Roughing it in Miraflores

Miranda in Miraflores

Well, I have to admit. There isn't much to complain about here in Lima. Miraflores is the touristy, expat part of Lima - we've been affectionately calling it gringoland. A lot of the big hotels are here, and its right on the waterfront. I'm living in a great apartment just two blocks from the sea. Lima is perched on the top of cliffs in a wide bay. Just two blocks from my apartment is Larco Mar - a posh shopping mall / movie theater / giant nightclub that is carved into the cliffs. Stairs lead down to the water, where there are, on average of course, about a hundred surfers a day. Constantly flying overhead is a mass of paragliders; on windy weekends there are upwards of fifty of them at once.

Food in Peru is fantastic and (relatively) cheap. The food isn't spicy like it is in other parts of Latin America; but the ceviche is definitely the best in the world. Ceviche, if you haven't had it, is raw fish "cooked" in lime juice. Here it comes in enormous chunks of fish and seafood, and costs only a few dollars for an enormous plate. To the shock and horror of our Peruvian friends, we dove into the ceviche on the very first day. (They think we're all delicate little flowers!) There are also a lot of grilled meats with spicy sauces. Of course, potatoes are a part of every meal (if you didn't know, the potato originates from Peru!). The drink of choice is chicha morada, and juice made from blue corn. A specialty around here is anticuchos, or grilled cow heart. They are surprisingly delicious, though I can't say I liked the grilled intenstines! Besides, we had three vets at the table who had more fun identifying stomach compartments than eating them.

Of course, the fruit is one of the best parts of being here, although its a different mix of fruits than I got to know in Panama. Chirimoya (Custard Apple) is everywhere and really creamy and delicious. There is passionfruit (Maracuya) everywhere, which makes me endlessly happy. There's another sort of passionfruit called Granadilla, we haven't worked out if there's an English name for it.

We manage to do things other than eat. Lima seems pretty sporty, I have several friends training for the Lima half-marathon. I joined the fancy Gold's Gym where I've been really enjoying going to spinning classes in spanish; I've also been convinced to go to an intermediate step class which is basically salsa on a step and is way above my step or language capabilities.

There are also some great bars here. Pisco, made from wine, is the national drink. A pisco sour is mixed with egg white. A maracuya sour has passionfruit, and is definitely my new favorite drink. Watch out though, they're quite strong.

Oh wait - we're also doing work! I'm still deciding what project to work on. This means that I travel around the city to different institutions, meeting with people and observing what's going on in the lab. The two institutions I'm visiting are the Universitario Peruano Cayetano Heredia and the Naval Tropical Medical Center. Once you cross the river and get out of fancy downtown Lima, life is much more as you might expect. However, here in Lima, even the stray dogs wear sweaters. When we asked a taxista why, the response was "because it's cold of course!".

Cold is the only major drawback here. I knew I was coming to winter, but I didn't quite believe it. It's in the 50s and 60s every day, however it's overcast and muggy and it absolutely chills you to the bone. What's more is we don't have a drier at our house, and our clothes never actually dry. I thought at first the overcast days wouldn't bother me, but after two weeks with no sun, my seasonal affective disorder kicked in.

I've been bad about taking photos, but I'll work to remedy that! I've stolen a lot from friends, so check out the album below!

Peru 1