Perusing Peru: Lima Arrival

Christmas in Lima with the traditional Nativity Scene:
Mary, Joseph, the Baby Jesus. The ox. The ass. The angel/ And two of the reindeer. Donner and Blitzen, maybe?

Third trip to Peru. Third trip to Lima. Third time that Machu Picchu is not on my Peru itinerary.

Mental health getaway. Once upon a time this would be my first trip after retirement. But retirement has been postponed, but the trip already was scheduled and this is an inexpensive time of year to travel, so why not a return trip to Peru.

This is my hotel for the first leg of this Perusal of Peru: the Crowne Plaza Lima in the Miraflores neighborhood of the city. This, being a U.S. based chain hotel, is your typical American-style business hotel. I picked it for the neighborhood, since I prefer to avoid U.S. chains when I travel due to this simple fact: They cost more.

Speaking of neighborhood, this is the neighborhood. That is NOT a sad-looking Christmas because there is no such thing as a sad-looking Christmas tree. Think of the bend at the top as being an homage to the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

The neighborhood is a bit noisy. This is a city after all. And traffic is a mess. But it's clean and decently safe with plenty of nice restaurants.

 

This is the upscale "suburb" of Lima.

I did not get moving today into well into the afternoon because yesterday was a travel day with the first airplane ride of the day starting at 1:00 p.m. So nothing much on the day's itinerary. So I walked down to Parque John F. Kennedy. It's known as a "cat park."

Lots of stray cats. All looking healthy and well-cared-for.

And here is the park's namesake:

They nailed the hair, but the face? Less so.

He looks a bit chubby to be JFK. More Teddy than John John, if it had been eaten by Teddy.

There even was a dog and cat adoption taking place at the park. And a fairly large Christmas just inside El Parque D'Onofrio restaurant.

Lima does get decked out for Christmas quite nicely.

This is the side view of La Parroquia La Virgen Milagrosa, the Parish of Our Lady of Miracles:

This is the side facing Parque John F. Kennedy, America's first Catholic president. (We Catholics have done much better with the Supreme Court than the presidency. Only two Catholic presidents, but working control of the Supreme Court for nearly 40 years, at least since the George H.W. Bush presidency.)

Let's have a look inside, shall we?

I have seen more ornate Catholic churches, but the structure itself, with the curvature of the roof pulling your eyes toward the alter in the front, is very nicely done.

This is the front entrance:

Across from the front entrance, in Parque 7 de Junio, which borders Parque John F. Kennedy, Yes, two side-by-side parks in Miraflores, Lima, Peru, filled to the brim with stray cats. Struttin'. As stray cats do.

But Parque 7 de Junio has something that Parque John F, Kennedy does not: a nativity scene for Christmas:

And how do we know we are in Miraflores?

Letters! Every city in Latin America has its perfectly-instagrammable letters. Miraflores is decked out in its Christas garb, as you can see.

One last look at La Parroquia La Virgen Milagrosa:

And right next door is the lovely Miraflores City Hall.

I'm not sure why it's called a "city hall," since Miraflores is not an independent city but is a neighborhood within the City of Lima. I guess the term "city hall" is used more loosely 'round these parts.

With all the Christmas decorations up, I presumed that these parks would look even better after dark, when the Christmas lights come on. I was not disappointed:

This giant Christmas Tree is still under-construction. Maybe it will be done tomorrow? It's a very short stroll from the Crowne Plaza, so it would be worth checking out.

There were more Christmas decorations in Parque 7 de Junio than Parque John F. Kennedy. Separation of church and state? Or, more likely, it's because Parque 7 de Junio is much, much bigger.

The reindeer were lit up, as Christmas reindeer should be.

A couple of dozen. None with red noses.

This giant tattooed blue bull probably is a year-round presence here in Parque 7 de Junio.

I don't think he is one of the oxen for the Christman creche.

Obverse angel:

A festive angel of lights:

Now the festive angel of lights with the Miraflores City Hall in the background, breaking all those rules of "separation of church and state" that are more meticulously observed in adjacent Parque John F. Kennedy: 

Here is La Parroquia La Virgen Milagrosa lit up for the night:

With the lights being white, this might just be night-time lighting and not festive Christmas lighting.

On the other hand:

There is no mistaking the red and green lights lighting up Miraflores City Hall. It's definitely not honoring the Italian-Peruano community for the local San Gennaro festival.

Separation of church and state indeed. The concept does not exist in Miraflores.

I was going to get some chifa -- that hybrid fusion cuisine combining Chinese cooking with the flavors of Peru, but I have a ridiculously early start tomorrow for a tour outside of town -- so historic it's not pre-Columbus but pre-Christ -- the real B.C. -- so I ate a light Mexican supper:

Mandil Taqueria.

I decided to try the nachos with a tamarindo agua fresca.

The tamarindo agua fresca was awesome. Very refreshing.

The nachos?

I got the pollo nachos. Grilled chicken. Guacamole. Jalapenos. Pickled onion. Black beans. Maybe some tomato. I couldn't tell. Which is how I like my tomato. And a light, runny cheese sauce. In a bowl of chips. This was, perhaps, the healthiest nachos I've ever had in my life. It was very good. But was it "nachos"? Depends on if you are nachos purist. But, again, this is Peru. Do you really order nachos in Peru if you are a nachos purist?

Arrival in Colombia

Parque 93, Bogotá, with Montserrat looming in the background

Sunday, May 3, 2015. The day to say "good-bye" to Panama and "hola" to Bogotá, Colombia.

For those of you who do not know, Bogotá is huge. As in "just under eight million living in the city limits" huge. The neighborhood in which I am staying, Chico, is the upscale barrio. How upscale?

A cool refreshing Zipaquirá ale from the local brew pub

I went to the local "chain" of brew pubs, the Bogotá Brewing Company -- there seem to be a few locations around town -- and the coasters say "Bienvenido al 1%." Translation: "Welcome to the 1%." Maybe I'm putting my American spin on this, but there really can't be any other interpretation. The clientele of this upscale establishment are the "One Percent" in the Occupy/Elizabeth Warren sense of that term. But here in Colombia, they are out and proud about that fact. They celebrate it.

I ordered the nachos to go with it.

Colombian-style nachos at the Bogotá Brewing Company

They were surprisingly tasty. Lots of really good chicken meat under that healthy dollop of guacamole and sour cream. But you know what was missing? Cheese. And chips. There really weren't enough chips to eat this respectively. But once you got passed the fact that these weren't "nachos" in any Americanized-Mexican sense of the word, it was a quite tasty snack.

Bogotá Brewing Company building, seen from Parque 93

Again, the neighborhood has a distinctly upscale vibe. And it is safe to walk at night.

So after my beer and snack, I headed across the street to an interesting looking sports bar called "Buffalo Wings." I was hoping it was a local rip-off of the "Buffalo Wild Wings" chain, but, unfortunately, it WAS the local Buffalo Wild Wings chain. But for some reason in Colombia, the wings aren't wild.

Club Colombia cerveza roja. Pretty good, actually.

I had a local cerveza, a Club Colombia, roja, of course, my favorite color for a beer. I liked the sports bar atmosphere of the place. The crowd was into a game from two of the top teams in the Categoriá Primera A, also known as "Liga Águila," the top soccer league within Colombia. The Millonarios, the local heros, were playing Nacional from Medellin. On the drive in from the airport, we passed a soccer stadium and the cars driving up to it were screaming and yelling and whooping it up, most with blue and white flags from their car. Those are the colors of the Millonarios, so it was the early arrivals for this game that I saw.

Watching Los Millonarios in a Bogotá franchise of Buffalo Wild Wings. Does life get better?

Two quick observations. First, calling the team the Millonarios is no big deal in Colombia. I got over a million Colombian pesos for this trip. Total value of a million Colombian pesos? Less than $500. Second, Los Millonarios play their home games in Estadio Nemesio Camacho. You are not allowed to wear a belt -- or otherwise bring a belt -- to Millonarios' games. Oh, the game? Nil-nil draw, which I presume was great news for the visiting side.

Lively twilight time in Parque 93

Parque 93, which defines this neighborhood, isn't especially large. But it was quite active in the twilight hours. My hotel is a block south of the park.

Atton 93. Formerly known as the NH 93. On Calle 93. I detect a pattern here.

My hotel is a nice "businessman's hotel." There are a lot of embassies in the neighborhood, and a lot of financial institutions, so there's a lot of businessing going on.

The room has a giant king-sized bed which pretty much devours the room.

Mi cuarto en mi hotel

  And that's OK with me, given that it's time for sleep.