Buying burgers in Lima

You get great food in Peru, particularly in Lima.

But when it comes to beef, you might be disappointed. This is understandable if you look at Peruvian geography. Two-thirds of the country are covered in jungle. The rest is either desert or very high mountains. That doesn't leave much favorable terrain for raising beef cattle. This means that local meat is mostly chicken, alpaca, pork, or cuy (guinea pig).  If you want good red meat, it's best to look for imported beef from Brazil, Argentina, or the US.

Yet, Peruvians like red meat. One of the classic national dishes is called lomo saltado, which features strips of beef, grilled in soy sauce with sweet peppers and onions, and served with both rice and french fries.

And they like their burgers. The Peruvian burger chain is called Bembos. The first Bembos opened in 1988 in the Lima neighborhood of Miraflores. Today, there are 36 of them (according to Wikipedia) across Peru, plus ones in India and Panama. Here in Peru, Bembos is more successful than Burger King and McDonalds combined. They add particular spices to their burgers (plus other fillers it seems), and serve them up with the spicey aji (hot pepper) sauce and mayonnaise that are requisite condiments here. Indeed, McDonalds had a hard time getting established in Peru at first -  evidently, because they were not offering the right sauces, nor the right drinks (if there's no bright yellow-colored bubble-gum tasting Inca Cola, forget it).


The Bembos restaurants are bright and feature interesting architecture and art.
Most Peruvians we've asked will tell you that they love Bembos burgers.
We've tried them, and I guess would say that they are okay.

Recently, the English-language Living in Peru website, which is a real treasure trove of information for anglophones, ran a restaurant review for a place called Grill Conquistadores. Britt has had their grilled chicken, which you can order to take out and is very good. But this review raved about the hamburgers.  http://www.peruthisweek.com/food-74-Chicken-burgers-and-more-at-Limas-Grill-Conquistadores-201/

Here is the author's description:
It was hands-down, the best hamburger I have eaten since I arrived in Peru almost 5 years ago. When Eduardo Rodrigo, the owner, bragged that it was the best hamburger in Peru, I was skeptical, but it was prepared perfectly. I know that the next time I am craving a hamburger, I will return to Grill Conquistadores 201 for theirs. The hamburger is 300 grams of Certified Angus ground beef from Kansas City which is flown in every 2 weeks from the U.S. It is served without a bun, and while you can request one, there’s no need- the burger is that tasty.

It just so happens that Grill Conquistadores is within pretty easy walking distance from our apartment, and from the movie theater where we recently caught the latest Woody Allen flick. Normally, we would go have dinner in one of the many great Peruvian fusion-style restaurants that about in our neighborhood of San Isidro. But we decided to give the grill a try. And what's more, Valerie, who rarely eats meat, opted for the burger. Maybe it was because she hadn't eaten a hamburger in ages. Or the promise of Kansas City beef, on which she was raised.

Somehow, it didn't measure up to the hype or expectations, though it did measure up to the 300 grams of meat they had promised.

So, at the end of the day, I think when at Grill Conquistadores, we'll stick with the pollo a la brasa, besides it's easier to say than hamburguesa. 

Cineguilla

I know I've said this before, but the gray skies are relentless during the Lima winter (about 6 months of the year). So, we do what we can to escape towards bluer skies.
If we have time, we head for the mountains or southern desert.
But, for just a weekend afternoon, the best bet is to drive an hour or two inland and hope for the best.
Cineguilla is a town east of Lima, and can be approached from the suburb of La Molina or from the southern side through Lurin and Pachacamac.
It's a popular place for weekend lunches, because there's more likelihood of blue skies there. As a result, the town is loaded with big eateries, set up with lots of outdoor tables, folk dancing, playgrounds, pools, and various family-friendly activities.
We recently spent a Sunday afternoon there at a restaurant where the food is served on thick stone tables. It's a little like eating with druids.
Except for the Peruvian food and folk dancers...

 Driving to Cinequilla, you pass slum neighborhoods like this one.

 Once there, the sun did come out, and we enjoyed good company, good food, and the stone tables.

 Lots of folk dancing from different regions of Peru

The drive back through the southern route. You can see what I mean about the gray skies.

mid-winter in Lima

The greyness is pretty relentless during the Lima winter. The bold colors of the flowers, and water, and brightly colored buildings fade away, and the world converts to a black and white landscape. People's moods drop, as does the temperature. And though it never really gets that cold, it feels so, because the buildings are not heated and it's damp. You understand why there are so many alpaca sweaters for sale.  Limenas wear down jackets and cover their dogs in fleece.
This photo was taken at about 3:30 pm yesterday afternoon. The weather was not especially bad, though the waves were higher than usual due to storms way down south in Antarctic waters.
This is our third winter in Lima. I'd like to say we've become accustomed to it. And, like everyone else, the moment a hint of blue sky or sunshine emerges, we celebrate.

Fiestas Patrias

On July 28-29, Peru celebrates its independence from Colonial rule.
All of the commercial and residential buildings are required to display a flag, and people proudly wear flag pins on their lapels.

True the the tradition in many countries the independence celebration is a national holiday, which this year meant we benefitted from a 4-day weekend.

It was a good opportunity to escape the grayness of Lima for a few days, which we did by heading down to the southern desert of Ica and Paracas.

We spent a night in the oasis of Huacachina, formerly a spa getaway for the upper class, which has now taken on a more bohemian look. The primary  activities include boat rides on the small pond in the middle of the oasis. This is popular with local Peruvian families who gaily toodle around in paddle boats, row boats, and other floating vehicles. The other big attraction is to take a dune buggy ride through the miles and miles of giant sand dunes. For the fearless, you can also go sand-boarding, which is sort of like snowboarding or sledding, but on sand. It's harder to steer than on snow, but tons of fun.

We also visited the regional museum in Ica, which has an impressive collection of Nasca, Paracas, and other pre-Inca and Inca artifacts.

And we spent time in the Paracas reserve, which remains one of our favorite places here. The colors of the desert, and contrast with sky and water are quite impressive.

 Driving into Huacachine, we hit a traffic jam. The town only has a population of about 100 people, but it's a very popular place for locals to go for a fun evening, and this was a holiday.

 The Huacachina lagoon is really an oasis in a landscape of endless dunes.

 Britt and Alan watching the crowd and setting sun from a big dune above the lagoon.

 Ready for our dune buggy ride. The bandage on Valerie's chin was covering 5 stitches from an earlier fall, and kept her from trying out the sandboarding.

 Dunes for miles and miles. Riding up and down in the dune buggy is sort of like being on a giant roller coaster.

 Kings of the hill

 Just one of many interesting artifacts in the Ica regional museum

 Paracas

 Land, water, and sky

Hiking from Huaraz to Chavin

To top off the winter holiday in July, Britt, Addison, and Valerie's brother headed into the Cordillera Blanca for a 3-day hike from Huaraz to Chavin.
They had burros, a guide, and 2 other people to handle cooking and campsite logistics.
The hike took them uphill into a stiff wind for 8 hours on Day 1 to a campsite at 4,000 meters of altitude. This was followed by 2 days through more spectacular landscapes and a along a preColombian road made of carved rocks carefully fitted together into a pavement.
This is the dry season in the mountains so the skies were clear; very blue during the day and filled with stars and the Milky Way at night. Nights were cold as temperatures dipped below freezing.
On day 3 they descended through a dramatic, V-shaped valley into the pre-Inca site of Chavin de Huantar, constructed some 1200 years ago by the Chavin culture. It was a large ceremonial site, with pyramids, massive stone work, and carved figures of dieties and such.

Here are photos:

a few days in Paris

Following their holiday in Provence, Britt and Addison returned directly to Peru, while Valerie headed up to Paris for a few extra days to see friends and family.
The weather was more chilly and gray than is usual for mid-July.
There was rain.
But that didn't stop Valerie from walking all over the city (one of her favorite Paris pass-times), taking advantage of the July clothes sales, and going for morning jogs in the Jardin des Plantes.

 Marche Mouffetard

 Ile de la Cite

 Notre Dame

 Bakery, Marais

 

Space Invader graffiti art by Beaubourg

 Louvre

 Veli-libre

 Fontaine des Innocents

 Marais, more veli-libres

 Calder stabile, Beaubourg

 Eglise St. Merri

 Fontaine Stravinsky

 Construction site