Sealions, Sushi and Skeletons
Trip Start
Nov 13, 2005
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61
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Trip End
Jul 13, 2006
Pisco, Paracas, Lima,
Peru
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
After disembarking our bus, we made a mad rush to a bus to Lima with the intention of trying to make it to a public apperance of the Dali Lama. Unfortunetly however, once we finally arrived in Lima it was too late, but we am sure that the Dali Lama knows we tried our best.
Instead we wondered around Lima and the lovely Miraflores, settling on much needed American Food for dinner. I am happy to announce that Samson and I feasted on a much needed meal of Tony Roma´s baby back ribs, potato skins and buffalo wings and went home very satisfied to our hostel. On entering our hostel, we discovered that everyone was scaring the crap out of themselves by watching ¨Hostel¨ in a hostel. Not that intelligent me thinks! I think we were the only ones that got a good night sleep that night.
Our necessary simple air ticket changes ended up to be a complete disaster as hour after hour was spent visiting airline to airline begging for help. To our surprised we discovered a Qantas office in the city and immediately made a beeline straight to the office. A few smiling faces, pefect english and new tickets later we emerged stress free and starving for some good food. On exiting the office building, the Japanese grocery store on our left made us realise that Pachamama (mother earth) graced us in taking us to the middle of the Japanese expatriate suburb in Lima. We asked a few old Japanese on the streets for suggestions before walking into Limas Japanese best. We were not disapointed.
Perfectly melt in your mouth sashimi.
Beautifully rolled sushi
Crisp and light tempura
Perfect Japanese rice.. What more could we ask for.
The next day we spent wondering around Lima central, visiting amongst many places, the incredible Cathedral San Fransisco. The catheral itself is beautifully designed in a baroque style and is extreamly well preserved. However the tourist hightlight of the cathedral is the catacombs beneath the cathedral itself. It is said that almost 65,000 people were buried here, however today the remains of only around 25,000 exist. Entering the catacombs is a little scary since it is quite damp and cramp, and there are literally pits and pits and pits of lined up bones and skulls. We were told that in most pits, the bones are as deep as 10m neatly stacked on top of each other. I have been freaked out on more than one occasion in Latin America as I am presented with human skulls, after bones after mummies nearly on a daily basis in Museums. However nothing I have see to date can compare to the large scale of human bones and skulls under this cathedral. Sam thought it was a photographers dream...
For lunch we decided to discover the culinary specialities in Limas Barrio Chino (Chinatown). After careful selection of which restaurant to dine in (the one with all the chinese oldies) we spent forever in awe at the menu in front of us. With limited stomach space we decided on
Dim Sums:
Pai Guat (Black Bean Spare ribs)
Har gow (Prawn Dumplings)
Har Cheung (Prawns wrapped in rice noodle and steamed)
Siu Ngap (Roast Duck quarter)
Gon Chau Ngao Hor (Stir Fried Rice Noodles with Beef)
We had ordered enough for 4, with the expectation that we would nibble on each since we had low expectations. God were we shocked when we got the food. The Pai Guat, tender and flavoursome; har gow, crisp and fresh; har cheung, fresh firm and perfectly cooked to order; Duck, little fat, tasty and tender; Noodles, perfectly firm, delicious. Better than China we think.
We were absolutely in culinary heaven and despite protests from our stomachs, we ate it all.
With full stomachs and half price movie tuesday on offer, we ended the day watching Tom Cruise strut his stuff in Mission Impossible III. The culinary spectacular spectacular is expected to continue tomorrow with a visit to "Astrid&Gaston" for dinner. Limas best is apparently Peruvian-French and excellent coming in at 74th in the world according to the "worlds top 50 rankings". Getting hungry already.
