Miraflores

Hi friends! Sorry it´s taken me so long to post, the internet at our hostel went from sluggish to broken, so this is the post I´ve been trying to publish for the past 3 days, sans pictures because I´m at an internet cafe. I will edit them in later.

I owe the city of Lima an apology. I judged too quickly, and made a decision based on too small a sample. I stand by not allotting much of your itinerary to spending time in Lima, but since it is the major city that most people will be flying in and out of, I have some recommendations of what to do with you time here. The part that I am staying in is called Lince (right), and that is the part I advise against. We're just here because it's convenient for my mom's business meetings. Had I planned this trip on my own, we would have been staying in Barranco or Mira Flores, half an hour south of the airport on the Costa Verde. Lima is a huge capital, made up of several districts, these two being the nice ones that I've visited. Miraflores was alright, but Barranco was what really made me breathe a sigh of relief. Think Santa Barbara meets South Beach. It looks historical yet modern, not losing it's Peruvian vibe to Americanization.

I spent the day walking around Miraflores with my mom, trying to find Peruvian food. What an unexpected

issue that was. We probably walked up and down the city for 2 hours, finding countless pizzaria´s, sandwich shops, and pasta, not to mention Starbucks and PinkBerry (you haven´t heard of PinkBerry? OMG it´s only the best hun-cal fro-yo). We finally settled on another Gaston Acurio restaurant, Panchita. That was, of course, amazing. I'm starting to feel like a Jimmy Kimmel "Bachelorette" drinking

game, so apologies in advance for my lack of spectrum in word choice for the food. Just know that they are the best at flavoring all foods and making meat juicy and tender. My mom and I shared a platter of assorted meats and the house bread, which, surprise Spain ladies! was not complimentary. However,our waiter was gracious enough to box up some fresh loaves for us to take home with our leftovers. And the meat was, of course, _________. We had anticuchos, which is beef heart, and pork, chicken, steak, and two different kinds of sausage (churrizo). Delicioso.

Afterwards, we wandered around a central park, hoping that our ride would be able to find us given our vague meating place. ¨Yeah, just pick us up at the park!" "Ok!" Nobody saw a flaw in that plan. Remember, we also have no cell phones. How you people over the age of 30 used to get by without the use of cellphones and the internet baffles me. I´m a big fan of the "two minutes away!" text, and the "we`ll be standing in front of the McDonalds and Cinema!" phone call, which we were unable to make. While waiting, I became aquainted with many of the park`s feline tenants. Some were curling up in strangers`laps ( this keyboard is driving me nuts), and others were more like my Isabelle, too cool to even pose for my pictures. I also experienced my first taste of picarones in 20 years. They´re a common Peruvian dessert, found at street carts and restaurants alike. They´re doughnut shaped deepfried pastries made of squash and sweet potato, drizzled in molassas syrup. A little too greasy for my stomach, but men and kids will devour them.

After our hosts found us, by some very good fortune, they drove us to an upscale outdoor shopping center in Miraflores. Frank Sinatra was playing in the car, which was lovely and sounded like home. I keep hearing instrumental versions of Frank in restaurants as well. It´s a nice touch. Those of you who know me know I´m just gonna breeze on over the shopping center, yada yada yada. Oh! But the Northface store was worth a laugh upon a second glance, and then I started to notice it everywhere. The clothes are SO small! That´s to be expected, because the median height of Peruvians would appear to be 5 feet tall, no exaggeration. But Ash, it made me think of how when you were in the Phillipeans you had to buy clothes from a store called Tubby´s, even though you`re an American size Skinny.

From Miraflores we went to Barranco, where I finally found myself grabbing for my camera, even though it was night. I would like to go back during the day to photograph some of the pretty building colors, doors, and streets. There was nothing too exciting going on there, it was just clean and nice, which I´ve been missing.

Sidebar: I can not tell you how many times Dane's"Hellooooooooo. I´m a caaaaaaaar. Oi-il-is-my-blood" sketch has gone through my head. Car alarms are CONSTANTLY going off here. As if the insesant honking wasn't enough! People here use their horns as a means to say "'scuse me, comin' through, 'scuse me". There don't seem to be rules here, they just sort of wedge their way through to wherever they need to be going, as you would shove through a crowd. Except: YOU'RE IN A ONE TON VEHICLE! And the amount of honking they do, I think they're just doing it for fun at this point, because the message has to have lost it's meaning, like a word you say too many times in a row. (chicken). My mom says honking was actually made illegal recently, so I can't imagine what it was like before they had "laws" about it. Ha, laws. This isn´t America, there are no rules here. In the time it's taken me to write this paragraph: about 5 car alarms have gone off.

Anyways, Barranco, it´s nice, spend your Lima time there.