Sube Sube! Baja Baja!

Today I get to celebrate my third day of using public transportation in Peru! Hurray for me!

Transportation here is a mess. People don´t follow the traffic signals, they don´t respect pedestrians or lines on the street. Techincally 4 lines of cars can fit into a three lane road, but in Lima you can see up to 5 lines or cars in a street made for 3. Yay Peru.

Parking like this is also common and totally acceptable...

From Lima

Anway, being in a car is jarring enough for me in Lima and being in a bus is even more so. Combis, or the little buses that abound here are known to drive at top speeds to get to their stop first. Since the public transit is not government owned or even remoletly operated, the only way the driver and the man who acts as the people herder get paid from what the collect from passengers. That means they want to fit the most amount of passengers in their mini buses as they can and they need to get to the bus stop first because a lot of the combis follow the same route. No too clever if you ask me. But this is the reality so they drive at breakneck speeds and crowded roads and will turn LEFT from the right hand lane (of a 4 lane road) and then honk at you.

Unfortunately, this insane system is the most economical for most of Lima. I joined these ranks this past week when we moved and it became a little too dangerous to walk to work from the new house. So instead of making myself a target of robberies, I hop on the bus. I guess one of the good things about this chaotic system is that combis will stop almost anywhere to get people and drop you off anywhere. So I just walk to the nearest major street and wait for one to come along. Once one comes along I have to figure out if they will take me to my destination. Usually the person who is in charge of tickets is also incharge or herding people on and off the bus and is also in charge of shouting the bus route. More specifically they shout the main road they will be travelling on or the end destination. So the best way is just to ask if they will go by the destination that you want. Its good that my destination has a major landmark (a huge supermarket) that helps me to get my bearings otherwise I would be lost.

All in all its not as harrowing as I thought it would be. I usually get on a little later than most people go to work and I get on before one of the big "transfer" stations. Its also really interesting to see how the driver and the ticket taker/stop caller/people herder work together to get people on the bus. Sometimes there are third party people who also herd people to your bus. There are also people who stand at various places along the route that tell you how often other buses with your same route are coming along. Kinda like personal GPS. You also see all sorts of people on the bus. Students, workers, people in suits, old people, younger people, really old people. Its an ecclectic view of Peruvian and Limeñan society.

Water parks, ceviche, and the 4th of July

Its been about a month since I posted about recent happenings. Let me get caught up...

First things first. My cousin came to town with his Peruvian GF-is that weird that out of 8 cousins, two are dating Peruvians? We were supposed to meet at the Plaza de Armas de Surco, but my cousin only heard the first part and they were waiting in the center of Lima and we were waiting in the center of old Surco. Whoops. Good thing there was a ceviche festival going on that we took advantage of. We got some seafood rice and some fried fish with salsa criolla (which I thought was a lot more complex than it actually it-its onions and aji with lime juice. Simple and delish)

From Lima

We also saw the mascot of the ceviche fest....

From Lima

At night we finally met up with my cousin and his GF at the Circuito mágico del agua (Magic Water route). Its this huge park that claims to be in the Guiness Book of world records for having the most amount of fountains in one space (maybe they should check out Scripps College..). The best time to go is at night because all of the fountains are lit with lights and they look really cool. They have several interactive fountians. The favorite one of all the visitors is the maze one that is made up of concentric circles that go on and off and then at random parts the circle will be broken and you can make it into the inner part of the fountain. Its really funny to watch people get caught in the spray.

From Lima

We also walked through a tunnel of water which was really cool at night. Its cool to see how they engineer the water and the spray so its just right and it doesn´t fall short or anything.

From Lima

At the various intervals throughout the night you can see a light and water show. I was thinking it would be something like the Magic Fountian in Barcelona, but this was completely different. They use a big long foutain as a backdrop and project lasers and images on the water. Its very...interesting. Tacky is not the right word, maybe very 70s/80s... The show we saw had different bits of a lot a different regional dances of Peru which was cool. Carlos knows a lot of them so he was keeping track for me. Here is an example of what was going on in the laser/music/fountain show.

From Lima

For a total of 4 soles a person, its quite a value activity. We spent a good 2 hours there checking out the fountains on both sides of the street, people watching-they had some quinceñera girls there dressed up in their interesting dresses and taking all sorts of photos, and the show was pretty entertaining. Money well spent!

Last, but not least, we kinda celebrated the 4th of July! It is very strange for it to be cold and celebrate the 4th. I saw some fireworks go off at the American Embassy which was exciting and on the fourth Carlos made hamburgers and I made apple pie and potato salad and Carlos´ mom made icecream. It was all very tasty. Carlos´ burgers are the best. He used onions and ketchup and oregano and salt and pepper.

From Lima

In the afternoon we trolled for cars for his work. While we were out with our energy and sprits running low Carlos suggested that we stop at this old fast food place for icecream. At first I resisted still being full from giant hamburgers, but I gave in in the name of the 4th of July and “American Style Holidays”. I´m so glad we stopped. Apart from getting a sugar rush, I ordered my first milkshake in Peru and LOVED it. I also loved this fast food place. It seems like a relic of the 50s. Everything is retro looking, including the waiters. You can also order in your car and they bring you a tray that attaches to your partially lowered window. So cool! Tip Top definitely wins top spot for favorite fast food place in Lima!

Sunday was “Pollo a la Brasa” day. I decided I would take this time to rumminate on this food item. Well, actually two food items: Pollo a la brasa and Chifa, two very Peruvian institutions. These two food continually confuse me. Most Peruvians will tell you that you MUST try pollo a la brasa and chifa, that they figure into the range of Peruvian food that cannot be found in other places. They as as Peruvian as cebiche and antiuchos. This is where I am confused...whats the big deal?

Pollo a la brasa is, in my opinion rotisserie chicken. I’m not saying that it isn’t good, it is great and very tasty and we recently found a really really tasty place to get some. You can also find very tasty chicken at one of the bigger supermarkets. I have had people ask me if I´ve tried the chicken yet. Like in the way someone will ask you if you have tried paella in Spain. They way they tell you makes it seem like Peru is the ONLY place you can get this chicken.

The same thing happens with chifa. Technically chifa is Peruvian/Chinese food, but to me it its like cheap(cheap-not necessarily bad) Chinese food you can get in the states. I even had a place to go in Madrid for cheap Chinese food. Again, its not bad, but its not unique and it confuses me to no end that Peruvians say that this food is so uniquely Peruvian. They continually ask you if you have tried chifa yet and what you thought of it and if you want to get chifa. Its good in the way that all cheap Chinese food is tasty. I see more Chinese influence in the the other Peruvian foods like baked chicken, baked in soy sauce sauce, and lomo saltado, which is like stirfry with french fries.

Maybe I am being too harsh. After all, I get accused of having no national American dish. However, I get tired of being asked if I have tried these very “Peruvian” dishes and then seeing the sad faces when I am not super enthused when I tell them I have tried it. With tropical fruits, I give a little more leeway because I am the exception in having tried tropical fruit, but with rotisserie chicken and cheap Chinese food, I really don´t understand. I guess I will just have to eat it and enjoy it for being tasty. But still, how can they think that rotisserie chicken and adapted Chinese food are only to be found in Peru?? Oh well....