We woke up kind of later than I would have preferred, had a
reasonable breakfast of what we had left in the apartment, got cleaned up and
then cleaned up the apartment and packed.
We got a taxi and headed to Daniela’s house where we dropped off our
main luggage choosing only to bring one small bag and my backpack which made
more sense. We talked to her mother for
a few and we had a cup of hot chocolate her mother prepared as well. Then we got another taxi to the central area
for longer travel and immediately found a collective taxi to Cieneguilla. That ride was supposed to take about 40
minutes but it really took about an hour with traffic. Then the driver didn’t
know where our hotel, Villas de Cieneguilla so it probably took another 20
minutes to find our way there including Daniela having to call the hotel to get
their location better for the driver. He drove us far past it because it wasn’t
on the main avenue. When we got there we
basically just dropped off our stuff and headed to find lunch because it was
already past 3pm.
Daniela had her mind set on going to a place called Mesas de
Piedras, or Stone Tables. Surprisingly
they serve the food on tables made of stone outside. The weather in Cieneguilla
was warmer than the coast because we had gotten into the mountains near the
city and had risen out of some of the coastal fog and humidity and while it was
hazy we had actual sun. Cieneguilla is to
the south of the city. It looks really dessert like and has lots of cacti,
rocks and sand. There are palm trees too
of course. We thought maybe we could
walk but apparently the locals don’t know where the restaurant is because a
motorcycle taxi and the actual taxi we took thought it was somewhere completely
different. Still with some help from other locals we made it there after having
to turn around once at least and stopping another time because he didn’t
believe us or the policeman that told him it was in another direction. In any event we made it there probably close
to 4pm though by this point I was not watching time at all.
We ordered Pachamanca which is a preparation of beef, pork
and chicken in a clay pot along with potatoes, lima beans, choclo and a tamale
called hamitas here. We each had a beer,
she a Pilsen Callao and me a Cuscena Red.
The food literally is served in the clay pot and it is nice because it
helps keep it warm. We took out some
food at a time. The dish is suggested for 2 people but there was really too
much for the both of us and we ended up taking out leftovers. The restaurant had a band that was playing
traditional music and there was even a group of 6 people (3 men, 3 women) that
performed a dance that lasted for quite a while. They were dancing huayno according to
Daniela. This is from the mountains of the Andes. They had on colorful costumes
(well colorful accessories on mainly black costumes). One of the girls kept shouting which I guess
is also traditional. Sort of made me
think of Taiko the way it felt random.
After we finished we managed to get some picture of colorful
local birds. Then we bought Daniela a shawl because she didn’t bring her jacket
and as the sun went down it got cooler significantly. We then started walking back to the hotel and
stopped a dessert place called Letorie which was run by a couple that had lived
in Connecticut for 10 years earlier in their lives. He was a nice guy and gave
me a chocolate chip cookie to go along with my coffee. I also had a coconut and
caramel gelato and Daniela had a piece of red velvet cake. She was curious about it. Both the owner and
I explained the story to her though mine was a bit more detailed. While we were
there another American/Peruvian couple came in (I was surprised, I didn’t think
I would see another white person honestly).
He was from Wisconsin. We really only said hello as they took their food
to go. Daniela really liked the cake.
The coffee, ice cream and cookie were all good too. The owner put on some Santana for me too
which was nice.
After we finished we started walking back to the hotel again
but the distance was really far so we took a local bus most of the way then
walked along from the main intersection to the hotel. We got inside and watched a bit of television
before falling to sleep after a while.
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