Around Lima

Today started with a run down to and along the beach.  It was already hot and humid at 7:30 am.   There were about a dozen and a half surfers out riding some decent waves.  After returning to Kokopelli Hostel, booking a tour of Pachacamac ruins tomorrow, and showering I headed out for breakfast.  Kokopelli has a kitchen where you can store food and cook your own meals, but a basic breakfast is included at a restaurant about three blocks away.  The restaurant is hard to find though, and I wasted about 30 minutes looking for it the first time I went. 

On my way there, Jessica from Canada, just passing through on her way to Bolivia, somehow identified me as a fellow Kokopelli traveler and asked me where the restaurant was. We had the basic breakfast of one fried-to-death egg, coffee, toast, a slice of bacon and two tomato slices.  Jessica is from Squamish, which is north of Vancouver B.C., on the way from Vancouver to Whistler B.C. where the winter olympics will be.  I visited Squamish when I was in B.C. a couple years ago on my way to Whisler with Wade and Pat Morrisey. 

Jessica from Canada in Cafe Z

                                            

Today, only my second day in Peru, was one of epic eating of Peruvian food.  After going to Museo Arqueologico Rafael Larco Herera, my friend Yadilitta picked me up for comida and a tour of Magdalena market.  Yadilitta is a friend I met on Travel Buddy, a web site to share travel adventures and meet up with other  travelers who will be in the same country at the same time as you.  Yadilitta is a "foodie", and the unofficial ambasador to Lima on Travel Buddie, who was introduced to me by another person on the site. 

Magdalena outdoor market

All of the chicken, beef, and whole fish in the market were in display without any refrigeration.  It was probably in the high 70's but seemed warmer because of the humidity.

Chicken heads and feet

Whole chicken with developing eggs

Mmmmm I'm hungry lets go eat!

After asking Yadilitta about some fruits I had heard of from the rainforest, we located one of two booths that specialized in rainforest food.  A lot of the rainforest fruits, like granadilla, camu camu, and cocona, are not good for much but making juice.  I ate a guanadilla, or rather peeled off some of the brittle outer skin, punched a hole in the pith, and sucked out the crunchy seeds which were suspended in a juicy gelatinous light grey semisweet flesh. 

They were selling yucca rellenos at the booth so we decided to try one along with cocona juice(l.) and camu camu juice(r.).  They were both incredible!  The cocona I can not even describe the flavor because it tastes like nothing else but the camu camu had a hint of watermelon.

After gathering a bag full of fruits and vegetables from the market we headed out to get some lunch.  The first place we stopped was La Paisana restaurant to get some tamales verdes that Yadilitta recommended as the best she had ever eaten.

 tamales made with fresh corn and cilantro 

Sitting right next to the kitchen, we got showered with fish juice when they started hacking up a large fish.  Let's go somewhere else and try some of Peru's national dishes, ceviche and causa!

Segundo Muelle restaurant

Causa is mashed potato, flavored with a little chile and lime then filled with different ingredients.  We had one with crab meat, avocado, and hard cooked eggs.

Mixed seafood and fish ceviche with

poached sweet potato and fresh corn.  This corn was a revelation, huge sweet kernels with a more starchy consistency Yummm!!

Drink Inca Kola!

The Rafael Larco Herrera Museum was incredible! 

 

The collection was started by Rafael Larco Herrera and became a passion of his son, Rafael Larco Hoyle, who became interested in the Moche civilization from the northern coast of Peru, who existed about 100A.D. to 800A.D.  The ceramics, pottery and metal work were exquisitely beautiful  and the story of their culture was extremely compelling to learn about.

This is what they wore into battle

Sacred symbolic sacrificial statue

Funerary Wrap

I am a bit peeved at you!  This one was actually for drinking sacraficial blood!

The handle spout is a popular design

In the evening Yadilitta and I went out to eat in the Barranco neighborhood.  It is an older neighborhood with many preserved colonial buildings which is also along the ocean south of Miraflores.  Many artists live in Barranco  and have galleries there.  We ate at Chala restaurant which didn't open till 8 pm.  Dinner is eaten later here. We started out with Pisco sours and   

Tequeños de Colca with Huacatay foam.  Huacatay is an herb with an amazing taste!

Tiradito de la Bajada

Cauche de Litoral - Fish stew

Dessert

The old Church in Barranco which was damaged in the 1949 earthquake.  A new one was built and this one is not in use