Tuesday involved a misadventure of epic proportions. Well, we didn’t run into any sirens or get turned into frogs, as in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, but it was a pretty good misadventure nevertheless. Maty was not feeling up to par, so my brother-in-law and I headed toward Lurin to visit the pre-Inka ruins at Pachacamac. Oh, go on, you can read all about it…
We spent most of Saturday morning getting ready for the pachamanca, a great form of cooking out, that involves heating rocks until they are hot, then using the rocks to cook the food. If you have never had real, Peruvian pachamanca, you are missing out. It is truly a treat. It’s a lot of hard work, but well worth every drop of sweat that goes into it. Although Friday was my birthday, we waited until Saturday to do the pachamanca so the family could join us for the celebration.
It was a rough two days. On Wednesday I climbed up to Buenos Aires via the steps, and on Thursday we took a taxi up to Tinajon, a small resort just off the River Santa Eulalia, to visit the swimming pool and enjoy a nice lunch.
On Friday, the 4th, Maty dragged me, kicking and screaming to be sure, to Brisas del Titicaca, a dance club run by the Peruvian Cultural Association. They offer two shows, one at lunch and the other at dinner. Maty had been hyping the club since shortly after we met. Their Youtube videos are great fun to watch, and if you just can’t get there, I highly recommend watching a few. But all in all, it is much better to be there, since you are in the atmosphere and can really enjoy it more. In our case, we headed to Brisas in Central Lima for the Almuerzo (lunch) Show.
We spent Monday and Tuesday mostly just relaxing – picking a few avocados, going shopping and simply hanging out. Tuesday was Maty’s son’s birthday, so we passed the day in Chosica, stopping for celebratory lunch at the Fond Marino restaurant.
I thought I had died and gone to Heaven. I was surrounded by Maty and her wonderful family, about half way up in the Peruvian highlands, sitting under a tent, listening to live bands playing the classic folk music, all while taking in the aroma of Peruvian foods being cooked – and chasing some fresh fried trout with a rather sizable bottle of Cristal.
My previous article mentions that Maty’s uncle passed away. In the midst of sight-seeing and shopping, we took a little time to spend with the family at her Uncle’s wake. Read the rest of this entry »
I have finally gotten the photos of Santa Eulalia posted. Santa Eulalia is just a few minutes East of Chosica, in the department of Lima, Peru. This time, we just took a walk up to Santa Eulalia’s Plaza de Armas and then on to Buenos Aires, a small village just up the hill from Chosica and Santa Eulalia.
Municiple Offices of Santa Eulalia
We encountered beautiful flowers, trees and birds along the way. The birds actually looked like either gray catbirds or mockingbirds, but with slightly different markings. Unfortunately, I could not positively identify them. We also saw a tree that produces something closely resembling cotton. There is nothing touristy about Santa Eulalia, and yet, it has a simple beauty all its own.
As always, enjoy!
On Tuesday, we made another foray into Lima, this time to the Plaza de Armas (main square), where I got to see – oh, I’ll let you read about it in the post – and ate dinner in Lima’s (in)famous Barrio Chino (China Town) and ventured through a notoriously dangerous block-and-a-half with my valuable camera equipment after dark. Read the rest of this entry »
This is the sixth post in a series of articles about our trip to Peru in September. This post covers dinner with one (fairly large) branch of Maty’s mother’s family in Santa Anita, which is just on the outskirts of Lima, and also a walk through Santa Eulalia, and even Buenos Aires. Whodathunk you could walk from Chosica to Buenos Aires? Read the rest of this entry »