Lovely Lima. This city was heaps nicer than I expected. I thought it was going to be rough and dirty like La Paz in Bolivia, but instead, it was clean, fairly modern, retaining some of the old architecture from yesteryear.
A couple of days ago after getting an email from Mum and Dad, I realised that we were both going to be in the same city on the same day! After some email exchanges, we agreed to meet up in Lima and I was super excited! I even made a restaurant booking in Peru’s best restaurant, Astrid y Gaston www.astridygaston.com for the next night.
Our hotel was a little odd – no sign out the front, just a travel agency business and a big metal gate. For A$40 per night each for our own room, was a good price for this nicely located little three star gem. www.hotelmiraflores.com Hotel Miraflores was fine for two nights – my room was big, my bed was big, I had a fridge, free bottle of water, TV, desk, wifi, what more could I want.
Hubs and I went for a walk before it got dark, getting some money and something to eat – we found a Tony Romas in the shopping precinct near the beach. I was SO excited! In Perth, Tony Romas was where the old media team headed by the other Andrew the Greek in my life, Andrew Kikiros used to take us every so often for a big lunch of delicious ribs and corona. I had been having a rib craving for ages – and now it was about to be satiated. Hubs was also being initiated into the world of amazing ribs by Tony Roma. And they didn’t disappoint. We both had a full rack and they were yum yum yum!! My God I was full by the end though.
The next day Dad called me nice and early and we made a plan to meet at their posh hotel at 10.45am. Yay! They had to be back at the hotel by 1.45pm to do their oldies tour of Lima. It was so good to see them again!! We sat in their hotel for 15 mins or so just catching up quickly – then we went for a walk. Dad wanted to show me the shoe street, a street that only has shoe shops on it. Uh-o danger. And since when has Dad encouraged me to go shopping anyway? He must have missed me!!
We found a shoe smith and dad got his shoe repaired, and I took them to the beach shopping precinct and we had Peru’s most expensive coffee and all shared a wedge of chocolate cake. We did a bit of shopping for mum who wanted some flat leather closed shoes and a long sleeve shirt for the jungle. It was very nice. On our way walking back to their hotel, we bumped into Hubs! I said good bye to mum and dad and made plan to meet them at their hotel from 6.30pm onwards. Dinner was booked at 7.45 at Astrid y Gaston, which happened to be less than a block from Mum and Dad’s hotel.
Hubs and I went to the most boring museum in the world, called the ceramic museum – where there was supposed to be a huge collection of ancient erotic pottery. The erotic stuff was only a small portion of the museum, and all pretty tame really. On display were works showing intercourse between man and woman, anal intercourse between man and woman, and men masturbating. Nothing gay. Nothing involving animals or objects – all pretty tame and boring.
Dinner on the other hand was far from boring. At mum and dad’s posh hotel Casa Andina, I had a cocktail while waiting for them to return from their oldies tour – a speciality of the house – Andina Pisco Sour. Holy cow it was strong – and happy hour so I got two for one. When mum and dad arrived, mum had the other cocktail and it nearly put us both on our arses! So strong! Mum and Dad’s Nambucca friends they are travelling with Chris and Glenn joined us too.
Astrid y Gaston was a delight. Great service and great food. We were welcomed with complimentary hors d’oeuvres that were delicious. For starters I had amazing duck ravioli served in a broth of some sort that was nothing short of magnificent. So delicious, tasty, well presented – a Master Chef 10. Mains I had two type of beef steak – again sensational and beautifully presented – but I was already almost full by then that I could really only taste it. I would put this meal up with one of best meals in my life. Certainly the best meal in South America so far. Dad said that same thing. It was a really fun night with lots of Peruvian red wine flowing, people passing bite size pieces of their food to others for tasting – it was really fun! for dessert, none of us could do it. The waiter put a tower of drawers on the table – inside each draw were different flavoured chocolates – oh yes, my type of dessert! This was also complimentary. Needless to say, I rolled out of that restaurant quite boozed and totally full – after Dad was his generous self and picked up the tab. Thanks Dad!!
Hubs and I went back to our hotel, picked up our bags and headed to the airport for another joyful night of travel.
Next stop, Salvador in Brasil.
FACT FILE
Astrid y Gaston
Calle canturrias 175
Miraflores, Lima, Perú
Tel: +(511) 242 5387 or +(511) 242 4422
Bookings advisable