Ok for those of you who don't know (either because your not in Peru or because you live under a rock)since last Friday the city of Lima has been celebrating the Grand Week of Lima, a FREE 9 day event that encourages Lima's citizens to take back the streets in recognition of the City of Kings.  The festivities are being hosted by the Municipalidad de Lima and are sponsored by various established Peruvian businesses (Inka Cola, RPP, Cristal, etc.).

Most of the events will take place in the Plaza de Armas and surrounding areas including Jiron de La Union.  The Festivies include exhibitions of various local and regional art and artisan craftworks, as well as music and entertainment (from a dog show to a surprise concert to be held in the Plaza de Armas, word has it that Hermanos Yaipen and Grupo 5 will be there but don't quote me on that).

Here is a link to the main website where you can see the calender of events scheduled to take place.

Also for those currently in Lima, Chilean Artist Francisca Sánchez has setup a huge platform around the statue of Independence hero José de San Martín in the Plaza San Martin.  She titles it: "Yo y San Martín (Me and San Martín)".  This allows citizens and tourists the opportunity to get up close to the statue as well as receive a spectacular view of the city below.  The exhibit is available to the public up until the 1st of November and is open from 9am to 6pm.

Here is a cool video that talks about the project



IMPORTANT: LADIES IF YOU WANT TO CLIMB THE PLATFORM DO NOT WEAR HIGH HEELS.  THE SECURITY AT THE EXHIBIT IS STRICT AND WILL NOT LET YOU CLIMB THE STAIRS OF THE PLATFORM IF ARE WEARING HEELS!

Exhausted from a late saturday night of drinking and tom foolery, I chose to spend most of Sunday hibernating in an attempt to rejunenate my aging body.  When I did finally manage to crawl out of bed I decided to go get some outdoor exercise and headed with my dad to the local soccer stadium here in Chorrillos where the regular Sunday match was already underway.  There I found a few wonderful little ma and pa food stands selling the perfect Sunday morning meal Ceviche with Chicharron de Calamar (Ceviche with Fried Calamari).  Not really 100% in the mood for Ceviche I decided to go for the straight Chicharron platter instead, which was tender and delicious with just a hint of lime and ginger.

I then packed my camera gear as I normally do when I plan my weekend excursions and hailed a ride in a collectivo.  Once in Lima I met up with Zdenka and we headed over to the Plaza de San Martin where I rushed over to the monument platform eager to climb it to the top where I would undoubtly take several photos only to later rejoice at my photographic evidence.  Unfortuantely.........I was unaware of the NO HIGH HEELS policy and thanks to my beloved girlfriend was unable to wait in what was probably a 1 hour line.

Disappointed and anxious to take cool artsy photos we continued along Jiron de La Union which due to the festivities was packed.  It was there in Jiron that I spotted the most beautiful of all houses, a true work of art.  The ARCHITECTURE was like an architechs wet dream, I still have dreams about those columns and the 19th century hard wood floors. Saddly the beautiful shrine to artistic design and possible good old fashion slave labor had been converted as with most buildings on Jiron, into a god damn SHOE STORE of all things!
The thought still haunts me.




I managed to snap a few decent photos while in the Plaza de Armas and even passed through an open art exhibit in the Municipal building.  I really liked this painting.



The night finally ended in Jesus Maria where a craving for great, down to earth cooking came in the form of anticuchos and picarones.  The meal was put together by the local Catholic church on Av. Cuba as a fundraiser for some recently initiated sisters or something.

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.

So last week after walking from the Paraguayan consulate in Miraflores (next to the Marriott hotel) to Chorrillos I came across this restaurant. Comidas Criollas is located on Av. Huaylas in Chorrillos near the Municipalidad de Chorrillos (city hall). The restaurant is small and cozy looking with no front door makes it very inviting. The daily specials (menu) are posted at the entrance on a white board and consists of a starter dish, the main entree, and refresco (a drink made by boiling fruit or herbs in water and then adding suger, simple enough right). The entire menu costs you only S./5 (soles), roughly $1.50 and is more than enough to feed a burning hunger. At first sight it looks like any other neighborhood restaurant but where Comidas Criollas really shines is in the quality of their food.


photographed below is their starter dish, crema de rocoto. Usually the starter will consist of two options a salad dish or soup, just like in the States right. The two other dishes are as follows: fried chicken w/ russian salad and Carapulcra (dried potato stew w/chicken).


The fried chicken was well prepared, golden brown and crispy just the way I like it. The Russian salad consists of diced beet, green bean, potato, and green peas, topped with fresh homemade mayo.

The second dish, Carapulcra is a traditional dish of the Andes region made of rehydrated dried potatoes (papa seca), aji, peanuts, and rice. Carapulcra is a very hearty stew that is prepared in terracota pots to give it a rich and earthy flavor. In these winter days nothing is better than a nice warm plate of Carapulcra. I haven't eaten this dish much in my life but I was impressed with its preparation and flavor.

Overall I would definately recommend this restaurant if you ever find yourself in Chorrillos. The service is effecient and quick. The food is great and the price is inexpensive for the quality of food that is served. I will definately be eating there again soon. My only complaint about the place is that the menu is available in the later afternoon, so if you want to take advantage of it I would recommend eating their from noon til 2pm.

There is something about fried food that reminds me of the good ole US of A. Luckily Peruvians love fried food just as much as Americans. The photo above is of a fried dough called Yuquita and it is sold on the streets all over Lima. Nothing says cardiac arrest better than the semi-sweet taste of fried dough.

The flavor is very similar if not the same as the elephant ears I love to eat in the States, without the cinnamon and sugar of course. At S./1.4o (soles), yuquita being a street sold food is a little spendy than other snacks sold. Heck you can get a Churro for about S./.50 and its pretty much the same thing only in a more phallic form complete with its warm cream filling...come to think about it there is probably a good reason why I don't eat much of those.

Yuquita might not be considered the gastronomic representative of Peruvian food but when on the move and in need of boosting blood sugar levels it sure does the trick.