Gastón-omia

21 hours and one full season of Entourage later, I have arrived in Lima. Everyone knows that emergency exit seats are the next best after first class, but new lesson learned: don't get the seats in front of the emergency aisle. They don't recline. Fortunately that was only my 4 hour flight, and I slept through it anyway:) The drive home from the airport last night had me clarifying with my mom "so, this is the rough part of town right?" "aye, Laura, you need to be open to new things". She explained that the neighborhood around the airport was "como East L.A.". Encouraging. Our hostel is in a slightly less sketchy area, but all big cities seem a bit sketch to me at night.

I ended up sleeping in to compensate for lack of good sleep I'd gotten the last 48 hours. I thought I'd woken up at 1pm, but my mom clarified that it was more like 4. I was confused because I thought it was entirely the fog making it look so dark. The weather in Lima on weather.com claims to be the same as it is at home, in the high 60's, but since it's a coastal town on the middle of it's winter, the humidity and cloud cover make it a lot colder. Walking around today I wore a long sleeve shirt, fleece, and thick jacket and was just about right, if not a bit cold. I didn't find out the actual time until my mom and I were sitting down to a meal and it started to get really dark. "The dementors are really thriving here" "aye Laura, what do you expect, it is nighttime". I thought it was 3 at the latest. Oh jet lag.

I am not to speak English here, for safety reasons. That or it's a really good parenting ploy to make sure I practice. Catering to my fears, good job mom. She also said that this isn't like Spain, I don't have to worry about every person bumping into me be

ing a potential robber. I ALSO should worry about people in my vicinity "marking" me, indicating that I'm a good target so that their friends, in my mom's words, can "take me out". It's a great camera guys, but please don't.

The best part of Peru so far, as predicted, is the food. Ooooh the food. My mom is an amazing cook, alternating between Lima staples such as aji de gallina (my fave), papa a la huancaina, arroz con pollo, ceviche, and lomo saltado. The cuisines vary by region, just as anywhere else, depending on the ingredients that are the most available to the people. Being in Lima, my mom's birthplace, I am most familiar with the cuisine here. We had dinner at a place called Tanta, owned by famed Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio. I saw him on Anthony Bourdain, so you know he's legit. In San Francisco, we'd pay $50 a plate. Here: $10. Loving the exchange rate.

We started out with some Yerba Luisa, or lemon-grass tea. Shell, it was delish! And they have Splenda here! (cue the eye roll Olichka) Then came our delicious entrees. My mom had a combination platter with arroz con pollo and papa a la huancaina and ocopa. Translation: chicken with green rice, potatoes with a cheesy sauce over it, and Peruvian corn with a tasty sauce. I specify Peruvian corn because the kernels are huge.

For my dish, my mom recommended I go with the classic lomo saltado. My mom and Tio Carlos have both prepared it for me before, both amazing, as all Peruvian food is, and tonights did not disappoint. Lomo saltado is a Peruvian dish influenced by Asian cuisine. It's steak stir fried with tomatoes, onions,

and potatoes, with a side of rice. Whatever they use to marinade it, I think with a soy sauce base, enhances it. And my mom says that the thing they traditional Peruvian restaurants do that she doesn't is they drench it in some sort of alcohol and light it on fire to make it crispy. Whatever they did, it was...I'm at a loss for adjectives. So very very good.

After dinner, we strolled around the Plaza de Armas. The architecture reminded me of the Plaza Real's in Spain, for obvious reasons. When the Spanish conquered Peru and made Lima the capital instead of Cusco, they added their own edifices. The 6-8 square blocks of downtown are nice, but there are distinct boundaries where if you cross a street beyond the area, you're on an entirely different side of the tracks, if you will. But the Plaza is full of shops, selling clothes, food, and of course, dessert. My mom got helado de lucuma, ice cream made from a local fruit. If you like ice cream, I recommend it.

Tomorrow the plan is to visit Miraflores, a burrow in northern Lima that's a little more upper class. I have a whole new appreciation for you girls who opt to live in Africa, and you Sash, with your constant posts of weird giant bugs that have taken up residence in your South Korean apartment. We have a slight cockroach issue here, but at least I don't have to sleep under nets or in fear. I'm looking forward to what the rest of Peru, the "real Peru", has to offer. And I will pass on the recommendation that I was given and can now endorse: you don't need to spend more than a day in Lima.