Last Sunday was Zdenka's youngest brother's first communion at their church in Breña.  Just like many things related to religion this was something new to me, something I had never experienced before and it was very interesting to witness.  According to Wikipedia (which is probably not a great source to quote in terms of credibility but it should be),

"The First Communion is a Catholic Church ceremony for a person's first reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Catholics believe this event to be very important, as the Eucharist is one of the central focuses of the Catholic Church".

  
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As some of you may already know I have been talking about my preparations for my civil marriage to Zdenka for quite some time now.  Last Saturday was our civil marriage at the municipal hall in Breña, located near downtown Lima and it was a wonderful day.



They say that's it's common for both the bride and groom to be nervous the day before and day of the actual event, however my experience was a completely different one.  I have never felt so calm and sure about any decision I have ever made in my life and I was looking forward to seeing it through.  The interesting thing about a civil wedding is how formal and luke warm it is compared to the typical religious wedding.  The room where the wedding took place inside the municipal hall of Breña was more of a conference room/storage room than anything else.  The procedure itself was administered by a municipal employee and had all the makings of contractual agreement.  The ceremony was fast, 15 minutes fast, with the majority of the time dedicated to various family/friend photo configurations.



The rest of the day beautiful sunny day was spent inside of across the street at a reception hall where lunch was served and music played from a DJ who apparently had just taken a crash course in operating a music synthesizer.  While I am thankful to everyone who came that day I have to admit that the best part was the down time spent with Zdenka in a very comfortable and upscale hotel room in Miraflores.  The best sleep I have had in a long time, wish I would have looked a the brand of mattress. (thank you Evelyn and Lorenzo for the wonderful hotel package!)

In Peru when people want to raise money regardless of the need, they often throw what is called an anticuchada (where the dish anticuchos are served) or a pollada (where chicken is served).  These events usually offer a plate the mentioned food at a set price in an environment that offers music and the opportunity to socialize and dance.  Beer and soda are also commonly sold, as these events are also seen as an opportunity to get together with friends and family to party. 

Yesterday Zdenka held her pollada in the local (a place that is offered to those who want to throw a party or event) a few houses down from hers.  I managed to arrive about 2pm which was just in time to assist her father with the preparation and frying of the chickens.  Thankfully most of the prep work had already been taken care of in advance so all that was really left to do was fry the chickens.  For the event Zdenka had purchased around 75 whole chickens, each of which cost S/. 14 and which she sold during her event at S/. 8 per quarter piece of chicken with sliced potatoes and hot sauce (rocoto)!  If you can manage to wrangle up a large enough group of attendees then you can make a good amount of money. 

Probably the most tiring process throughout the entire event was the job held by Zdenka's father, who was in charge of frying all the chickens!  Since one fry pan wasn't enough to take on the large task, several pots and pans, including one huge pot were enlisted.  On six separate burners, four from the stove and two from the portable stove were used in order to fry about 15 quarter pieces of chicken at a time.  Her father must have used about 20 bottles of canola oil to fry the 300 quarter pieces of chicken, a process which left the chicken completely covered in oil and grease. 

The pollada went well although it was not as successful as the anticuchada which was held about a month and a half ago.  People began purchasing beer around 5pm and the party went on until 1:30am when the event began to die down. 

For my experience with these types of fundraising events I have come to learn that one can make a good amount of money but to do so requires a lot of pre-planning and labor to make it payoff.

Well July has finally arrived and cold winter weather has set in as I must hold tight for the next 5 monthes until summer arrives (hopefully on-time).  Work has slowed a bit since some of classes have ended and I find myself with more free time than I would care to have, still it´s nice to have a day or to during the week to breathe. 

This month as well as last month I have been busy getting all my papers in order with the municipality of Breña for my upcoming wedding in August, thats right folks I´m getting married!  Even as I type this post from Zdenka´s home I am currently finishing up the last remaining tasks in order to get married here in Peru.  Let me just say that the while living in Peru may be great there are a few things that are quite tedious, like getting married for example.  So far Zdenka and I have had to fill out numerous declarations and documents of which are only the beginning of the civil marriage process, then we had to pay to publish an wedding announcement in a local newspaper (I believe it was called La Razón, which means The Truth or Reason).  Meanwhile I had to get my birth certificate certified by the Peruvian Consulate in San Francisco to verify that I was indeed born in the US, this process was not as stressful since I already had an extra copy from a year ago.  Today we took our medical exams which was an interesting ordeal, first off the State requires that all couples get medical blood-work done to test for any comunicable diseases or viruses, sounds simple enough yet strange for marriage.  Well when we went to have the test done we first paid the fee and then filled out a standard medical form (so far so good) but then when we handed in the document the nurse asked Zdenka what her blood type was to which she gave the answer and when it came time to ask me I was clueless so guess what I had to have my blood taken.  A quick prick from a surgical needle and my blood was donated, exam finished?  What left me was confused was that because Zdenka knew her bloodtype she did not have to give blood, hell she didn´t even recieve a medical exam for that matter.  I guess the honor system and prefabricated medical results are common practice by the municipality! 

Anyways, whats done is done (even though I paid for an medical exam which was practically never conducted) and all that is left is for me to take my certified birth certificate to the Ministry of Exterior Relations to have them verify that the Consulate in San Francisco verified my birth certificates validity, a process of course which will cost money and time.  It´s amazing how they make up ways to stretch out a legal process for the sake of making a few extra soles.  Regardless of how ridiculous the process might be the end result is all that really matters to me.

Aside from the wedding arrangements there is also the independence week which is coming up and should be a lot of fun.  In Peru, the week of the 28th is a very special date since it marks the day the country declared it's independence from the Spanish Crown.  It's also important to know that this date was not the day Peru expelled and defeated the Spanish Army since this did not occur until December after the Liberation forces led by General Antonio Jose de Sucre claimed victory at the Battle of Ayacucho.

"... From this moment on, Peru is free and independent, by the general will of the people and the justice of its cause that God defends. Long live the homeland! Long live freedom! Long live our independence!".

Last Saturday I was with Zdenka and we decided to go partake in some sin and go gambling at the Atlantic City Casino in Miraflores, which by the way sucks because instead of giving you coins they give you this stupid ticket, but I won't go into details about that.

We hailed a cab on the Av. Arica in Breña at roughly 10pm and within only 2 minutes of entering a loud thump was heard coming from the back of the rickety Tico. At the time we barely remembered seeing a man pass the car and it was then that we realized that he had hit our parked car and had passed out. That's right, having exited the vehicle to inspect the scene of the crime I found our victim sprawled out on the pavement. I had to act fast since there was oncoming traffic approaching over the horizon. Luckily there was a female cop at the scene who assisted by doing absolutely NOTHING,...wait what? That's right, she just stood there and watched the entire accident and rescue attempt unfold all while wearing what I considered an ironic citizen's police vest. Apparently in Peru the police couldn't give a damn about helping drunks and homeless which was fairly apparent and as my father confirmed, they really don't give a damn. NOTE TO SELF DON'T GET DRUNK TO THE POINT THAT YOU NEED POLICE ASSISTANCE, IT WON'T COME.

In an attempt to aid the downed citizen I and two other individuals proceeded to carry the limp body towards the sidewalk. I felt bad about leaving him lying in the middle of the sidewalk so I picked him up and sat him up against the wall of a pharmacy building. It wasn't until that moment that I realized he was totally drunk of his ass (as the details of this story will obviously prove).



I felt bad leaving the guy there knowing that he would more than likely be the future victim of robbery (which upon returning later the next day proved to be an accurate assumption as we found him lying in the middle of the street without shoes!), however I also had little sympathy for him since he chose to let the good times roll a little too hard.

Having conducted my good Samaritan deed for the year I reentered the cab and headed off to go gamble away the guilt of leaving a drunk man vulnerable in the streets of Lima, Awww LIFE!

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to eat at the Choza Nautica in Breña. When I was 13 I remember eating there once with my family. The restaurant at the time had more of a heavier nautical-esc theme to it, now 10 years later the place has a whole new look to it. In an attempt to stay current with todays modern trends La Choza Nautica has remodeled the main floor of their principal restaurant (They have a second one just across the street that serves as an auxillary which I have not been inside). The tabletops are glass with metal chairs, the walls are painted red which add a little warmth to the cold feeling of their seating. The second floor remains fairly unchanged and still maintains it's original charm, which not surprisingly is where the majority tend to eat. La Choza also provides live musical entertainment on their main floor with excellent singers belting out today's hottest songs.



On to the FOOD

La Choza specializes in seafood and is where it really shines (they also serve criollo plates, but hey lets face it you didn't go to a seafood restaurant to eat beef did you?). They have a large list of wonderful dishes for one to choose, from the classic/cop-out Ceviche to Causa de Pulpa de Cangrejo (causa of crab meat).




I ate on a Saturday in the afternoon (which was rather full) with Zdenka and her friends. This gave me the best opportunity to sample several popular dishes. The wait time on a busy day was roughly around 25 minutes.

The plates that I sampled were the following: Arroz con Mariscos (seafood fried rice), Causa de Pulpa de Cangrejo, Tiradito, Chicharron de Calamar (fried Calamari), and Pulpo al Olivo (Octopus in Kalamata Olive Sauce). The dishes were great and the seafood were fresh and flavorful. The seafood is fresh and is prepared with care and skill that is visible in its final form. The calamari was fresh and well balanced with the breading giving it a light and cruchy flavor. The proportion size of the plates are the perfect amount to satisfy the palate and justify the investment.

The service was good and the overall experience was pleasant, definately a good spot to have lunch with the family or friends. I would not recommend it as a romantic date spot due to the multiple tv's playing sports or music, not to mention the loud music from the first floor. La Choza Nautica is a very social dining experience with great food.

One negative might be the price ($$) which ranges from S/. 15 a plate to S/. 35, which might make eating here a bit pricey for some.




Overall the food is well worth those few extra soles and I would definately recommend those who have not eaten there to try it out. Reservations can also be arranged in advance for those with large parties.

Location:

Av. Breña 204/211/213
located on the first block of the Av. Arica - to the back of Plaza Bolognesi
511-423-8087

For a look at their menu visit their website: www.lachozanautica.com

After a night of dancing, drinking, and early morning (5am) pollo a la brasa. I decided to take it easy Sunday. I slept in till about noon and then met up with my girlfriend Zdenka and her friends in Breña. They were supposedly going to make Ceviche but none of them really wanted to cook or knew how to for that matter so we ended up doing the next best thing, eating out.

We went to a restaurant in Breña called the Choza Nautica, a seafood restaurant which I will be writing a review about it soon. The food was great and we all had a good time. The weather was awful it almost reminded me of the weather back home in Portland, Oregon.

The photo below was taken at Zdenka's house where there was these little dishs that had all these little tiny wet balls (that doesn't sound right) of different colors. Apparently they are for growing plants? You buy them in these little packages and they start off as tiny little plastic seeds that when introduced to a little H2O they become what you see below. I am not really sure how they work but they are cool looking.


So days after a hard days work when I am too tired to want to make dinner I head down to the corner and buy what I consider Peruvian fast food, Chifa. The place down the street from my home is always packed in the evenings till late at night with locals feasting on Arroz Chaufa (fried rice) or Aeropuerto (which is just stir fried noodles mixed with arroz chaufa). The best part about this place is you get to watch the cook prepare your meal right in front of you in this huge wok, no need to worry about the cook spitting into your dish.

Arroz Chaufa is the probably the fastest dish served there and most popular. When I order my rice I like to go easy on the MSG, yeah its the bowl of white powder to left of the other bowl of white powder (salt, silly) in the photo, and if that isn't enough sodium to cram into your arteries there is the generous portion of soy sauce. Say what you will but when all these wonderful and potentially lethal (over time) ingredients come together they create something so special and wonderful words can't even begin to describe it.