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A Puppy Named Arena
Last month a Weimaraner named La Bruja gave birth to six puppies including Arena (“sand”), above. La Bruja belongs to one of El Fotógrafo’s cousins who lives in Jesus María. We had heard that La Bruja was embarazada but we weren’t keeping track of the due date or even thinking ‘puppies on the way.’ This past Sunday we went to a family almuerzo, and one of the kids brought this little velvet-furred creature in a cardboard box. I was kind of floored. The puppy has a wrinkled old-man face and a fat panza and a tail like that of a chubby rat. Who knew Weimaraner puppies were so tragically cute?
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Argentinean Doctor on Brink of Death after Eating Pickled Vizcacha
Frank Zappa once warned: Don’t eat the yellow snow. The same might be said about the vizcacha, a reclusive member of the South American bunny family that some food experts have recommended as a economical protein source. (See my Feb. ’09 post.) Seems that the experts didn’t realize that improperly prepared vizcacha is an ideal breeding ground for botulism, as one victim in Argentina recently found out. Dr. Francisco Diez, a 45-year-old orthopedic surgeon, was rushed to a hospital in San Rafael in the Cuyo region of Argentina, on October 25, after contracting a local form of botulism, reported Diario Los Andes and other South American news sources. Diez became violently ill after eating vizcacha en escabeche, a traditional Argentinean dish of rodent cooked in oil, onions…
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Pizza at El Italiano: Two Thumbs Up
It’s been more than a year since I had pizza at El Italiano, a classic pizzeria/trattoria in Lima’s rough-and-tumble La Victoria neighborhood. In that time I had forgotten that El Italiano makes better pizza than almost any other place in Lima, a city that should have lots of excellent pizza joints but for some reason doesn’t. What might have induced my temporary amnesia is that I always seem to crave El Italiano when it’s closed. Several times El Fotografo and I have driven to El Italiano on a Monday night, only to arrive at a darkened restaurant. It took three abortive outings for the restaurant’s schedule (open Tuesdays-Sundays) to sink into my…
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Thank You, Lord of the Miraculous Chocolates
I was raving the other day about the chocolates and other treats made by nuns and sold at the church of the Nazarenes, in downtown Lima, where El Señor de los Milagros lives. I made myself so hungry writing that post, I had to go to the Nazarenes the next day and buy a stash from a nun in a brown Carmelitas habit. I’m not Catholic but I felt guilty going to church just to buy candy, so I picked up a purple religious candle while I was at it. Back home I lit the candle and said, Thank you, El Señor de los Milagros, for inspiring the barefoot sisters of…
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Scenes from Noche de Arte 2009, Opening Night
El Híjo and I accompanied El Fotógrafo to last night’s opening of Noche de Arte, in San Isidro. The art show was held in an enormous gallery owned by a Peruvian bank, and one of the amusing things about it was how the bank stayed open to accept deposits from art buyers. Oh, and did I mention that more than 400 works were for sale? The paintings were displayed in several indoor galleries. The photos were hung in an outside atrium that is not appropriate for an exhibit of delicate photographs. EF didn’t like that his photos were being exposed to the elements. Oh, well. He did complain. Technically the…
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El Fotografo’s Works in Noche de Arte Benefit Sale
El Fotografo’s photographs will be among the artworks for sale at Noche de Arte 2009, which opens tonight in San Isidro (BBVA – Banco Continental, Ave. Republica de Panama 3055), from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Proceeds from the three-day event benefit the Anne Sullivan Center, the Carrion Hospital Burn Unit and other institutions and charities. Works on sale by El Fotografo (Jorge Vera) include “Atlantic City” (above), which is a very striking 100 cms by 100 cms, and “Sphere” (below), 70 cm x 70 cm. I think they are two of EF’s most beautiful works. “Sphere” was shot in our pool in Florida, by the way. EF nearly fell in waiting for the…
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Peruvian Lord of the Miracles Batting .758, Survey Says
A recent poll by the University of Lima indicated that more than three-quarters of devotees of El Señor de los Milagros say the Peruvian Christ figure has answered their prayers. Nearly 76 percent — 75.8 percent — of those surveyed say that their prayer to or request of the Lord of the Miracles was granted, reports El Comercio. Some of the miracles attributed to El Señor include people being cured of brain cancer, handicapped people regaining use of their legs and sailors being rescued from sinking submarines. The Church does not keep records of these miracles. They are mainly anecdotal. The cult of the Lord of the Miracles reached a fever…
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Three Jacks Play Miami Tonight
My bandmates The Three Jacks will be rocking downtown Miami’s Gusman Center tonight to raise funds for Jackson Memorial Hospital. Remaining tickets are on sale for $15 each, $10 for students. Sharing the stage will be champion step dancers from the Breffni Academy of Irish Dance. Those of you who saw The Three Jacks in Lima this past May will remember Carolyn, Caroline and Kiera’s remarkable footwork. (By the way, 17-year-old Kiera just won 5th place in the U.S. National Championships. Riverdance, watch out.) I highly urge all Peruvians in Miami to show their support for this remarkable group of musicians and dancers, who have raised more than $50,000 for earthquake relief in…
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Afro-Peruvian Cooking Queen in Lima this Sunday
Mamainé will be cooking in La Molina this Sunday. If that news doesn’t make your mouth water, then you don’t know Chincha and you don’t know El Carmen and you certainly don’t know carapulcra con sopa seca. Mamainé is the Queen of Afro-Peruvian cuisine. Her restaurant in the El Carmen district of Chincha is the hub of local Afro-Peruvian culture, where dance, music and good food are celebrated daily. (See this over-exposed video for a glimpse of the Queen dancing in her own restaurant.) El Fotografo says her seco de cabrito (kid) and seco de carne (beef) are the best he’s ever had. Ditto Mamainé’s frijoles, which “melt in your mouth,” he says. EF…
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Goodbye, Pastoruri
Once upon a time, the easiest way for a visitor to touch ice in Peru was to climb the tourist trail to Pastoruri Glacier, a flat-topped glacier 70 km south of Huaraz. Roads from the highway made the glacier easily accessible to daytrippers, and even though its peak is a staggering 5,200 meters above sea level, the trek upward is relatively gentle, as far as glaciers go. If things got really rough, you could always rent a burro or a horse in the parking lot and haul yourself up that way. Not now. No longer. There are no burros for hire at Pastoruri because the glacier is officially off-limits to…
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Purple Month Strikes Again
It’s mes morado(purple month) again in Lima, and the faithful are dressed head-to-toe in purple clothing, a sign of their devotion to El Señor de los Milagros. This miracle-working Christ figure is housed in the Church of the Nazarenes, in downtown Lima (see photo above), where thousands of worshippers come to pray and make offerings each October. I blogged about Purple Month and the Lord of the Miracles in An American in Lima last year. Then I was fascinated by (1) the burning devotion of the faithful; (2) the creative ways that people found to weave purple into their wardrobes; and (3) the abundance of seriously good candy and pastries to be had during…
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Off to Huaraz Again — Puya Raimondi in Bloom
Tomorrow morning I fly to Huaraz to help out with a U.S. network shoot about melting glaciers in Peru. I’ll be taking the group to Pastoruri, which I didn’t get to visit the last time I was in Huaraz, and I’m looking forward to seeing the once-mighty glacier up close. And, as it happens, something else is happening up there as well that’s rather amazing. The van driver that we’re hiring tells me that hundreds of puya raimondi are in bloom now. This is the rare bromeliad found only in the Andes and known as the “living fossil.” Puya raimondi flower only once in their lives, after many years, then die…
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Day at the Spa
A perk to living in Lima is that you can have your hair cut and styled for ridiculously low prices. A salon down the street from us charges S/.20 to do a full blowout, for any length hair. That’s less than US$7 for something that stylists in the United States charge $50 and up. If they’ll do it at all. (I used to go to a salon in Florida whose owner refused to straighten my long, thick hair, claiming the effort aggravated her carpel tunnel syndrome.) Ditto prices for dog grooming. Lola went to the dog spa today. They bathed her, cut her nails and put a ribbon on her and then drove…
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Food Businesses Boom in Peru
BBC Online published an insightful overview yesterday of Peru’s booming food industries (“Food business taking off in Peru,” 9/25/09), to coincide with this weekend’s second annual gastronomic fair in Lima. Dan Collyns reports on the growth of gourmet restaurants, artisanal products and food exports, trends that are helping to prop up Peru’s economy in the face of a global economic downtown. (He also notes Peruvians’ preference for fresh, rather than processed, foods, an idea I’ve been harping on lately in this blog.) Peruvians’ love of good food cuts across class, racial and ethnic barriers, Collyns says, and reflects the country’s rich bio-diversity, from its ocean waters teeming with fish, to the…
