FOOD in PERÚ

We were assured that there would be access to wonderful meals in Perú.  It's true. Tropical and temperate climate fruits and vegetables, dairy foods and treats of every kind, Peruvian traditional dishes such as lomo saltado, pollo a la brasa, ahi de gallina, and freshly baked breads and pastries are easy to find. The prices of fresh foods frequently astounded us: $10 US for a large basketful of pineapple, mangoes, oranges, limes, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, corn, etc. You can select expensive restaurants and pay prices comparable to US prices, but you don't need to.  

There are dozens of suitable, reasonably priced restaurants in most areas of the city of Lima where a visitor would go. Lomo Saltado

This was a sure fire bet for us. Connie has allergies to shellfish, fish sauce, and it turned out also to the spice called AHI. Ahi has a smooth, slightly spicy flavor; lots of people love it. Pollo a la Brasa was another dish guaranteed to be delicious and widely available. In this picture with the Lima Temple in the background, we are at Pardos Chicken restaurant.  My friends Sylvia de la Cruz and her husband,

Gabriel Gabriel, and I all selected pollo a la brasa for our dinner. Notice the purple drink, chicha morada, on the table. Delicious! 

Other favorite Peruvian dishes are ceviche and roasted cuy. Many people love these dishes; we do not have pictures of these.

Since we lived in the neighborhood of La Molina in the northwestern part of Lima, we often ate out at Don Tito's on Avenida Flora Tristan, or at Molina Plaza at San Antonio's or Don Mamino's; these places are still open despite COVID, doing Take Out and Delivery. We both loved Don Mamino's for their freshly baked pastries and breads, their wonderful salads [and we never got sick from their salads], and delicious desserts.  Here you can see their ice cream bar:

. Don Maminos

 

 

Also from Don Mamino, this pastry: torta is a cake; lucuma is a fruit I found delicious and very interesting.  It also has such beautiful seeds; I wanted to make a necklace out of them. [But had to leave them in Perú due to restrictions about importing fruits and vegetables to the US.]  Most commonly, I bought the Lucuma Yoghurt.  The lucuma I see advertised in the US looks as though it is not ripe, so the flavor would be off. 

A favorite food of ours while we lived in Lima was the freshly baked pastries and rolls at Karlita's, a little bakery 20 steps from our apartment. They baked hundreds of rolls twice a day and customers bought them all.  To come into the shop at 6 pm as the second big load of rolls came out of the oven and the smell of the freshly baked bread filled the store was to be transported to another realm.  Customers waited patiently for those ahead of them; everyone scooped out of the bins the rolls they wanted, using tongs, and placed them in the brown paper bags provided. The sales woman or man was very friendly and we often chatted a bit when the shop was not so busy.  I think we learned to make change and get familiar with the Peruvian sole, and the coins used, by shopping at Karlita's several times a week.  I did not get a picture of the bread and rolls in their bins; how I wish I had! But here is a shot of some of the delightful chocolate brownies made at Karlita's that I bought Clair for his birthday in 2019.

Made at Karlita's on Avenida Melgarejo

We also loved the artisan bread we were able to get delivered to our Office by André Maldonado of the Pan Masana, a small business that started up in our neighborhood.

For food we bought and brought home, we used filtered water to wash it, and then immersed it in a bleach solution for 10 minutes. This proved to be very successful. We never got sick when we ate at home or with friends who soaked their vegetables and fruits.

Perú's carrots are huge, and very tender and sweet.

                                                                                           Some of the best meals were home cooked meals.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

                     Dinner at Sister Winnie Graham's home was always a treat.  We all learned some things about cooking from her.  In our senior missionary group of over 30 people, we had some marvelous cooks!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Lomo saltado cooked at home

  

Prickly pear, pomegranates, aguaymanto. These are some delicious fruits. You can see chirimoya also.

                        persimmon, perhaps...                                          

                                                                                                       Sweet granadilla is a favorite:

All these fruits and vegetables for about $5.00 US.

Chirimoya [called custard apple in English] is one of my favorite fruits.  I could eat it and mango every day and be totally happy.

Eating is such a social occasion, and such a pleasure!

              Celebrating Valerie Bybee's birthday at San Antonio's, January 13, 2020

at Mis Costillitas with friends in 2019

      A marvelous Despedida for Elder Hugo Montoya and his wife Carmen.

Many of the north american wives participated in 'Lunch Bunch' in Lima. We each brought a dish to share.  We gathered together 7 or 8 times a year.

 

For the best buys on certain types of foods, you have to go to the marketplace.  Here we are at Josfel Market, Aisle 19, Stall # 47:

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If you really are hungry, little shops like this are everywhere and you can find a snack.

 

 

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This blog and several to follow will show life in Perú as we experienced it prior to evacuation in late March 2020 due to Covid-19.

 

Magic Water Circuit, Lima Peru

Last night Connie and I took a taxi to downtown Lima and visited the Magic Water Circuit.  This is one of the most visited sites in Lima.  Each evening, there are three shows of colored laser lights projected onto water sprayed into the air by fountains.  The park in which the fountains are located has a number of other fountains which are illuminated with variously colored lights.  The sight is a very popular place for local families to bring children who like to play in the fountains and other water features.

Each laser light show lasts for 15 minutes.  It is a challenge to obtain a sharp image with the moving water and the rapidly changing laser display.  These images were shot at an ISO of 1600 with the aperture of my lens wide open.  Here are a few images from our Valentines Day trip to Lima's Magic Water Circuit.

Laser image of a hummingbird projected onto a jet of water 

Abstract laser image focused on a spray of water

Abstract laser image at Magic Water Circuit, Lima Peru

Abstract laser image projected onto water

Silhouette of a boy playing in illuminated fountain

Photos of Andean Cock-of-the-rock

When Connie and I made our Christmas to New Years Eve trip to the Antioquia area of Colombia, one of the towns we visited was Jardin.  We stayed there overnight and the following morning got up early to visit a small private bird refuge.  There, we were able to view and photograph several Andean Cock-of-the-rock birds.  This bird is found in mountain forests of the Andean countries of South America.  It is the national bird of Peru.  Colombia is a popular destination for birding as it has more species of birds than any other country on earth.

The Andean Cock-of-the-rock is a bird with bright red-orange plumage on its crowned head, chest and upper back, a gray lower back and black primary wings and tail.  Its feet are yellow.  Most unusual is the large fan-like crown above its rather small head and tiny bill.  

The bird can be challenging to photograph because it perches in the dense vegetation and not out in the open.  I used a 300mm lens (the longest I have with me in South America) to photograph the birds.  I made many exposures to obtain a few good images of the birds with unobstructed views.  

Connie's Post_Comuna 13 Part two

Experiencing the steep streets of Comuna 13 together was cool. And, due to an untimely ankle fracture, one of our group got to experience Comuna 13 from the perspective of a wheelchair. 

In the late 1990's through 2011,
government projects to improve 
living conditions in Comuna 13 
culminated in the completion 
of las escaleras eléctricas, 
a 1260 foot long escalator 
with six sections. 

This escalator was
inaugurated on 26 December 2011. Its purpose is to ease residents daily trek up and down the steep mountainsides.  In the picture to the right, you can see the orange edges of the six sections of the escalera.   

Prior to 2011, 350 narrow concrete steps and small streets too steep to drive a car up provided access to the narrow alleys. We did dodge motorcycles roaring up the streets on the day we visited, December 31.

Residents are constantly benefitting from this innovative outdoor escalator. It has made the Comuna accessible,  increased community pride, and is now a tourist attraction as well. 

When we got to the top of las escaleras, we found a big crowd gathered.  There was a holiday atmosphere in the streets.  We and many others watched some skilled break dancers / rap artists put on a show. 

We arrived at the top and found a large crowd gathered
 and loud music playing 

Black and White C 13

They had a constant dialogue going and were constantly in motion. 
Later we saw some 6 or 7 year old boys doing pretty good break dancing with rap by themselves.

The break dancers had a collection jar; people were very generous. They also had T-shirts and other items for sale.  And there were many beautiful T-shirts and other memorabilia.

Further along in the streets of C13, graffiti recognizing individuals and groups appeared.

Many different animals are painted into this lion's head image: a lion, a penguin, an octopus, and about 8 more animals.

We had our picture taken at the
 'Wall of Love'

Some guy we didn't know took over pushing
the wheelchair

 As we concluded our visit, it began to rain -- hard.  All the buses returning to the San Javier Metro stop were full to overflowing.  We decided to walk back, downhill. All along the way through the streets, people helped us over and over with the wheelchair. 








         End of Comuna 13 Post