Robert's Travel Blog

 Scooore! Best/most spacious digs yet.  Living room: Kitchen: Laundry room: Dining area: Bedroom #1 (BR #2 and bathrooms 1 & 2 not shown): Entrance: Lap pool! But, the smaller but, it's in an "industrial" neighborhood, which means there's nothing -- no corner shops (water/cigarettes), no restaurants (at $3.50-$5 I've gotten used to eating out) -- within walking distance.  Extremely inconvenient. The bigger but is that it's on the 17th floor.  I thought my fear of heights was going away, but it's back with a vengeance.  Yes, I know it's completely illogical, etc. etc.  But aversion therapy doesn't seem to be working, plus there's the inconvenience, so I'm moving out early. The good news?  I won't be losing much money, since I'm paying $21 a night!!

 Most of the guidebooks recommend ceviche from one of the upscale restaurants in Miraflores or Barranco, but I was in the City Center, and AI recommended Cevichería Renzito.  From the street there's a narrow passage, barely wider than the hawker outside: Then the door itself: Inside was pretty small, 12 tables or so, mostly occupied: Another gigantic plate of food!  I got the "mixto," so there was squid, fish, and shrimp in the "leche de tigre" (tiger's milk, the lime sauce that lightly "cooks" the seafood), as well as breaded/deep-fried fish, choclo (giant corn),  cancha (think corn nuts), plaintain chips, the omnipresent camote (sweet potato), and a jug of (very!) hot sauce. But, you ask, how did it taste?  I want to say wonderful, but that would be a lie.  The leche de tigre completely overwhelmed the delicate seafood taste, to the extent that pretty much all you could taste was lime.  However, the various additions added a lot, both in terms of...

All over Lima you can find these mom 'n' pop, hole in the wall restaurants that serve a fixed price lunch menu, generally with a few choices for both starter and mains:  I started with a giant (10") bowl of "sancochado," a hearty vegetable (plus a lonely piece of beef) stew.  There's no way I could eat all this plus my main course, but I gave it my best effort.   My main was a piece of mystery fish, pretty tasty, with rice and beans, and the ubiquitous salsa criolla, mild onions in lime juice, which paired well with the fish.  Like the soup, food rather than cuisine, but perfectly fine. But how much did it cost, you ask?  Starter + main + beverage = S/ 12, or $3.50, a (very) filling meal of tasty, fresh food for 1/3 the price of a Big Mac combo.

 Legends Park is gigantic, and includes a zoo, a botanical garden and an archaeological site.  A short stroll (~1km) from my large lunch, and I came across this tree with beautiful red flowers: Historical artefact: Archaeological site: There are some pretty spectacular cactus/succulent plantings:

 The Botanical Garden is located in the Parque de las Leyendas.  It's pretty large, and is mostly laid out according to plant classifications, which appealed to the junior botanist in me. You're greeted by this, one of several throughout the park: Most of the park has these curved walkways that almost twist back on themselves.  The park was practically deserted, so with no one to scold me, I cheated often: Beautiful cycad plantings: After three failures in as many countries, I was *really* looking forward to the cactus and succulent collection.  And there it was, spreading out before me, with some magnificent plants -- the whole thing surrounded by a chain-link fence.  Grrrr! I managed to get a few pics through the fence, so here's one: My favorite feature of the entire garden:

 It was 8:45 and I was bored, but rather than resort to the usual (reading/music/videos) I decided to have a walk around to see what's shakin' in the hood.  I feel so South American! The pedestrianized area, hoppin' as always! Back home!  This is what awaits me every night out front, but by the morning the sidewalks are spotless.  I love this neighborhood, but they jacked up the price from $31 to $54, so I'm back to San Miguel this weekend.