can check out the weather to decide what to wear before going out. Of course so far the weather has always been comfortable, dry, lovely. I'm sure it has its days.
The air around the park feels alive. I looked out at 1:15 this morning. There was a young woman sidewalk sweeper working away, with Christmas music from somewhere in the background. I wondered how she feels about her job. Is she happy to have a job? Grateful that she can get home in time to get the kids off to school? Miserable because it's the only job she can find and resenting every minute of it? The streets and sidewalks here are always clean. It's weird. Nice, but weird. I guess it's because of people like Sylvia. I don't know why, but I decided to call her Sylvia.
Every time of the day seems to have its own story. And I can watch them all. Of course watching from above has its limits. It usually serves to inspire. And then it's off to the park - to watch the kids. And the dogs. To buy an anticucho. To admire the pansies. My mother's favorite flower. I always miss her when I see pansies.
Every evening there is a flea market affair in one area of the park. A lot of antigues and odds and ends. Nothing I would want. But fun to look.
On Sunday morning we discovered a seniors' exercise class in one of the round pavilions. I was about to ask if I could join in when it was suddenly over. I asked if they met every day, but it's only a Sunday event.
There are some beautiful dogs around here. They get to walk in this beautiful park with their people. They all seem to be very well behaved. The dogs here do not bark. I wonder if they have all had their voice boxes removed.
To see a slide show of photos from our balcony and in the park, click here.

Arrecife-New Favorite Lunch Place

Walking back from the market, we discovered El Arrecife - a great little cebicheria operated by Isabel. The lunch special #1 was a beautiful plate of ceviche, followed by a big plate of arroz con mariscos. Along with an Inka Cola, the cost was 13.90 soles, or about $US4.50 or 2,500 colones). Delicious!

Mercado de Miraflores

Wandering through markets is one of our favorite things. This one is incredible. Made us feel like we were back in Spain. The variety is amazing. And everything is arranged so neatly that it seems more art than food. Lots of cheeses and dried fruits. A great variety of olives - 400 grams for 1.4 soles. The fish vendor and Gene are now best buddies.

Donatello's - My New Favorite Place

How could it NOT be my new favorite place? Great coffee for 2.5 soles. On my favorite street where I want to live. Four tables for 2. The kind of place where they know your name. And this guy. Who could resist?

Rincon Chami Again

Back to my new favorite place again for lunch. Couldn't help myself. Had to have the Seco de Cordero, which was absolutely fabulous. Gene had the Pollo Asado. With Inka Colas, the total meal was 44 soles ($US14 or 8,000 colones). I love this place. There are apartments upstairs in the same building, but there are no vacancies. There are a lot of art supply stores in this area, which is close to the park. Gene says "I could..."

Emma: Please help me out here. Why on earth do they call it dried lamb? It is delicious!

La Favorita - My New Favorite Place

And Gene says "I could..."

Lima Centro

We took a bus tour today. It was an easy way to get a feel for where things are and the distances between them. Also to figure out what places we want to see more of. This was actually our first look at Lima Centro. Of course there's a great deal here that's of historical significance, but I didn't find the city itself all that interesting. I see why most people who can do so choose to live in beautiful Miraflores or other such areas, which are still very much a part of the city, with all the things that city life has to offer, but are beautiful and clean and comfortable as well.

La Iglesia - in the Park

Rincon Chami - My New Favorite Place

The cabrito (goat) was fabulous. The chicharones de pescado were, too, but we ate them before we remembered to take a photo. And here's a Picture of the Street where I want to Live. You can click on it to make it bigger. Then hit the return arrow thingee at the top of your screen to get back here.

Places Hiding in Alleys

I swear I don't really believe anything that any of the guidebooks say anymore. But they do seem to be a good jumping off point for wandering about and learning about a place. So I had read about this tapas place in one of the books. It was even called Tapas. It was located just a few feet off the main road on the other side of the park - down a really intriguing cobblestone road. Always in search of tapas, we took off walking - on a mission to find Tapas. Of course the address where it supposedly existed at one time now houses a copy and fax business. It actually looks like it has been a copy shop for many many years. Once again: never believe anything the guidebooks say. But who cares? It's a wonderful little street - and about half way down, we discover a mysterious little alley that connects it to the next street over. Sitting in the alley are little tables extending the space of the several small restaurants that fill the space. Of course all the locals know about this little piece of excitement, so there are no tables free. The food looks great. We want in. We continue on and exit on the next street - directly in front of Rincon Chami, which also has tables all along the street. It is immediately clear that I have found my new favorite place.

The Best Cevicheria

"Do you want the best ceviche in town?" This type of question fascinates me. Does anyone ever say "No, not really. I'd like to find the worst ceviche in town?" Anyhow, we clearly lucked out here. A local tells us where to find the best ceviche. Not only is it the best ceviche ever. It is a great little local place extending onto the sidewalk on a quiet residential street. We are clearly the only non-local diners. And we are happy. Very happy. The substantial portions of ceviche, enough to share, are priced from 12 to 28 soles ($US4 to 9). I order a ceviche mixto for 20 soles. We follow up with a arroz chaufa (chinese style fried rice like we've never tasted before - delicious!). A couple of local beers finishes it off. One of the best lunches we've ever had anywhere, and it only sets us back something like $US15. We're happy.

Chocolate y Churros y Otras cosas

We had promised ourselves we would return to Manolo's for chocolate y churros. Not only did it bring back wonderful memories of that delicious morning snack from Spain, but the name of the place is the same as two of our favorite waiters from back in the town we loved so much when we stayed in Andalucia for a couple of months in 2005. It just really felt like home. I couldn't stop smiling. Gene couldn't help commenting about where I am the happiest. It was a very good way to start the day.
After our morning starter, we spent some time walking through the park. It is a beautiful city park, sometimes called simply Parque Central, but more often called Parque Kennedy. In one section there's a bust of JFK in memory of his visit here. Another section of the park is dedicated to a great childrens' playground. There are a hundred or so of the cutest little kids playing and laughing and yelling there every afternoon and evening. Looks like all the parents are making sure the kids work off all their excess energy before bed time.
Every afternoon the artists appear, setting up their canvasses for all to see. Around the same time, throughout the park, the food vendors are getting ready to offer a great range of tipical street foods. Along all of the pathways right now is an art show of "comic" looks at global warming. 100 or so excellent perspectives. I'd like to have a book of all of these prints. The flowers are beautiful, partyly because there seems to be a good-sized gaggle of gardeners who constantly replace, redesign and rearrange everything. But the best part of the park, of course, is the people. There are always people walking in the park. Couples kissing in the park. Kids playing in the park. It's a hub of activity that never seems to end. There's energy in the air.
We took a quick peak inside of the beautiful church on one side of the park. Sometimes I think I have become totally jaded looking at churches after so many of them in Europe. But I never can resist looking at the next one, and each time I continue to be amazed at the creativity, along with the history.
After some more aimless wandering around, we stopped by the South American Explorers' Club. They offer a lot of resources for travelers, including guide books, maps, a book exchange, tons of information, a place to meet and get information from other travelers. They also have free wireless and free coffee. It was at the Explorers' Club that we heard about the best cevicheria in town (see separate post), which meant it was time for lunch.
After lunch we continued walking around this wonderful town, realizing how much we really like it here. It's a beautiful city. It's a clean city. It's a walking city. It's a food city. It's a people city. We like it. We also decided to find a hotel for tomorrow, having decided that our couch surfing situation seems to be not going all that well. Our first choice, Hostel El Patio, is beautiful, but also was full. We ended up making a reservation at Casa Sanchez, a nice older hotel right on the park. I have my favorite thing: a little balcony looking out over the park! We did enough walking around while deciding on a hotel to feel like we now know our way around the city fairly well. We also are starting to know the best places to stop for coffees.
At the end of the day, it was back to the suburbs to a dark and quiet house again. Our host seemed most upset by the lack of television. We were grateful that we would be in a hotel on the park tomorrow night.

This is Going Well?

In every journey there is a time when various tasks must be performed. Tasks which hold absolutely no interest whatsoever to anyone else in the world. Or, for that matter, to the performer of said duties. Often one of these days occurs toward the beginning of a trip. Like today. How simple it would have been to have rented a cell phone upon arrival at the airport. For the paltry sum of $US 10, and a contribution of 10 minutes of our time, we would have had a cell phone and a phone number. Not that we normally have a cell phone. Not that we want one. But when traveling, it seems like a good idea to have one in case of emergency. Or in case of a need to make a call to find a room or some such thing. The airport phone rental thing seems way too easy. So we have now spent the better part of our second day here obtaining cell phone service. There's this thing about paying somebody to "unlock" your old cell phone. Returning several hours later to retrieve the magically "unlocked" instrument. Then there's the business of going to another office to obtain service and a number. The taking of numbers. Waiting in line. Ever so much more interesting than simply spending 10 minutes at the airport renting a cell phone.
I hope I haven't made it sound like all we did today was obtain a phone, which in all likelihood we will never use. We also purchased 2 towels, to replace the towels which we clearly forgot to pack. Ever so lovely, we thought, to have a nice hot shower and dry off in a fluffy soft towel. We now know, among other things, where the major department store in Miraflores is. But before all this, and after another exciting Combi ride to town, we had discovered the famous Larco Mar mall, hanging off the side of a cliff high above the ocean. A gorgeous 3 story up scale al fresco shopping mall isn't quite what you expect in Peru. But there it is. Of course Lima - or more precisely Miraflores - isn't what you expect when you think of Peru. We had breakfast at a charming little cafe looking out over the Pacific ocean. My first Butifarra - why don't I just wait a big and do a separate post about food - there's a lot to say. There are several restaurants, including Dunkin' Donuts (no, I didn't). There are banks, cafes, a gelateria, numerous upscale clothing and shoe stores, and above it all, at street level, a beautiful park. You know how much I hate malls, but this place is nice. And the view is amazing.
Somewhere in the course of the day I experienced my first Pisco Sour. Not bad. I may have to sample many more of them before giving you my final verdict on them. Dinner was at a cafeteria type place near Parque Central - a real find. They actually have something that approximates tapas at the bar. I had tomatoes stuffed with a potato salad thing. Gene had delicious ham croquettas. OK. Doesn't sound like Peru, but it was good. They also have real Spanish chocolate and churros. So we'll be back.

After all these earth-shattering accomplishments, we catch the Combi back to the suburban area of Surco. Nice walk from the bus stop to the house. Hoping we'll be able to get in without pounding on the door for an hour tonight. Surprise! No problem getting in. Everyone's waiting at the door. No electricity. Reason is a bit confusing. It will be back on tomorrow. If it's not back on tomorrow, it will be back on Monday. Probably. Remember that hot water for a shower that I'd been dreaming about all day? Oh, well.

Ceviche-The Final Product!

Ceviche!

Ingredients:
Fish-1 kilo cut into 1 inch cubes (we used Perico, which is only available in Peru, but talapia or corvina are also good)
Milk-2 Tblsp
Apio-Peeled & chopped fine
Black Pepper
MSG
Ajo Molido
Jenibre-Pounded (squeeze in juice only)
Culantro
Aji (picante chiles)-finely chopped
Lime Juice-freshly squeezed-1 Cup
Cebolla-sliced very fine & then rinsed
Concentrada de pescado (juice from boiled fish carcass)
Rocoto (hot chiles rojos)-diced very fine
Jamote (papas dulces)-boiled & cooled
Chocolo (big-ass corn kernals)
Ju-Ju (Seaweed)
Lechuga (para adorno)

Boil the Chocolo 10 minutes in water with a pinch of sugar.
Boil & cool the sweet potatoes.
Boil the hell out of a giganticus fish carcus. Toss in the leftover apio and some ajo.
Place the cubed fish in a shallow glass bowl. Add the milk and mix. Add the lime juice and mix with a wooden spoon. [Do not use any metal utensils or bowls]. Add celery, pepper, MSG, garlic, ginger juice, culantro & chiles & a pinch ofsalt. Add lime juice. Add finely sliced onion. Add some cooled juice (1 Cup?) from the fish. Let marinate just 10 minutes.
On each individual plate, put lettuce as a base for ceviche. Arrange ceviche on lettuce. Top with onion and sea weed. Add sweet potato and corn on the side.
After removing some juice for the ceviche, add an apple, halved, & salt to fish broth. Boil some more and serve as a healthful soup. Enjoy!

El Mercado!

Like most less than perfect events while traveling, the sitting-on-the-curb-in-a-deserted-parking-lot-in-a-neighborhood-that-we-still-didn't-know-the-name-of event had been largely forgotten by the time we'd had a good night's sleep. Just another travel story really. And then a big surprise! Our host was going to the market to buy the ingredients for Ceviche, and we were invited to lunch! The only thing that could have made this better was the chance to tag along to the market. And when I asked, she agreed that we could go with her. So off to el mercado municipal! And what a market! I kept poking Gene: look at all that beautiful fish! Look how big that one is! Look at all those different kinds of potatoes! Look! Those beautiful strawberries are only 2 soles per kilo (60 US cents for 2.2 pounds)! The variety of fish and vegetables was amazing! And the low prices were astounding. So after an hour of chasing around trying to keep up with our host as she raced through the market examining various things, rejecting some items which looked great to me but apparently weren't up to her standards, we were off to the house to prepare the ceviche.
But first: the taxi ride. Although we had taken the Combi (mini bus) to the market, we were to take a taxi back to the house with our purchases. Watching Gene try to fold himself into this little bitty car was enough entertainment for one day!

Combis of Lima

Bus Drivers Need Sleep, Too!

These little mini-busses go zipping around the city, slowing down from time to time along the way for the "conductor" to yell out where they are going and to try to recruit more riders, even if it's already packing to bursting. You jump on as quick as you can, grabbing something to hang onto before takeoff if possible. The conductor takes your 1 sol (30 cents or so) when he gets a chance. There are hundreds of these little machines racing about the streets. What fun! Coming home last night, I noticed that the conductor closed his eyes and caught a little nap for maybe 20 or 30 seconds between each stop. Then I noticed that the driver was taking little naps at each stop, while more people got on or off or while we waited in traffic. Interesting!

Shehadi: 1st Meal in Peru

I guess I got so excited about the locked out of the house experience that I forgot to tell you that our first meal here was a fabulous grilled seafood platter at a sweet little place right on the main plaza in Miraflores – Shehadi. It was listed as an appetizer to share. Fortunately we had heard about the huge portions, so ordered one to share and it was more than enough. Baby squid, langostinos, calamaris, corvine. Scrumptious – and more than enough for the two of us. A beer. Two glasses of wine. Total bill 43 soles (about $US14). We enjoyed walking around the park in the evening and were amazed at how many people were out doing the same thing. We realized we are not used to being somewhere that people are out and about in the evening. It was wonderful.

1st Couch Surfing Experience

Oh, I didn't know you were there. I can't hear knocking at the door from my room because it is on the other side of the house. So now we know that while we have been intermittently pounding on the door and sitting on the curb assuming that our host is not yet home, she has been upstairs in her pajamas, contentedly watching television in her room on the other side of the house. For over an hour now, Gene has insisted that he needs to pound harder on the door. I have insisted that he has probably already awakened the entire neighborhood, and that obviously our host has not yet returned home. It was, after all, only 9 pm when we returned to the house.
Although we have hosted many travelers in our home, it is our first Couch Surfing experience as guests. So far, it has been, well, let's just say interesting. We had made a couch request a couple of months in advance, and then re-confirmed last month. Our host had said to just come. Don't worry about anything, she said. We had a private room with bath for a week, she said. Pretty luxurious for couch surfing. She apparently lived with her mother and a couple of half-grown kids. We looked forward to what sounded like a friendly family situation. She responded to my second email asking for directions with info on which Combi to take from the airport. When we get to the Ovalo near her house we should call her, she said.
A few weeks in advance of our travels, we sent emails requesting additional information. Our emails went unanswered. We decided that if things didn't work out, we would stay at a hotel or hostel, but based on our hosts' initial enthusiasm, we wanted to stay with her and her family if possible. On the day before our departure, when our emails had still gone unanswered, we knew that we should just plan on a hotel. But still we decided to give it one more chance. Since our host had already given us her phone numbers, we called Peru. Surprise! Our host is out of town and will return next week! But not to worry, says her mother. She has a room waiting for us and wants to meet us! OK, we decide. This seems a little weird, but the woman is enthusiastic and welcoming over the phone. So let's go. Worst case scenario is that things don't work out and we go to a hotel.
So here we are on our first night in Peru, sitting on the curb for an hour thinking that we would love to go to a hotel, but all of our stuff is inside this house. And once our host appears, we realize it's all a big mistake and we should have pounded harder on the door. And it may seem a bit odd that there are only wires hanging from the hole in the outside wall of the house where a door bell mechanism may once have lived, but who ever said that all houses had to have working door bells? Feeling guilty that I have been having less than positive thoughts about this lovely woman who has taken us into her home and who, earlier this evening, took us along with her on the Combi bus and showed us where to get off to go wandering around the central park area of Miraflores, I tell myself to get over it - and I collapse into bed, happy to be in Peru.