Lima Day 2: Brunch, and Soup Makes an Appearance

Sunday, December 1

Back when I was a Marine, I could get up at 5 in the morning and get more accomplished by 8:00 am than you would do in a day. Well, I'm not a Marine any longer, but sometimes my mind hasn't caught up with my body.

December 1 is World AIDS Day, and my friend Cinthya was part of a group organizing a rally, so I went. It turns out that not only are they against AIDS, but they are also against discrimination against people who have AIDS. I was glad to get behind those causes.

I was also glad to go to the rally. It was in a neighborhood called Surco, and it turns out that Surco is a hotbed of Tamale production. I'm not talking big-time, corporate Tamales. I'm talking Mom Makes Them in Her Kitchen Tamales. The ones that you have to knock on a door and pass money through a hole for. The kind that little old ladies get up at 4 in the morning (more Marines!) and are out selling them on the street. THOSE kind of Tamales. They're big. They're delicious. They're a dollar.

So I got a Tamale.

Then I bought a roll (seven cents!) at a Bread Store and asked the Tamale Lady to make me a Sandwich. Here's the Sandwich, and here she is putting the other half of the Tamale away for me to eat without bread.

Cinthya was busy at the rally, so we couldn't chat much, but we're going to see the Addams Family musical when I go back next week. We will probably eat something, too. Here I am sporting my ribbon.

After the Rally was over (everyone agreed - AIDS is bad), I headed back to pick up Ed for Brunch. We were going to meet my friends Garry and Veronika at El Bolivariano in Pueblo Libre.

El Bolivaiano has an extensive buffet on Sundays. It is far off of the tourist trail, and I am usually the only native English-speaker there. This time, it was just our table.

There's a lot of things on the Buffet - It starts with Salads (I passed), and then goes on to Cebiches, Tiraditos and Causas. After that comes the hot stuff, and I had a Rocoto Relleno Rice and Chicken, Fried Fish Chunks, Tamale, Adobo of Pork, Ahi de Gallina, and parts of an Entire Pig, cut up right before your eyes. There was also Chupe de Cangrejo (Crab Soup).

If you ask nicely, they will also bring you Anticuchos -- Beef Hearts on a stick. I asked nicely.

Ed, Garry and Veronika all enjoyed themselves, too.

For Dessert, they have Ice Cream and an assortment of Cakes. But they also have Live Picarones going on.

They are **like** doughnuts, but the batter is made out of Squash and Sweet Potato. They taste like Doughnuts. And then they pour Syrup on them. Fabulous. Me & Veronika love Picarones. I think the other guys were too full.

That was enough for us at El Bolivariano. Ed and I didn't eat for a long time after that.

Once we recovered, we called Luis and had him drive us around so we could casino-hop. At Casino Golden Palace, I had the drink girl bring me a Fruit Salad.

Then, a little bit later, they gave out dinner. We both had a plate of Chicken Chunks. This was at about 10:00 pm.

At around midnight, we were in San Miguel and finally got somewhat hungry. The three of us went to an All-Night Chicken Noodle *Soup Place and ordered three bowls of Chicken Noodle Soup.

Of course, I ate all of mine, Luis had most of his, and Ed barely touched his Soup. I think that the Buffet really did him in.

That was it for the day. Two down; two to go.