Where are We?

It's true that it appears that we have abandoned our blog, but that is not exactly true. It's been a strange couple of months, but we hope to be back on here shortly, talking about our favorite city - the people, the food, the culture, the architecture, the street life. And I suppose we may offer up a few excuses for our neglect. Meanwhile, we love talking to our friends and family, even when we are not posting. We are grateful for email, for Yahoo Messenger, and of course for Skype. Living so far away from so many of the important people in our lives gives us an extreme appreciation for these wonderful things which allow us to be in ongoing communication as if you were next door. Knowing that you can call us whenever you want at no cost to us or you makes life easier. My Skype phone call from my Dear Aunt Kay first thing yesterday morning made my entire day!
Hugs & Kisses!

Google Peru

Independence Day in Peru, and Google helps us celebrate with our very own special Google icon.
Cool!

I Love Peruvian Food!

It's hard to decide what foods are most representative of Peru, but one thing we all know is that they're all good!

Light Show from Machu Picchu!

Machu Picchu, Jul. 07 (ANDINA). Machu Picchu was lit at night for the first time ever late on Thursday to mark the 100th anniversary of the scientific discovery of the archaeological site.
You can see a video of the show here.

Sunday in Lima

A nice Sunday morning 68 outside and a comfortable 70 inside. It's quiet outside because the main street on Sunday's from 7am til 1pm is for bicycles and other motor-less wheels. Later we will have lunch at the Sunday Market food fest, great food selections. I hope Laurie takes pic's of the food stands.

September Food Fest Sold Out!!!

So says this report today from Living in Peru!  Obviously I didn't know anything about advance tickets being available or I would have bought some! I vowed last year when we missed this extravaganza because we were out of the country that we would go this year!  The article says that tickets will still be available at the time of the event, but still!

The Corner Store

When you get right down to it, I realize I've always needed to live in a place with a corner store. It is totally unreasonable to jump into a car and drive somewhere just to pick up milk or a loaf of bread. Running out of toilet paper should require a major shopping trip. I used to think that it was necessary to live in a large city to have things like the corner store which stocked everything you need. I realize now that it's more a fact of the culture and the lifestyle of the people. In the little village where we lived in Spain, everything needed was available within a few blocks. In Florida everyone seemed to accept that it was normal to get in the car ever time one left the house. Here in Lima, one could easily spend one's entire life in a neighborhood, with no need ever to travel to a big store or a shopping mall. I love that I can walk around the corner and pick up a sandwich or an empanada for breakfast, toothpaste, toilet paper, butter, milk, ice cream or olive oil. If they don't have what I want, I can always walk over to the next street, where there are 3 more bodegas to choose from. I can buy fresh fruits and vegetables (although I prefer the cart on the corner or the market for these), yogurt, sodas, beer, wine or pastries, not to mention cell phone card refills, cheese or salami. I love the comfortable feel of the neighborhood store.

This article about our Peruvian bodegas made me smile. If the writer is right, my beloved corner store will still be around for a long time to come.

Mother's Day with Mamacita!

How lucky I am to have an "adopted family" on Mother's Day!  Our friend Eliana invited us to celebrate in the afternoon with her and her mom and her brother and his wife and kids. We had a fabulous barbeque on the wonderful rooftop terrace of her new apartment. What a great view - and what a great place for a party! Fun afternoon, nice walk home, perfect day. And a nice way to get my mind off the fact that my wonderful international guests really did have to return to Olympia, Washington, leaving our house feeling oh so empty!

Happy Mother's Day

Imagine living on a treacherous river and being 16 hours from the nearest clinic by canoe when health care is needed. DB Peru works hard to bring better health care access to the people on the Amazon River. I've met the founder of this NGO and hope to go on one of their trips into the jungle this year. Read about their work here and if you're looking for an organization to support in honor of your mother, this would be a good one to consider.

Day 17

I refuse to call it the last day. It's just Day # 17. Madelle and I walked to Parque Kennedy; there was a photography competition going on. We got to vote for our favorite out of 100 photos of local things and places. Next year I am going to enter the contest. The contest was sponsored by the graphic design and photography institute that I want to take classes from. The park was quiet but nice. There were people taking pictures of kids with their mom's for Mom's Day. I stopped and got a jugo de lucuma con leche so I could talk Madelle into tasting it. "It tastes like caramel," she said.  I think she liked it. From the park, it was another nice little walk to meet Gene and Larry at Punta Sal for lunch, which as always was delicious. The pisco sours weren't bad either! I'm hoping they will help M & L to sleep well on the plane tonight!  :-)  Their plane leaves a few minutes before midnight, so they'll be leaving the house around nine. They will be home less than 24 hour later! I don't want to see them leave.

El Centro

I had been wanting to get everyone up to Lima centro for a walk around Plaza de Armas and Plaza Bolivar and some of the surrounding sites. Today was finally the day. Unfortunately the new Museo de Gastronomico had decided this would be a good day to close for maintenance, in spite of the fact that according to the handwritten notice on the front door, they definitely should have been open all day today! We had a nice tour of the San Francisco monastery to look at the bones of the 70,000 or so people buried there. We enjoyed the awesome architecture and walking around the streets. I love Lima. We also went again to Hotel Bolivar for our second pisco sours of the day. In spite of the fact that Gene and I had been totally underwhelmed by the place the first time we went, we thought we should show our guests this beautiful and historic place, since everyone else seems to rave about it. Frankly the pisco sours weren't any better than the 2 sol sours at the little hole in the wall place where we had our first of the day while walking there. I think in the future I will show guests the beautiful lobby and restaurant and then take them somewhere else for the drinks and snacks. But as always, the beautiful plazas were alive with  people and we enjoyed just being there. The trip up on the metropolitano was quick and pleasant.

Peru Takes its Culture to Peru, Nebraska!

What happens when our Peru meets Peru, Nebraska? This is a really fun video!
The new ambassadors of Peru — including chefs Gastón Acurio and Javier Wong, surfer Sofia Mulanovich, writer Rafo León — eat ceviche, dance huaynos, drink pisco and more with the 569 residents of Peru, Nebraska.

Back to Barranco!

We love Barranco! Including the charming rail road car turned vegetarian restaurant!

Oldest Pisco Distillery

Interesting article. My bet is that pisco will soon be the newest "in" drink in the US.

Magic Water!

Highlight of the trip for our friends, I think! We finally made it to the Circuito Magico del Agua. Awesome, as was the food at Tanta before we jumped on the bus to Lima for the show.

Afternoon in Barranco

Madelle and Larry and I had a great time walking around Barranco, the plaza, the famous Puente de los Suspiros (Bridge of Sighs), gawking at the incredible old homes. And we stopped at a really charming little restaurant right on the park, where they actually offered 3 types of fish, along with several other items, on the menu. For 8 soles each, we ate like kings again. In the process of the afternoon, the three of us discovered that I need to live in Barranco, so we had news to tell Gene, who had stayed home to paint today, on our return home! We also walked by another restaurant, which looked cute and had a very interesting looking buffet at lower prices than the norm so we are thinking that another trip to Barranco is in order. In the evening, we hopped on the bus up to the Parque de la Reserva to see the fabulous lighted fountains. Desafortunadamente, Laurie had failed to notice that the fountains are only open Wednesday to Sunday (gasp!), so although we had an interesting bus ride up and back, we plan to repeat it tomorrow night. After returning to Miraflores, we checked out a new (to us) Italian restaurant which friend Ron had suggested, right near Parque Kennedy. We had passed by it many times and ignormed it because I had thought it looked too “touristy.” Now we know that it is a really cool little place with very good food at reasonable prices. We will be back. It occurred to me that Italian always seems to be a good choice, as far as everyone finding something that they really like. Madelle is a vegetarian and Larry does not care for ceviche and some of the other Peruvian specialties like papas huancaina, so some places don't work well for us.

Busy Week with Guests!

It's been such a lovely time visiting with our friends Madelle and Larry, but then we were talking and realized that already we couldn't remember exactly what we have done everyday. So back to Picasa and a look at the daily fotos to do some note taking!

Wednesday, 4/20 – late night arrival. We were like a couple of kids...

The Chef Speaks

In a country famous for its food, its most famous chef says that his is not the best restaurant in Lima. Gastón Acurio says there are 4 or 5 restaurants that should be on the best restaurants in the world with him. We have never eaten at his flagship restaurant, Astrid & Gastón, which is near where we live in a totally nondescript building down a side street in Miraflores, but we plan to eat there soon. We've eaten many times at Tanta (bread in Quechua) and I love the comfortable feel of this upscale cafe/panaderia, one of which is in easy walking distance of our house through the lovely Parque de los Olivos. La Mar, which specializes in seafood, serves awesome food and is a really fun place for lunch. We ate there once last year and I've been meaning to get back there. But then there are always so many new places to try that we just haven't made it yet. His Pasquale Hnos franchisesare said to offer great sandwiches but we've never tried them. Panchita, an anticucheria, is a couple of years old and I don't even know where it is, but it's somewhere around here and I definitely need to check it out! Apparently Gastón has plans to open several new and different types of restaurants. We need to hurry up and experience the ones that already exist!

Lunch in the Market Again-Best Deal Around!

As we had promised last week, Madelle and I took Gene and Larry to the food fair at the market for some of that fabulous fish. We had raved so much about the fried trucha that all of us ordered the same thing. And where M and I had shared one portion last week (and also a portion of causa), this week we each ordered one. So of course nobody really had room to try other things. And then we got our fish and it was corvina! We now know that we had got the trucha the week before because, due to holy week, the markets had run out of the corvina (sea bass) and so the cook used the trucha. We also now know (for next week!) which booth always has the trucha! The atmosphere at the food fair is run. I'm thinking I may have to go there every week end. They are there Friday through Sunday every week and I think have some of the best food offerings around (and a nice selection, too) at great prices. We even got 5 sol pisco sours!

Chorillos - Fish on the Beach

The Mothers' Day craft exposition in the park was pretty disappointing, but we enjoyed looking at all the paintings along the sidewalk. This was followed by a jaunt down to Chorillos for lunch at Los Pescadores, the little fish shacks on the beach. This is some of the best fish around and we thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere, sitting out on the little porch drinking beer and eating fried fish (after the starter of ceviche). It was disappointing to see that the area is now fenced off and we realized later that, although we could have walked around the complex to get to the beach for a walk, we didn't do so. Just the fact of fencing it off from the beach made us forget about a beach walk. Sad. Wonder why they have done this.

She's Back!!!

Madelle did Machu Picchu - and she's got the photos to prove it!

Madelle Returns

As we anxiously awaited Madelle's return from Machu Pucchu, we enjoyed a nice lunch at one of the neighborhood “menu” restaurants over on Petit Thouars. Nice sitting outdoors and chatting over nice ensaladas de palta (avocado salads) and fried fish. Including rolls and fruit drinks this place charges a whopping 8 soles ($3 US or so)! In the evening, after Madelle's return, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite Italian places 5 blocks from our house, El Bogedon. The trip to Machu Picchu went totally smoothly and met or exceeded Madelle's expectations. We were all excited to see her and hear about the trip. We'll get to see her photos later.

Photography Tours

For anyone hooked on travel and photography and in love with Peru, this article talks about a tour company with a different twist. It sounds intriguing. Not sure it's something that's going to work for me, but I might at least consider doing their Lima Photography tour one of these days to check it out.

Our People

Nice day for a walk. We had talked about doing another museum, but didn't get around to it. Later in the afternoon we went for a really nice walk, over to Ovalo Gutierrez, down Comandante Espinar to Jose Pardo, then down to the Malecon and along it til we got to Punta Sal, where they refused to invite us in and feed us lunch just because it was after 5 o'clock! So off we taxied to La Favorita for sandwiches and a visit with our “people,” as Larry has come to call our friends there.

Museum Day - & Pisco Sours of Course

 Larry and Gene and I spent most of the afternoon wandering through the Museum of Archeology, Anthropology, and History in Pueblo Libre. This is one of the few museums that Gene and I had actually been to before and it is awesome. I need to get busy and get out there to see the other hundred or so museums on my list of things to do and see.After all that museum walking, we needed to rest and have a cold drink, so of course Pisco Sours were in order at the charming old nearby bar called Antigua Taberna Queirolo. We'd like to go back there soon. Cool place for drinks and snacks. When Madelle heard about it and saw the fotos, she informed us that she wants to go to this cute bar for pisco sours one afternoon, too, so I'm pretty sure we'll be back!

Our First Guest Author

As of this morning, we have invited a guest author to our blog, the intrepid Larry, historically our most frequent commenter on our postings. Traveling at the moment, Larry is using a laptop which is giving him trouble with suddenly jumping to the wrong part of his text, thus making writing not a whole lot of fun. But hopefully he will at least be able to check in to tell us a bit about his first trip to Peru!
Larry's "spiritual advisor," the amazing Madelle, who is currently roaming about Machu Picchu, will also be invited to contribute a bit or two about her travels.

Having a Fabulous Time with our Guests

El Domingo en El Mercado

   

Madelle and I strolled through the Indian Market in search of the perfect small purse for traveling. It took a while, but we found it. She is now ready for her solo trip to Machu Picchu! After our little shopping expedition, we stopped by el Mercado de Surquillo for lunch. From the amazing number of offerings of fabulous food, we chose to share a causa and deep fried trucha, which turned out to be perhaps the most delicious fish I have ever eaten in my life. We decided we would have to return next week to do this wonderful experience again, and bring Larry and Gene along. Meanwhile we took home some beautiful cabrito (goat) and pato (duck) for them.

Huacas, Peruvian Food & Friends

What more could you ask for?
 

We did the tour of Huaca Pucllana, which is a fascinating piece of history 2 blocks from our house. A great tour for 10 soles, too. I think everyone enjoyed it and learned some things. We hadn't been there in a couple of years. After this we had a nice walk down to Jose Pardo and over to Parque Kennedy. In the evening, we had a great Italian meal at La Bodega de la Trattoria, in easy walking distance from our house, right across the street from Huaca Pucllana. On the walk home we got to see Huaco Pucclana at night, which was another interesting photo op.

Kapallaq - One of the restaurants we hope to try soon

A new article in Living in Peru reminds me that we MUST get over there and try this beautiful little place before they move away from our neighborhood. Unfortunately I think they are only open on weekdays, so I'm not quite sure when we will get there, but it's gotta be soon. The place is total charm!

Power Suits

This New York Times article describes the beautiful ancient tunics currently being shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as Power Suits of the past. Interesting article about the history of this incredible "wearable art."

Beautiful Day with Friends

Walk on the Malecon (park walks along the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean), Parque del Amor, para-sailing, pisco sours. What more could we ask for?

How nice to have guests...

It's the third day of Madelle and Larry's visit and how lovely to have them with us. So far we have taken them to the Malecon and lunch at Mango's then a walk back to Parke Kennedy and cafe at La Favoritas. This weekend is a little of a challenge because it's Easter weekend and many places will be closed. But Laurie is busy finding out what is open and what we should see.
I am enjoying the conversations with Madelle and Larry. I'm sure that Laurie will have more to say about what is happening and also posting pictures. I just wanted to add my thoughts so far.
Gene

Update....I took a walk and our morning coffee bakery is open and so was the bakery around the block. :-) And... the streets were almost devoid of traffic! Great day for a walk. 

Malecon, the Mall, Mangos for Lunch

After a relaxing morning with great conversation, we headed down to Larco Mar with the idea in mind to do their buffet in order to begin to introduce our friends to the great variety of wonderful foods of Peru. Unfortunately we found that they were not offering the buffet because of holy week. Huh? Although I was very disappointed by this, we managed to create our own variety by ordering ceviche and a bunch of starters to share. Add some Pisco Sours and it was pretty damned good. And of course we got to show them the awesome view out over the Pacific Ocean. After all that food, we managed to walk back up to the center of Miraflores and stop for coffees at La Favorita. Gene and Larry grabbed a taxi back to the house with a supply of wine, while Madelle and I walked through Parque Kennedy and had a pleasant walk up the boulevard to home.

They're Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today's the Day!

We'll be meeting our World Traveler friends Madelle & Larry at the airport - infections, surgery, tax season, sleep deprivation, nothing can keep them down!
Wondering what they'll want to do their first day in Peru, after 18 hours or so of travel!

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants

Peru makes the list (of course!!!) of top restaurants in the world at
The Top 50 Best Restaurants

Our First Visitors are On Their Way!

With the help of my friends at Expat Peru, I have put together a list of things to do - some of them are Must-Sees for the first time visitor and others are ideas so that our guests will see the many options for the fabulous experience which is Lima. M will be doing a trip to Machu Picchu and we are all excited to hear about her experiences, but that will still leave nearly two weeks to try to hit their priority items.
Things to Do & See:

• The Magic Water Fountains ***
• Peña - probably Brisas de Titicaca ***
• Walks on the Malecon ***
• Huaca Pucllana *
• Museums - many to choose from depending on what interests them the most
• Park walks *
• New Gastronomy museum
• Lima Centro walk *
• San Francisco Monastery
• Barrio Chino
• Barranco
• Mercado *
• Meet some of our new friends
• Concert
• Mirabus

Places to Eat:

• Astrid y Gaston *
• El Kapallaq *
• Menús*
• Lobo del Mar
• Mangos
• Los Pescadores - Chorillos
• Tia Gramanesa's Anticuchos *
• Rosa Nautica *
• Punta Sal
• Rincon Chami
• El 10
• Tanta
• Mercado de Surquillo
• Patagonia (Tango night) *
• La Mar
• Pecado Capitales
• Cordon Bleu Cooking School

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Good to be Home

After a rushed trip to the States, it's good to be home, walking our favorite streets, eating our favorite foods, trying to catch up with our busy friends, and (ta-da!!!)  getting ready for our first visitors to Peru - our good friends Madelle and Larry, who will arrive next week. We are excited and busy making lists of things to see and do.

Elections: Lima Stock Market Drops

In front of a certain run-off between Ollanta Humala and Keiko   Fujimori, Peru President Alan García said “the country is sufficiently  solid  to maintain its direction.”

Peru Votes Today

Today is election day in Peru. At least 20 million Peruvians are expected to go to the polls to vote for the next president as well as congressional representatives. It is expected that none of the 10 presidential candidates will win the majority needed to win, and thus there will be a runoff election in June.

Laptops for Schools

Peruvian President Alan Garcia has announced the expansion of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program and the establishment of local facilities for the manufacturing of XO laptops in the country.

Wonder if any of our Friends in Costa Rica attended This

San Jose, Costa Rica, Mar. 31 (ANDINA). With tasty traditional dishes like ceviche, escabeche de pescado and the famous pisco sour, Peru’s Tourism and Export Promotion Board (Promperu) delighted the palates of those attending the PPeru Mucho Gusto food festival in Costa Rica.

Peru at the Top of the List Again

Lima, Mar. 31 (ANDINA). The Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru, has been voted best airport in South America for the third year running by Skytrax Research at the 2011 World Airport Awards in Copenhagen.

`Everybody Loves Peruvian Food

The new Casa de la Gastronomia museum had nearly 4,000 visitors in its first four days. I'm looking forward to seeing this place.
Thanks for the heads up on the article, Larry.

On Travel...

The thought for the day, by Mark Twain ~ "I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them." 

The News this Morning

More European investors are planning to enter the Peruvian market in view of the upcoming Peru-EU free trade agreement. 

Foreign tourist arrivals to Peru climbed 16 percent year-on-year to more than 640,000 in the first quarter of 2011.

Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez will appear at the Teatro Municipal of Lima when the 91-year-old theater reopens its doors to the public in June 2011 after a US$27.5 million renovation. The theater was destroyed by fire in 1998. Art and architecture experts and Peruvian artisans, have lovingly executed the restoration, using pictures and design drawings from the original 1920 house.

And the final piece of news: We're headed out tomorrow night to Florida for a quick spur of the moment trip to see Aunt Kay and Uncle Nello, who at 97 is not doing as well as he used to. April is going to be an exciting month for us with this trip and then our wonderful first visitors later in the month!

Now Peru has a Gastronomy Museum

How many countries have a museum dedicated to their food, I wonder. Food is such a huge part of the culture here that it's really strange. If a stranger asks you how you like their country, they expect to hear you rave about the food. When you do so (of course!), they beam with appreciation. Now we have a museum dedicated to the incredible Peruvian cuisine. Actually I'm surprised there wasn't one before.

Earth Hour

Don't forget to turn off the lights tonight - at 8:30 for at least an hour!

Free Wi-Fi in Parque Kennedy!

Mayor Jorge Muñoz did not give a specific date, but said that wireless internet in the park would be implemented “soon.” What fun to be able to blog from the park!

Madelle & Larry are Coming!!!!!

No kidding!
Just got the email. The already have their tickets!
They'll be here April 20th!!!
Our Very First House Guests in Peru!
There's no way I can tell you how excited I am!!!!!

Day at the Market

Today was fun. My friend Dina took me to the  big market in Lima Centro.  We walked and laughed and had a lot of fun. Didn't buy a thing. But of course that wasn't the point of the trip. I had been meaning to go to see the big market for ages so this was fun. But it wasn't as interesting as I had expected. Perhaps I'm .jaded. But I think that some of the other markets are just as interesting. Maybe better. I still love markets and want to go to some of the other ones around. Besides buying fresh produce and household items, the other thing I like to do in the markets is take photos. I didn't get any photos today because I didn't take my camera. I just knew that if I took my camera along, Dina would have a fit. She wanted me to remove my gold wedding band for God's sake!  Then halfway through our day, Dina asked me "Where's your camera?" I told her that I had thought she would be angry if I carried it around and she looked at me like I was nuts. Go figure!
Dina and I also toured the Museum of Inquisition, another testament to man's inhumanity to man. It's a sharp reminder of another piece of Peru's dark history and shouldn't be missed. It is housed in the beautiful old National Senate building, which is worth seeing by itself, even without the horrifyingly realistic images of torture in the basement.

The Artist at Work

Fascinating what he can create in an afternoon while I am out and about!

Name this Flower

Can anybody out there name any of these flowers for me?
I've spent the morning on the internet trying to identify the flowers that I already have on products in my Zazzle store. I have a bunch more flowers that I want to use to make products, but don't want to add more when I can't even figure out the names of the ones I already have there!

National Day of Mourning

Tomorrow is a national day of mourning in Peru for the victims of the disaster in Japan.
Forty five Peruvian citizens who lived in the area of Japan that was worst-affected by last week's quake remained unknown Tuesday. According to an article in "Living in Peru" there are sixty thousand Peruvians living in Japan, while Peru is home to the second largest Japanese population outside of Japan.

Peru's GDP grew 10 pct in January

The growth was due to increases in both external and internal demand. Nearly all sectors performed favorably, with the exception of mining and hydrocarbons.

Combis replaced by Metropolitano

If you've ever been on the Metropolitano during rush hour, you would have a very hard time believing that there is a problem with low ridership.
Amidst concerns about low ridership affecting the profitability of our new Metropolitano bus system, 20  public transportation companies whose routes overlapped at least 80 percent with those of the Metropolitano have been withdrawn from operation.
According to an earlier article, competition from colectivos, microbuses and combis (Lima’s de facto public transport system) along the route of the Metropolitano is one of the primary reasons why the system is only working at half capacity: only 300 of the 541 vehicles that make up its fleet are operating, according to president of Pro Transporte Juan Tapia Grillo.

The Great Bike Rights Event

Where was the parade?

I swear to God - we were out there for several hours - but never saw any of this!

Piano in the Park

There's always something going on in Parque Kennedy. One day last month while walking through the park, we came across this fun event. The writing on the piano says "Play Me - Piano for Everyone!"  It was just sitting there in the park, waiting for anyone who felt like it to turn out a tune. The young man in the picture entertained a bunch of us with a wonderful spontaneous concert! I love this place!

20-25% Increase for 2011

Peru's SEC expects Lima stock exchange to rise 20 - 25% by the end of 2011

The bike affare...

What a disappointment! :-( We walked up the street to where the bikers were gathering. This was around 11;00am. There was only one person that had her body painted. No, she was not nude, no one was nude or even close to being in their "all together". After a half hour we decided to walk back to our apartment building and wait for the bikes to pass. Nothing...wait.....nothing.....wait!
We gave up and went in to our apartment.  

A slice of history in Maine...

 Laurie wrote...

"The notebook of my grandmother's poetry had been sitting in a box for nearly 50 years. Her handwritten poems told stories of surviving the long winters deep in the woods of Maine, the mystery of the icy landscape after an ice storm, the odd event when sand storms from the mid-west threw sand all the way to Maine. There were stories of her neighbors and what the women did with their time. This year I finally put all of her poetry into book form so that all of her other relatives could enjoy this wonderful little piece of Gram's story. It was a wonderful project of love to be able to do it." 

Bare biking in Lima

http://www.livinginperu.com/thebreak-1996-general-perus-nude-cycling-event-kicks-off-march-12
March 12th there will be the annual nude bikers ride for awareness of bike safety. To read about it go to the link . The bikers will be going right past our apt building as they ride free as a bird down Av. Arequipa. Laurie thinks that we should invite friends to come and stand with us as we cheer on the Ciclonudistas. I thought that things like this only happened in Seattle Washington, USA. Those who will be riding will shed to suit themselves. I have seen some in the past, had their bodies painted and it was hard to tell how nude they were. So we will have the camera ready this Sunday. Not sure how this parade will be rated G, R, or X?

Our Hood: Bicycling in the Nude

The nude cycling march which has shocked and awed the masses of Lima returns!

Carnaval!

Don't know how we missed this!  Oh, well - Next Year!

The Peruvian Dream

He's a Lucky Man

I know what my husband is thinking tonight. He's thinking how amazing it is that he is married to someone who continues to discover the most fabulous places to eat. I could just see what he was thinking tonight as he was enjoying my newest discovery - 4 blocks down the street.

La Anticucheria

What an incredible discovery! I don't know how many times we had walked right by this place without checking it out. Great anticuchos (grilled beef heart) and a really fun place, too. Prices not bad either.

An Epiphany

I watched someone who I know well do something really weird today. Shopping for a color cartridge for his printer, the first vendor who he spoke to raced around and found the cartridge for him and gave him a price of 70 soles. He said "no"and walked away. The second vendor he spoke to quoted him a price of 76 soles for the identical cartridge and he immediately said "OK."

Cramming for Spanish exams...

Just like the good old days, trying to learn all you should have all month, in one night! I wish I could be writing this in Spanish without the use of Google translate. Someone once said " Spanish is an easy language to learn, but is made difficult, by complicated people."
Google could not handle it when I ran it back spanish to english. 
Well back to the exams. It will be me against the verbs. ir, ar, dar,estar. Then what do you call things in spanish. I think the class is aimed at a 7th grade student, not an old fart like me. I'll try my best.

We (Nosotros) are working on a project that is a lot more fun. Will let you know more as it progresses. 
Laurie would be posting but she is very busy cramming for her exams. 
Are we having fun or what? :-))
     

On the Way to School One Day

Stopping for coffee at our favorite corner panaderia on the way to school is a fun part of our morning routine.

Day at the Art Museum

Of course they wouldn't let us take pictures inside, but there were plenty of photo ops in the park around the museum. Great day.

I like my new Doctor, but...

I have a new Doctor at our clinic Good Hope. Just had  a follow up appointment to get a report on my blood test and others. Well everything looked good except he wants me to cut out red meats, wine, and reduce my salt intake. Well I can go with two out of three. But my glass of vino at dinner? That's just asking too much! Wine is good for you.  I don't smoke or do drugs so one glass of the fruit of the vine at dinner or in the evening, I think is OK. No?

It's a week later...

Laurie is trying to shake the lasts of the flu. So I thought I would try to keep things going on our blog. Our second month of Spanish lessons has started. Our class has the same teacher that Laurie had last month even though it's not the same level as Laurie had. Well it's to my benefit, as this teacher is very good.
I found out that the Clinica we signed up with has an unusual thing, Sunday is their Monday. Can you figure out the meaning? Well while your thinking about this riddle I will be getting ready to go to the Clinica "Good Hope" to pay our monthly dues today. (hint: Sunday/Monday) I finished another painting which I posted on facebook.
Have to do my homework for class on Monday. It's been many years since having to do homework :-(. I wonder if, when I'm long gone, my DNA was taken and they cloned me, would I come out knowing  two languages, Spanish and English? Not to mention all the other stuff I had to learn.  Wouldn't that be great for a second time around!    

Well, Here We Are!

Last night there were only 3 other people from the Expat Peru group who showed up at Como Agua para Chocolate. Nevertheless we had some nice conversation and drank too many margaritas (2 each actually, but I think 1 was enough). It's a very cool

OK

So just wait til tomorrow when the margaritas have cleared out of my blood and I'm thinking like a normal human being.

Como Agua para Chocolate

This is where we're thinking we will go this evening. Some of the people on the online group "Expat Peru" are meeting there. Hopefully we will meet some new and interesting people. We had heard of the place before and were intrigued by the name but didn't know where it was. Then on New Year's Day we walked through the park (de los Olivos) and stopped for wine and a bite to eat at Tanta and realized that Como Agua is right across from it. Have been meaning to go ever since so maybe tonight will finally be my chance.

A good ending...

Today was last day of the January Spanish classes. I was not sure if I would do well enough to go up the ladder to the next level of spanish class. I PASSED!! (just) The February classes start on the 3rd of Feb. I really have to study now.  But tonight we will clink our drinks together in celebration of a job well done for both Laurie and I. Laurie did very well in her Spanish class. 
Like Laurie said to me "It's about learning something, not about taking tests." 
Cheers!!

Just a Nice Day

Cuy - Que Rico!

The National Soft Drink

The Street Where We Live

I was just remembering that when we moved here we said, "just think, in a few months these big interesting, but bare, trees will be all green down our boulevard."  Guess what! That time is here! And it's beautiful.

Cuy!

Our friend Guillermo, at our favorite sidewalk cafe, has promised us cuy (guinea pig) for lunch tomorrow. He gave us a preview of tomorrow's lunch when we stopped by today!

Home of Ricardo Palma

This was one of the historical places that I meant to find and get to eventually. And then today we found ourselves walking by it. At first we stopped to admire the beautiful building. As we looked around we realized the plaque said that it was the home of the famous Peruvian writer (1833 - 1919).

Gene's been Craving Milanesa

But make mine Cordero Seco (lamb)!

So we got in this big conversation last night (on Facebook!) about milanesas and what they are called in English. Chicken fried steak or cutlets is what we all decided. And I was remembering

Another Cool Coffee Shop

Just discovered this one - and it's right across he street from the home of Ricardo Palma.

Sunday Afternoon

Little baby sandwiches, beer, and great conversation with the neighbors. Nice.