Peru!

We have been on the ground for less than 12 hours and already we have been amazed by Lima.  We have had the best meal we have had on this entire trip at a great restaurant, Brujas de Cachiche (http://www.brujasdecachiche.com.pe/), where we shared an anticucho de corazon de rez (skewered, marinated, lightly cooked beef heart) which was delicious, followed by a green salad with roasted tomatoes and garlic cloves topped with thinly sliced, cured duck breast, ditto, and then rounded off the savory portion of the meal with a ceviche sampler which was really yummy. 

I sampled a local beer, Cusquena, during the captain beef heart phase and then switched to a Chilean sauvignon blanc for the ceviche.  Both were good and well suited to the task of complementing the meal.  The wine was just a house white really but quite good despite this and the sommelier poured a nice deep glass for only $4.50.

For dessert we sampled two dishes: a “rustic apple pie” which was a heart shaped, scrumptious, deep dish individual pie with an amazingly thin and light crust and topped with crumbly top (think Dutch apple pie you Americans reading this), and a “pumpkin doughnut” served with ice cream and a pumpkin/burnt sugar syrup.  Both dishes were really interesting and delicious. 

We washed them down with the best cafe Americano’s we have had.  They really were true shots of espresso with just the right amount of hot water added to suitably fill the cup but not destroy the essential espresso essence.

I could go on but it might get considered gloating…  but I will finish by saying that the entire meal was less than $60, including tax and tip!

Our hotel/hostal (Albergue Miraflores) is nothing special. We are booked in and paid for through Sunday but there is just no vibe here so we will be moving on.  It is a collection of rooms, somewhat musty/humid with essence of ancient cigarette smoke lingering in the hallways (they need to replace the carpets probably).  Our room comes with two single beds despite having reserved a room with a matrimonial (a double/full bed for anyone not familiar with Spanish). The staff suggested that tomorrow we would get to move to another room with said matrimonial once the current occupants leave!  On the plus side it does seem quiet, no groups of rowdy drunk 18-21 year olds on spring break so far, unlike Costa Rica. Some of the reviews suggested that the place was very noisy due to the traffic on the adjacent streets.  While those streets are major thoroughfares they are only really loud at rush hour and even then not bad, noisier than we have gotten accustomed to in the last 5 months but still not bad.

Our Spanish has gotten a good trial today, talked with the cab driver from the airport, all in Spanish, and got a hint of the lay of the land and the ref to the restaurant!  Our hostess at Albergue Miraflores also spoke with us only in Spanish after we indicated that we could understand.  At the supermarket we went to after checking in I wound up talking with an employee whose job it was to encourage people to buy wine by handing out free samples, generous free samples!  We spent 15 minutes wine tasting and chatting in what was basically a Safeways…but named “Wong’s”!!! Then to finish up we went to Brujas and spoke only in Spanish with the staff.  Feeling pretty good about the Spanish just now.

Tomorrow we will check out the breakfast reputedly served as part of our room rate and then head off to find a language school and South American Explorers to start our planning efforts for our trip through Peru,  mainly just to get a better read on what is happening with Machu Pichu since at the last it was still shut thanks to the January deluges.