random lunch experience

It's been a slow week, not nearly as eventful as our trips to the Amazon and southern desert. We're back in Lima. Britt is working. Addison is on winter break from school for the month. Dale is visiting, but goes back to Qatar this weekend. And Valerie negotiated an August 3 start date for her new job, so she's still laying low.

Since we did a lot of running around these past few weeks, the guys have been perfectly content to do what teen boys do best, hang around in their pjs, eat, and rely largely on electronic entertainment. Once in a while, Valerie pushes them out of the apartment and forces them to do something.

Yesterday, she talked them into visiting the national archeology and anthropology museum. It's a pretty cool place, really, situated in a former colonial mansion in which two famous liberators once lived, San Martin and Simon Bolivar. It's in a neighborhood of Lima called Pueblo Libre, an interesting middle-class area full of small side streets, pretty gardens, and brightly colored houses.

The museum presents artifacts ranging from prehistoric times, through multiple pre-Columbian cultures, the Spanish conquest and colonialism, to modern times. We'd gotten through about half of the pre-Columbian exhibits, when we saw a sign for the cafeteria, noting that it featured both Peruvian and international specialties. Since teen guys are pretty much always hungry, we figured we'd give it a try for lunch.

Well, though the museum cafeteria is clearly open to the general public, it mainly seems to serve the local staff. The menu, written on a white board by the entrance, consisted of a choice of two first courses (soup or salad), two second courses (2 chicken alternatives), dessert, and a drink.

The waitress began by bringing us dessert. The guys thought this was a great way to present a meal, guaranteed to please the younger set. Dessert was maza morada. If you click on and enlarge the photo, you can see it. It's purple and gelatinous and served in the clear glass bowls. This is a Peruvian favorite, made from blue corn juice and set as a gelatin, often with some kind of fruit, and cinnamon. It sounds disgusting, but can be really good. Our landlady made the best one we've had so far, but the guys thought the museum version was acceptable - especially as a starter course. This was followed by a mysterious green soup, which the guys said was really good. I had a salad, which consisted of very fresh veggies, cut in tiny bits, and dressed with only a hint of lime juice. It was surprisingly satisfying.

Addison's main course involved spaghetti, bits of chicken, and maybe sweet peppers in a sauce. Dale and I had the other chicken dish, which included a piece of chicken, some camote slices (sweet potato) and rice (Peruvians do love their starches for lunch), all with a sort of BBQ sauce. To drink, we were served a sweet tea made from a local herb called mouna. It's sort of minty. The guys were very good sports, giving everthing a fair try. No one walked away hungry. And the bill for 3 of us? 18 soles, or the equivalent of $2 per person. So, it wasn't Astrid and Gaston (current King and Queen of Peruvian cooking). But it was a fine cultural/culinary experience/experiment.

Above: one of many pre-Columbian ceramic figures displayed in the museum, representing an owl on the back of a Peruvian hairless dog. The dogs are considered an endangered species here, now. Each historical site is supposed to have a pair of them.

Below are two local spots, situated on the Plaza Bolivar, right by the museum of archeology and anthropology.