Lima Day 13: Feliz Navidad!

Wednesday, December 25

It was a Merry Christmas for all. Except those going home today, like me.

Lima is pretty much closed on Christmas Day. They tell me it picks up in the afternoon and evening, but in the morning, not so much.

I woke up early and took a walk. One of the Chicharron places was open, so I got a Sandwich and a Cafe con Leche.

There were quite a few customers in the restaurant, so maybe Chicharron isn't just for weekends, but holidays, too.

Pretty empty was the Mercado in Surquillo. However, you can always count on the Tamale Ladies to be there. I had them make me two Sandwiches from the Pork Tamale.

I don't know who is going to miss who more: Me for their virtually on-demand Tamales, or them for my almost-daily $1.50. It's probably a toss-up.

I was going to give one of the Sandwiches to the doorman in my building, but 'doorman' is a very vague concept in this building, and I couldn't find him, so I took them upstairs and ate one of them. I had half of the second Sandwich before I left for the airport.

The food at the Lima airport is (surprise!) not horrible. For my final farewell meal, I went to Manos Morenos at the food court and had a Tacu Tacu with Lomo Saltado.

That really was all she wrote for my Peruvian Food Intake, as I got on the plane after that.

I like to fly to & from Lima on Copa Airlines. Their times are good for my schedule, I get to change planes halfway through in Panama and stretch my legs, and if you plan in advance, you can request Fruit Platters instead of the normal horror that they call food. And I need to get back to some sane eating plan, so why not start right away?

Here's the platter from each of the flights.

The plane landed at 10:00, and I was back in Ft. Lauderdale by 11:30, and I was hungry. Normally, I would have gone to Albertsons to pick up some Fruit, or stopped *somewhere* to get something to eat, but not on Christmas. Luckily (for me, not for the employees), Subway was open, so I stopped there and goit my standard Sub.

There you go: Wheat Bread, Turkey, lots of Mustard, no Cheese, no Mayo, Spinach, Tomatoes, Banana Peppers, Hot Peppers, Pickles. I ate that, read the mail that had accumulated, and went to bed.