The Best Moments of Lima So Far

In no apparent order!

- "Ah! You are Middle Eastern, not Latin American, right? That's why you look like one of the Taliban." --Health Fair worker, Ventanilla.

- The giant flower from Marieke on my birthday.

- 8 sun salutations in a row at yoga with Karen-- "Perro mirandose abajo!"

- Churro + thick, rich Spanish hot chocolate at Cafe Manolo's on a Sunday morning.

- Stumbling onto the secret staircase to the roof at Bar Ayahuasca (above) with Tripper.

- Salsa Dancing up in the Lima hills with Joao and his awesome family.

- The hot chocolate at Cafe La Maquina (with just a touch of pisco).

- "Aromatic pisco" from Emily, with Matt and Josh and Karen. Tastes like fire, and no amount of lime and sugar can fight it.

- The all-out raucousness of Help! (Thanks, Luis) complete with a big old fashioned Peruvian mosh pit.

- "You guys eat like poor children."-- Franco

- The scarf conversation with our boss, Bob...actually any conversation with Bob.

- One extremely strong maracuya sour with Marieke and Coco at lunch at La Caplina.

- Helping out at a delivery in the shantytown of Puente Piedra. When I knocked on the door to that area, they just said "Come on in! We got a woman who's about to start pushing, so join us!" Sterile field? not so much.

- Maybe the best part is just life in Lima. It's not the greatest place to visit, but it's an extremely comfortable place to live your life.

Bye Bye Bolivia

Writing this right now after a four day jaunt to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, a groovy little town locked between the highlands of La Paz and the jungles of Brazil. Santa Cruz is built in concentric rings, extending outward from the Plaza del 24 Septiembre. The Plaza is filled with people at all hours of the days: old folks playing chess, young couples on the park benches enjoying some PDA, and burned-out backpackers watching people pass by. About a decade ago, sloths used to climb through the trees on the plaza (until nearly all of them got run over on the nearby streets--too slow, apparently).

But this is all beside the point. You may come to Santa Cruz on a leg of your South American backpacking trip, or for your agricultural business trip, or to investigate possible research on Chagas Disease (as I was doing). But what you will find here are the most beautiful women in Bolivia, maybe even in all of South America. Somehow, the Brazilian influence that has crept in here mixed with the indigenous look... and it just leads to gorgeousness.

As wonderful as these women are, and as relaxed as the city of Santa Cruz, it's not quite the right place for me. I'm falling in love HARD with Lima, and I think it's got me under its power.

(Plus I just found a boba place with easily the best boba i've had in a while-- and they do beer with boba in it).

So. Let's see where it goes from here. I'll keep you guys posted!

Anticuchos, how I love you.

Hey folks-- so in my quest to eat my way through South America (and do a little research on the side), I've come across the first of many food challenges: Anticuchos. These are skewers of beef heart, heavily doused in a savory marinade, and grilled over an open flame.... and they are awesome. Somehow they come out with just the right amount of crisp on the outside and this tender little core, and the flavor extends all the way to the very center. Thinking about it right now already has me drooling again, even though I've had it for the past two nights running (maybe the third too??). For all my med school friends-- yes, you can see the trabeculae and the papillary muscle, and they're like little pockets for the sauce = more flavor.

Friday night we hit up Tio Mario's in Barranco, right on la Puente de los Suspiros (hold your breath as you walk over it for the first time) and a stone's throw away from the cliffs overlooking the ocean. The anticuchos were excellent, the aji spicy as all hell, and the corn GIGANTIC. Huge freakin kernels, people. For Saturday night, a lovely little barbecue with new friends Manuel and Nya, who acted as fantastic hosts while we grilled up anticuchos and chorizo in their patio. Pisco sours, Maracuya sours... I could go on and on but I'm getting hungry again.

The first week here has been a huge rush. Expect another post soon! Plenty of adventures so far.

Signing out--Dan

Thanks to www.thousandflavors.com on Flickr for the photos.

Welcome!

Hi Folks! Daniel here. Thanks for taking the time to check out this blog-- it's meant for friends, family, colleagues, and any other folks that might take an interest in a these upcoming adventures.
So here I am, a LA kid, born and raised, in the middle of medical school at UCLA, spending a year doing medical research in Peru through the Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholarship. Even though it was rough saying goodbye to friends and family for a year, this is a pretty great opportunity to experience medicine in the international setting.
But what's with the "somewhere to land"? Well that comes from a conversation I had with my dear friend Jean Rao, sitting in Sweetie's Bar in North Beach, San Francisco, back on Memorial Day. Even though our group of close friends has been scattered all over, from DC to LA and soon to New York, we can't shake this feeling of needing to see each other. At least I know that whenever I need to recharge, I can take a trip up to the Bay and spend time with some great folks, or spend time with the people I love down in LA. The memorial day trip was just that-- I basically walked into SF and instantly had people to be with and a place to crash. And even though folks are moving away all over the place or matching into residencies, and everything's in this state of flux over the next few years, that will always be there-- the open arms of a friend to take you in, no matter what city you're in. Though we're circling around up in the air for the next few months/years, it's reassuring to know that we'll still always have somewhere to land...

Anyway! Let's get to it! Expect more posts soon about orientation, arriving in Lima, and plenty of other stuff! Okay folks-- until then...