Nilesh's Posterous

Lima Pena Show - Traditional Dances of Peru

While I was in Lima, Lia took me to a Pena Show - a traditional show featuring the culture, dances and different costumes from all the different parts of Peru. I really enjoyed the show and the dances. At the end of the show, the MC went around and asked people where they were from and got representatives from each country present in the crowd on stage and got everybody a flag of their country.. but of course they would not have one for Mauritius.. Then, he asked to perform a dance featuring their traditional culture !! I told them that we don't dance in Mauritius.. but he insisted and got me to dance to some Brasilian tunes on stage :)

Food of Peru

Food is big in Peru. People love food and there's a huge variety of food to choose from. Each province of Peru have their own typical food that they are proud of and each is as varied and different from each other.

The most common ingredient in a lot of the food though is fish, potatoes (Peru has like maybe 100 different types of Potatoes) and fresh chili sauce served with any meal. Peruvians love their food hot and chili sauce is not something you usually ask. It's a basic condiment.

Amongst the different other types of cuisine in Peru, the common cuisine was Chinese Cuisine. It's called Chifa food in Peru and is a varietal of the common Chinese food that we typically know. It's a fusion between Chinese food and Peruvian Food. You can definitely taste the chinese in it, but at the same time find local Peruvian flavor to it.

In each region, the speciality is different such as in Cusco, the main typical dish is Cuy - Guinea Pig, in Arequipa Rocotto Relleno and Chupa de Camarones and in Lima, Cebiche. I tried all of these except for Cuy. It did not look too appetizing to me and I heard it's only bones and skin basically.

Food is also very cheap in Peru. Every day for lunch or dinner, they have fixed menus including in most cases an appetizer, a soup, a main dish, a desert and a drink. While in Cusco, I paid as cheap as 3 soles(USD $1) for a set meal, in Lima, it was around 10 soles (USD $2.5).

Apart from the traditional peruvian food, Lima is much polluted by American chain food - Mc Donalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Chilis, TGIF, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks etc..

Now that I am in Argentina where food choices are basically limited to Beef, Pasta and Pizza, I am really missing all that great variety of food I had in Peru.

Lima, Peru

I think Lima is the place that I stayed the most in one single place during this trip -  2 weeks. I did not do a lot of touristy things in Lima. Internet was the among the fastest I've found in my trip - So, I took the opportunity to stay in and do some work for a couple of clients in San Francisco, 1) to feel a bit more useful and not a total traveling bum and 2) to pay for the trip so far :) I stayed in Miraflores in a prime location - just in front of Parque Kennedy.Everything was walking distance and many bus lines passed just in front.

While in Lima, I met my university friend - Lia. She works for the United Nations in Lima. She was a great host to me during this visit to Lima. She brought me around to taste the different traditional dishes of Peru, including Anti-Cucho.. i had always seen people eat that on the streets and was grossed out by the odor of it.. but it's very famous in Peru and most traditional snacks - it smells because there are intestines and insides involved !! We also tried some good traditional Cebiche and other peruvian Goodies. On the first Saturday night I was there together with her sister, we went out to hang out in the Baranco neighborhood which is the hippy/bohemian neighborhood of Lima by the ocean. It was great and we ended up the night watching a a traditional Pena show - featuring all the dances, costumes and traditions of Peru. Her sister was also great. I stayed at her place when I initially got to Peru and drove me to the airport. Thanks a lot to both of you !!

One major thing I noticed in Lima as compared to all the countries/cities in this trip is that there were many many american chains. Within a couple of blocks of where my Hostel was (Pariwana Hostel), there was a Mc Donalds, a Burger King, a Dunkin Donuts, a Pizza Hut, a KFC and even a Starbucks ! I even later found a Chilis, a Tony Romas and TGIF (In the Larcomar mall). The Miraflores neighborhood is very modern and cosmopolitan as opposed to many of the other traditional neighborhoods of Lima. I almost felt I was in the US sometimes while in Miraflores. Once I went to the starbucks and everybody was speaking only in English even.

Lima is a big city with many neighborhoods. Each neighborhood is like a mini town in itself. While I stayed mostly in Miraflores, I did venture out to the Barios Chino, which is their version of a Chinatown and as in every chinatown, there were the traditional Peking Duck hanging out in the windows and dim sums and all the good chinese food available. The chinatown is close to Downtown. Lima's downtown is old with many ancient buildings, churches, walking streets and Balconies (yes, Lia pointed out to me to check them out and indeed the downtown area had some neat balconies).

While in Lima, I even got to meet another Mauritian. In fact, Lia's office had a seminar and the speaker who was flying in to give the seminar was Mauritian. So we all met for dinner and it was nice meeting up another Mauritian down here. Mauritians are a pretty rare breed in South America :)

I was supposed to stay only 1 week in Lima. I had a flight out after that week. I headed to the airport, but was not allowed to board my flight to Buenos Aires, because my visa was expired even before it was used !! So I had to come back to Lima and try to figure out how to get a new visa. Went to the argentinean consulate and it took me about 1 week to secure the visa. Fortunately, the ticket I had purchased had a no penalty policy for changes etc..