Sorry for the lack of posts over the last week. Between traveling and sparse internet, it’s been difficult to stay on top of my blog!
It’s been a great week so far of research and exploring! I began my Peruvian adventures in Lima, the sprawling mega capital of Peru. I didn’t realize just how enormous Lima is until I had a chance to wander around the city. Home to almost nine million people, it is the second largest city in the world that is built in a desert (only Cairo, Egypt is larger!). The city has miles upon miles of skyscrapers lining the cliffs on the Pacific coastline. Since it is winter in the Southern hemisphere, it was slightly chilly and the sky never shifted from a monotone grey color for the entire three days that I was there!
I took a taxi through the horrible Lima traffic (Lima has very limited public transportation options, so taxis and cars are the norm) to wander around Miraflores, which is the tourist center of the city. When translated to English, Miraflores means “Look, flowers,” and that precisely describes this part of town. The district of Miraflores has invested thousands of dollars into building beautiful parks, walkways, and flower beds throughout this section of the city. The result is a green oasis in the middle of a gritty, grey city. I wandered around the paths above the cliffs all morning, stopping to watch paragliders along the way!
For lunch, I decided to try one of chef Gaston Acurio’s famous restaurants. Gaston is often seen as one of the fathers of modern Peruvian cuisine. He has opened restaurants across South and North America. There are a couple of his restaurants around Lima, and I chose to go to one called Panchita, that specialized in criollo food, a kind of Peruvian comfort food. It was an amazing experience, and I got to try one of the most classic Peruvian dishes called tacu tacu. Tacu tacu was originally a criollo dish that is made with beans, rice, onions, chili, and other spices. It is usually served with potatoes, choclo (a type of Peruvian corn), and some kind of meat on top. It was all very tasty, and I had a good time watching a bunch of Peruvian families that were celebrating birthdays and other occasions.
After eating at Panchita, I took a bus up to the top of a huge hill overlooking the city. There is an enormous statue of Christ at the top, which I was told is an “embarrassment” to Peruvians. Apparently, a former president of Peru, Alan Garcia, gifted the statue to the city at the end of his term. His original plan was to make it bigger than the one in Rio de Janiero, so that it would be the largest in the world. Upon hearing the cost of this, he decided to install a much smaller Christ statue. Despite the underwhelming nature of the statue, the views from the top of the hill of the city were amazing! Despite the fog (or smog? Not sure how much is the weather and how much is pollution), I could see for miles down the coastline!
All in all, it was a fun day exploring Lima before I went to meet with an incredible organization called Future Generations the following day. I wasn’t able to do a field visit to witness their programs in action, so I won’t be able to include the organization as an official case study, but it was fascinating to speak with their directors about how they are working in partnership with the Peruvian government to improve childhood nutrition in the Huanuco region. The success that the program has achieved so far is remarkable, and I am so thankful that I was able to include Future Generations on my itinerary!
[[Sorry for the lack of pictures; I’ll upload them as soon as I find strong enough internet!]]