Perusing Peru: Evening in Lima

The park in front of my hotel. Does it have a name? Perhaps.

I opted for a quiet penultimate evening in Lima.

This is the Palace of Justice, across Avenida Paseo de la Republica from my hotel,

Animal statutes in the park in between, such as this tiger.

The adjacent lion was being used by a family for its photo shoot,

Plaza Miguel Grau:

Named for Miguel Grau. Peruano naval hero.

Abandoned military college building:

Cool architecture. As with these nearby buildings:

I was in the mood for a snack at one point. I was told that, while I was in Peru, I should have a churro. I said we have plenty of churros available back home in Las Vegas. I was told that Peruvian churros are different. So I tried a street churro:

It was indeed very different. This is because, in Peru, the churro is "con manjar blanco." What this means is that the churro is a light fluffy fried donut, the texture reminding me of the "picarones" I had in Chiclayo, but these are even better. The inside is hollow and filled with "manjar blanco," which is basically sweet creamy dulce de leche. And it was only dos soles! That's about 70 cents. You cannot beat that with a stick, which is apropros because, compared to these Peruvian churros, Mexican-American churros taste like a stick. A stick coated in brown sugar cinnamon. But a stick nonetheless. 

Having eaten my churro, when it came time for supper, I was not that hungry. I thought some good Peruvian ceviche would hit the spot, but I could find no place serving ceviche. I even went into a place next to my hotel that called itself a "cevicheria," or ceviche restaurant. And ceviche was not on the menu! Can you believe? I cannot, even. Turns out ceviche is really only a lunch food, and not a dinner food item. Which explains why the restaurants in Chiclayo that appeared to serve ceviche were closed in the evenings.

So I went to China Wok in the food court of the mall next to my hotel. This is a Peruvian "Panda Express," only with a more Peruvian "chifa" version of Chinese food.

I had the "chaufa con pollo," which is chicken fried rice. It hit the spot.

Back to the hotel. The lobby is, of course, well-decorated for Christmas. Because all of Lima is well-decorated for Christmas.

We have the traditional reindeer. Thankfully, in Peru, Santa's sleigh is not pulled by llamas. Although I have seen creches with llamas being the animals in the stable with the manger. But, thankfully, those have only been Christmas tchotchkes on sale for tourists. We tend to eat up that sort of thing.

 

Merry Christmas to all. And, to all, a good night.