Shows what I know. I figured that I would sleep in today, after going to bed at 5:00 am. Mother Nature thought otherwise.
There was a big earthquake here in Peru last month. It was horrible for the folks in the Ica area. Lima was more or less undisturbed (at least physically) by the event.
Aftershocks have been coming and going, according to the internet. Well, this morning at 5:53, I wake up. The bed is shaking. My first thought is, "This is a great hotel. Way to go, buddy." But then I focus and realize what's happening (all the car alarms going off were a clue, too). Earthquake! I don't know how long it went on, but long enough to wake me up, let me figure out what was going on, and be scared. Then it stopped.
It was a 5.1 magnitude quake, just off the coast, about 125 miles from Lima, and about 65 miles from Ica, where the big one was last month.
I went back to sleep, but I'm not a good going back to sleeper, so I woke up at 10:00 am. I get the feeling that a nap will be in order later.
My attempts to call the spinner from Scarlets yesterday were unsuccessful, but I have nothing left for a date this afternoon anyway. I will try her today and possibly set something up for Thursday. I have never been successful seeing Scarlets girls out of the club, so my hopes are not all that high.
By noon, I finally had my shit together and headed out to lunch. I had eaten at El Bolivariano a couple of times previously - they have a very good Sunday Brunch for about $14, but their menu looked good, so I figured that I would give 'em a try.
El Bolivariano specializes in classic Peruvian food, so I stuck with the classics. My appetizer was causa de congreo. Causas are mashed potatoes shaped and then stuffed with various things, this time with crab meat and avocado. It's not a very exciting dish, but it is tasty, and I always marvel how they can get something as malleable as mashed potatoes to stay in a neat shape.
My second course was a Jalea. That's basically a mix of different fried fish and seafood, stuff I really like. Here, everything was freshly made and piping hot, and it was all delicious. The Jalea is a dish for two people, so I had the waiter wrap up the leftovers to take with me. It ran about $16, which was high, but remember, I had a main course for two.
Across the street from the restaurant is a large supermarket and a few small shops. One of the shops sells DVD copies for dirt cheap (3 for 10 soles -- $1.06 each). I stocked p on a bunch of stuff, and kept in practice by flirting with the girls in the shop. One of them had plans to come back to the US with me, but her lack of passport, visa and plane ticket blew those plans out of the water. As a consolation prize, I gave them my leftover lunch - they work across the street from the restaurant and would not considering spending that kind of money on food, however good it is. They were thrilled, and I had a bag of DVDs.
I grabbed a cab back to the hotel, where I laid around and tried unsuccessfully to sleep all afternoon. I left at 6:45 to go see my friends at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. One of the guys was celebrating eight years clean, and I wanted to be there for him. Also, I was hoping that they would go out for dinner after - they might know a great place that I haven't heard of.
Well, they didn't. Or if they did, they weren't telling me. It was a weeknight, and they all went home after the meeting. But I am nothing if not motivated, at least when it comes to food. I decided to try out Pizzeria Mavery.
Pizzeria Mavery
Av. Del Ejercito #182, Miraflores
444-3134
www.pastasmavery.com
Open Daily noon-midnight
Delivery until 3 pm, and again from 6:00 - 11:00 pm
I didn't know it was an Italian place until I walked in. The sign on the building just says 'Mavery'. I did know that it was busy every time I passed it, and that was a good sign.
The restaurant is clean, serves good food, and is virtually giving it away. As usual, I ordered one thing too many, but it all sounded so good on the menu.
I started with a crab empanada. It was full of crab and cheeses, and the shell was soft and fluffy, not greasy and crunchy. Delicious. Next, I had a slice of their 'house special' pizza. It came loaded with extra cheese, ham, sausage, peppers, and some other stuff. It was a small slice on a thin crust, and it was real good as well. For my main dish, I had the osso buco. It was a huge lamb shank, surrounded (but not covered by) a red sauce. It was huge, and it was only 13 soles ($4). Incredible. I washed the whole thing down with a pitcher of chicha morada, and the entire check came to less that $10 (30 soles). This is one of the few places I've been that does not include the tip in the price, so I added 6 soles, and was out for less than $12. When I asked for a business card, they also gave me a refrigerator magnet. If I had a refrigerator here, they'd be one of my first calls. I highly recommend this place.
Everywhere I go in Lima, I pass dozens of possibly good restaurants. I get the feeling that I could just pick a street, start at one end and work my way to the other, and rarely be disappointed. This city is just awesome.
It was 10:15 when I left the restaurant, too early to go whoring, especially at Emmanuelle (for some reason, that's where I wanted to go). I headed to Casinos Miraflores, Hacienda and Atlantic City where I quickly lost, lost, and lost. It was now midnight, and I only slept a couple of hours each of the last few nights, so I just got a cab back to the hotel, typed up some notes, and went to bed.
So it turns out that the only shaking that went on in my bed today was provided by the earthquake. Hopefully, this will be my only non-sex day of the trip. I still have two full days to go, and Saturday until 1:00 pm. And I have a sneaking suspicion that I may extend until Sunday.
As a reward for reading all the way through without any sex going on, here's a couple of more pictures of Cristina from Tuesday night:
Photos: Cristina 31 32 33 34