Cat Park and Sandwich Struggle

 Miraflores is an upscale neighboorhood on the sea.  Lots of nice buildings, a nice area to walk around, and most of all, it's home to Parque John F. Kennedy aka Cat Park.





They live there year around, and are fed by the locals.  There weren't as many as I expected, but the ones that were there were very tame and (not surpisingly, they're cats!) loved a bit of affection:




Then it was lunchtime, so I went to the iconic "La Lucha Sanguchería Criolla" (roughly, The Struggle Creole Sandwich Shop) for the iconic "pan con chicharrón."


The system's a bit odd -- you order and pay outside, then they bring,the food to you inside:




"Chicharrón" in Perú isn't deep-fried pork skin, rather fried pork.  Besides the pork, there's a thin patty of fried sweet potato, and the salsa criolla (thin-sliced red onions plus lime) on the side.


This was delicious, from the crunch of the bun to the tender pork, and the punch of the onions and lime.  And the fries were just perfect, without exaggerating the best I've ever had.  They say there are 4000 varieties of potatoes in Perú, and they certainly picked the best for those fries.

Oh, and the purple stuff in the cup?  That's chicha morada, a drink made from purple corn (!), pineapple, lime and cinnamon.  An odd but pleasant taste, I'd order it again.

All this for S/28.60 ($8.40) and I was stuffed all afternoon.  I'm never going to get to street food if I keep having these gigantic lunches!








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