Lunch at the Cordon Bleu

It's Friday - Lunch with the BMW's (Beautiful Mature Women)

Did you know that the Cordon Bleu school in Lima has a restaurant? Reservations are required and it's a bit pricier than a menu on the corner place, but what a fun experience! Amazingly innovative dishes. I will go again!

Rincon Chami

Lunch today at one of my favorite restaurants - down a little side street called Esperanza (Hope) in the center of Miraflores, this little gem has tables on the sidewalk, friendly service, and a wide selection of fabulous Peruvian food. Gene had fish. I had goat, one of my favorites. Oh, and there are usually a couple of musicians stopping by to play for tips.

Museum Day

One of the goals I set for myself a while ago was to visit every museum in Lima! I don't know if that's even possible considering how many there are. I'm always accidentally discovering one that I'd never heard of before, so it may be an open-ended project, but that's just fine. How amazing to live in a city with so much history and so many museums that you can never see them all! My project got a huge boost recently when one of the BMW's (more on them later), the amazing archaeologist Dorothee Rivka Rago, took my friends and me on a private tour of the Amano Museum here in Miraflores. The museum is home to an amazing collection of ceramics, textiles and various objects from all pre-columbian cultures, with an emphasis on the Chancay culture. The visit was so fascinating, and I ended up with so many amazing photographs, that I came home and put together a photo collection for the friends who had been with me on the visit. You can see my collection of photos over at Morning at Amano with Dorothee.

Family for Christmas Week

The most exciting event of 2011, for me, was the visit for the week before Christmas by son Mark, daughter-in-law Debbie, and the fabulous dancing duo grandchildren, Megan and Austin! Their first visit to Peru, the kids' first trip outside the US, and my first experience having the family visit me since we left the US nearly 10 years ago (Mark visited for a few days when we were in Costa Rica, but this was a first for the whole family to come). Of course by the time they arrived here, I was a basket case from trying to have everything ready and perfect and planning how I was going to fit in everything that I needed to show them in just five short days!

Day two of the kids' visit was awesome, busy, fun.
I am already worrying about missing them when they leave.
Having them here is so incredible.
Today we toured Huaco Pucllana, the pre-inca ruins two blocks from our house, had a great lunch at Mangos so everybody could have the opportunity to try a huge variety of Peruvian dishes from the buffet, walked around Mall Larco Mar to have the kids' pictures taken with Santa. Well, actually Santa wasn't on duty at the time we were there, but at least they got their photo taken at the Santa chair place at a mall in Lima! Some of the other activities for the day involved playing charades with an especially funny display by the father of my grandchildren, and a couple of beginner lessons on using my awesome new Samsung tablet. The lessons were given free by my grandchildren. The tablet was a gift from my grandchildren and their awesome Dad (my amazing elder son!)
Oh, and of course, there is always dance!

 Day 3: I really do not know how we fit so much into a day. I love having these guys here! We walked into Miraflores center and had lunch at the amazing Astrid y Gaston (http://www.astridygaston.com/web/intro.php) - home of the world famous Gaston Acurio. I have wanted to go to this place for years, so it was super special to get to go there with Mark & Debbie and the kids. And yes, I even let Mark pick up the tab!  The food is even better than its reputation. The place is beautiful. The service is fabulous.  I would love to go back there.
In the afternoon, we took the double-decker bus tour to Lima centro, where among other things, the kids got to see the bones of 30,000 people. Hmmm...much more interesting for them, I think, than the fabulous historical architecture and governmental buildings!

Back at home, more dance demonstrations. 

Day 4: Lunch at La Mar.
Lima's famous magic water fountains
Another busy day and lots more fun with my fabulous grandchildren.
How can I keep them here another week or so?
I'm a little embarrassed to say that we ate at a 3rd Gaston restaurant today! It was well worth it - but I will try to be more inventive tomorrow.
But let me back up a bit and tell you that first thing in the morning, I sent Mark and Debbie off for a good run, down the boulevards and then along the malecon. I think it was a nice chance for them to do something that fits their normal life interests with something that's great about my city - wonderful places to walk and run! But my motive for sending them off to enjoy a run along the cliffs was that I could have my grandchildren all to myself, to go to my favorite corner bakery (panaderia) for breakfast rolls and juice! These two are so much fun!
So after our morning activities, we were off to Gaston's La Mar, one of my very first favorite places for ceviche - a few years back when we "discovered" Lima! As always, they delighted us with the freshness and quality of the fish as well as the creativity of the presentation. I love this place!

So after our morning activities, we were off to Gaston's La Mar, one of my very first favorite places for ceviche - a few years back when we "discovered" Lima! As always, they delighted us with the freshness and quality of the fish as well as the creativity of the presentation. I love this place! And it was pretty obvious that everybody else liked it, too, although we had to wait a while for a table.
The evening was a visit to my very first, top of the list, everybody's got to go there, most important place to visit in Lima: the famous magical water fountains! A quick bus ride up the road and a 4 sol (dollar and a half or so) entry and you get to see one of the most fabulous shows anywhere. I'm not sure why we don't go every week! After the fountains, a quick bite at the corner grill and we were done for the day. And now I'm really worried about letting them go so soon.

Day 5: This is the last day and I am not dealing with it very well. I would like to live in a Latin matriarcal culture where the Momma rules. I would make rules like the kids have to take Mom to dinner every Sunday afternoon and ...
And then back to reality: Since it's their last day here, and since everyone clearly was enjoying the ceviche, I decided to take them to where you get the freshest and best fish anywhere - at the beach - Chorillos! Unfortunately it's not as much fun during the week when the crowds aren't there to give it a festive spirit, but it was still some awesome damned fish! Afterwards we spent some time on another little section of the malecon, one of my favorite places in the whole world of course. Tomorrow early in the morning, they leave. I have loved having the dancing grandkids here. I haven't figured out a way to get them to stay longer. I haven't even scratched the surface of everything I wanted to do and show them while they were here.

Where has the time gone? I am seriously considering (1) starting this blog up again, or (2) starting a brand new blog with a different focus. I loved this blog when I was doing it, but then got to a place where it either felt like I (1) had done nothing new to blog about, or (2) was too busy doing things to take time out to blog about them! In either case, it hasn't worked all that well and I'm currently trying to re-prioritize my life! As you all know, it's not easy. Having goals would be good, I guess. So maybe my first goal should be to establish a goal! Meanwhile, I'll try to be back soon to fill you in on some of the things I've been doing and learning.