¡Hasta Luego Perú!

It is almost time to return to gringolandia. Right now, I am spending my last days in Lima. Kike came with me to send me off, but only after we completed the Gaston culinary adventure. Gaston Acurio is the most famous Peruvian chef and Kike is pretty much in love with him. So, we had to check out his restaurantsssss in Lima. Yesterday we had breakfast/lunch in his sandwich shop T'anta (which means bread in Quechua). The funny thing about eating with Kike in restaurants with good food and good plate presentation is that you are NOT allowed to even touch your fork until he has taken the best picture.

In the afternoon, Kike was dead set on finding his other sandwich place. I think the difference was that the second, new restaurant served traditional Lima-style sandwiches. We never found out because no one knew where the restaurant was. After wandering around shopping and sightseeing for three+ hours, we decided to give up our search and just find a spot to relax and have a small snack. So.....I knew of a place that had good chicken wings....

Can you believe that Kike had never heard of "Hooters"?? If the boy is going to visit me in the states, I might as well have him start preparing for the culture shock, right? These are the fun moments I have with him. He loves trying new food, but in reality has not had a lot of American experience (meaning things that we all take for granted). For example, just yesterday, he had his first Starbucks latte drink (caramel macchiatto), corona beer (though he wasn't sure whether he wanted to put lime in his, and then really liked it when he tried), and medium spicy chicken wings. :)

In the evening, we went to Gaston's most famous and acclaimed restaurant, Astrid y Gastón, for dinner. Assuming that EVERYONE in Lima knows of the magic that is Gaston, Kike jumped in a cab and requested that the driver take us to the restaurant, near Parque Kennedy. The driver knew Parque Kennedy. He had no idea where the restaurant was located. So, we got out of the cab and started to look for the restaurant. We thought it wouldn't be the best idea to ask in another restaurant where Gaston's place was, so first we asked a security guard. He sent us off in one (the wrong) direction, until we asked a traffic policeman. Seeing that the traffic policeman couldn't even give us the name of the street, we were on at that moment, we decided to look for other help. The little old woman who owned the kiosk at the corner did not even know how to pronounce Gaston's name, so we continued on our way. I was a bit more surprised when we asked the attendants at a four star hotel, and by this time my feet were sore and I was certain that we had lost our reservation.

But determined (and quite hungry) Kike would not give up. Finally, we asked an older national policeman who pointed us in the right direction. The restaurant ended up being a block away from where the cab had dropped us off, but we managed to walk around 7 blocks of Parque Kennedy!

Dinner was fantastic! I was afraid for a while that I wouldn't be permitted to eat my meal with all the pictures he was taking. Finally I was given the okay to taste my sword fish with a traditional tacu-tacu (bean mix). Unfortunately Gaston was not in town yesterday, so Kike was not able to meet his hero. The waitor, though, was very generous and gave Kike a free copy of last year's menu. He looked like he had died and gone to heaven when he held it in his hands.

Today, after I meet with the Cultural Attaché of the US Embassy, we are supposedly headed to Gaston's cevichería restaurant. I am not a big fan of uncooked fish, but we'll see how it goes!

Tonight I leave for Washington, D.C. and will be back in Minnesota on Sunday. I can't believe my time here has come to an end. I already miss Puno so much, and everyone there. Saying goodbye to Lima won't be very hard, but leaving all the memories of my time in this country will be tough.