The Fauna

Over the holiday, I had a chance to visit one of the zoos in Lima.  Despite the massive crowds, it was a fun experience.  The zoo is very nice and the animals are well-housed and well-taken care of.  Part of what made it so interesting was that they had animals from each of the different regions in Peru-the coast (where I live now), the mountains and the jungle.  I didn't take any pictures of the coastal animals, but I took some to prepare for future trips to the mountains and the jungle.

The Mountains:

The Andean Condor: I can't wait to see these in the wild when I visit Colca Canyon.

Vicuñas: A relative to the llama and domesticated alpacas

A llama

The Jungle:

The Andean Cock of the Rock

Jaguars

 

Geoffroy's Monk Saki

Musmuqui: Peruvian Red-necked Owl Monkeys

Barranco

I haven't started travelling around Peru yet, but I have been getting to know some parts of Lima.  Lately I have been staying in Barranco, a trendy neighborhood with great restaurants and night life.  I love it because there are some great views of the Pacific Ocean.

The most famous landmark in Barranco is the Punto de los Suspiros, the Bridge of Sighs.  I'm not sure of the story behind it, but apparently it's a romantic place to take someone on a first date.  

Barranco is full of museums too-my favorites being the ChocoMuseo and the Museum of Electricity.

Independence Day

Peru celebrated its Independence Day (Fiestas Patrias) earlier this week-July 28th and 29th-and, since Independence Day at home is celebrated with some specific food, I thought this would be a good time to talk about the traditional foods that I have sampled here.

As expected in the coastal region here, we eat a lot of fish-grilled, fried, etc.  But one of the most famous ways to eat it here is in ceviche, raw fish that is marinated in lemon juice.  I love ceviche and when I spend time in Lima, I try to eat at any opportunity.   

Ceviche is typically served with corn and camote, sweet potato.

A typical festival food here is anticuchos, kabobs made from beef hearts.  They are delicious.

These are typically served with boiled potatoes and corn.

In my first post, I mentioned not enjoying my first experience with causa; however, I've had it since and it's actually quiet tasty.  Causa is cold, mashed yellow potatoes, most typically layered with tuna and avocado and often topped with eggs and olives.

This weekend, I also had my first experience with grilled cuy, Guinea pig. I'm not sure that I'll seek it out in the future, but it wasn't bad.

This cuy is accompanied by papa a la huancaina, boiled potatoes covered in a spicy cheese sauce

And if the food wasn't decadent enough, they can be followed up by these heavenly desserts:

After you finish your anticuchos, you can pick up fresh picarones in the next festival booth.  Picarones are the love child of a funnel cake and a doughnut-fried dough drizzled with a clove-infused honey sauce.  When served piping hot, they are amazing!

If something sweeter is more your style, you can tickle your taste buds with Suspiro a la Limeña (literally, the sigh of a woman from Lima).

This custard is made with evaporated milk, so you can imagine how rich and creamy it is.

But what I eat more frequently at the plant are alfajores, cookies filled with manjar blanco, a caramel-like filling.  Decadent!

And with all these sweets, you, of course, need something to wash it down with:

If you are looking for something nationalistic and alcoholic, your best bet is a pisco sour.  Pisco is a grape brandy that can be paired with a variety of mixers.

If you want something family-friendly, you can try chicha morada, a beverage made by adding cloves and other spices to a base made from purple maize.

Also popular here is Inca Kola, a fluorescent yellow soda that tastes like bubble gum.  Personally, it's not my cup of tea, but it is popular.

With all of these being just a sampling of the food here, I now understand why USA Today predicted that Peruvian food will become a trend in the US.

At the jetty

One of the things we are working on here is helping the workers prepare for some upcoming training on the loading arms that load the LNG onto the ships for transport.  One of our students made all the arrangements so that we could take a tour of the jetty where the loading arms are located.  Going to the jetty-specifically where the loading arms is-requires two extra levels of security, so we were very excited to be able to go.

The loading arms are the 4 towers in the background

One of the first things that I noticed when I got there was the smell-it smelled like the aviary.  Strongly. When they first built the jetty, they had a lot of problems with the sea birds.  The bird poo is a big problem because it is corrosive to the pipes.  As a natural solution to the problem, they have these hawks that scare away the birds from perching near the pipes.

The hawks were watching us, well, like a hawk as we posed for this picture

It was really helpful to be able to see the arms up close and personal and they promise to invite us back when they are in action, which I am really excited about.

Our guide even took us under the jetty to take special pictures to remember the tour.

Plant Life

I know that it has been a while, but I have been busy settling into my job and getting to know my students here at the plant.  Instead of having to remember whether it is Mohammed, Mohammed Q (new or original), Mohammed K, Mohammed T, Mohammed A or Mohammed W, I am now spending my days sorting out the Jose's-Jose', Jose' Carlos, Jossimar, and so on.  It was difficult in the beginning, but I think I've got it down now and I'm really starting to enjoy the students in my classes.

I am teaching English to workers in a plant that converts natural gas to liquid natural gas (LNG) and loads it on ships for transport to other countries around the world.  (I actually understand this process thanks to the presentations one of my classes did for me in the beginning.)  There are workers from all over the world here, so it is important that the workers speak a common language-English-which is where I come in.  The students see the English lessons as a benefit from the company and are really motivated to learn and practice their English, so it's a great place to be a teacher.

Despite being a bit isolated (it's a 3 hour drive from Lima), plant life is pretty good.  We live in long trailers that are cleaned for us everyday.  [There are some rules about taking pictures here, so I am not able to post anything yet.]  The company provides us with meals, gyms, recreation facilities and laundry services, so it's almost like staying in a hotel.  I even have direct TV and an internet connection in my room.  It's great!

All in all I'm really happy I came.  I'm excited to be started in this new adventure and I can't wait to start seeing even more of Peru!  

Central Lima at Night

Last weekend I was really able to relax and start to see more of Lima.  First, I went with some co-workers to La Plaza de Armas, which is also called La Plaza Mayor:

On one side of the plaza is La Catedral de Lima next to the Archbishop's house.  This cathedral is built on land designated for the city's first church by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro and now houses his remains.

On another side sits El Palacio del Gobierno, the house of the President of Lima.  I'll have to come back here during the day sometime to see the changing of the guard ceremony.

The plaza is flanked on the other sides by various governmental buildings.  I love the enclosed balconies!

Huaca Pucllana

Since I got here, I've been thinking that Peru reminds me of India.  I think one of the reasons it does is because of the juxtaposition of modernity and traditional culture.  A great example of this here in Lima is the Huaca Pucllana-an archaeological dig right in downtown Miraflores.

It was first used as a place of worship and sacrifice by the Lima culture-a matriarchal group that worshiped the sea and inhabited the area from 200-700 A.D.

(They used this bookshelf technique to build the walls of the temple to withstand earthquakes.)


The Lima were conquered by the Wari empire, who ruled from 700-900 A.D.  The Wari used the temple as a burial ground for their governors.  The on-site archaeologists are working to excavate several tombs that were recently discovered.

Like the Egyptian pharoahs, they were buried with the supplies they would need in the next world...and a child sacrifice (the white cloth bundle near the body).


The Wari were succeeded by the Ychsma culture (900-1533 A.D.), who again used the temple of a place of worship.

As far as the archaeologists can tell, the Incas did not use this site after conquering the Ychsma.