Aruba: Arriving at Paradise!

Saturday, July 26, 2014

We arrived in Aruba late afternoon/early evening and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel at the Marriott Stellaris Resort and Casino. Once we checked in, we quickly settled in and freshened up, and headed out to explore the area and walk to our first dinner reservation at Bavaria, a German restaurant. We walked along the beach and were so excited to see the turquoise colored waters and baby powder white sand! We snapped some pics and walked along the beach to check out the strip. It wasn't hard finding the restaurant - we had to ask a few people and got there in no time. We were literally the only other table having dinner there that night as they claimed that weekends are slow for them as people are normally traveling in and out of Aruba and it's also low season (US summers). 

YOLO = my motto for this trip

The food was good - we had pretzels and a salad to start, veal and pork schnitzel, and a bratwurst sausage sample for entrees and shared everything. Everyone else was not too impressed by the food but I thought it was a solid meal. We stopped by a grocery store nearby after and picked up some essentials for the room (water and snacks). We eventually noticed that there was a pretty large population of Chinese people in Aruba and they owned nearly all of the supermarkets and minimarts.

We walked back to the hotel passing by the strip on the road and little souvenir shops and stores. We also mad a run through the small mall complex where Eunice and Erica got 2 tiny scoops of Haagen Daz. Once we got back to the hotel, we went to bed early since we knew we had to get up early next morning for our Jolly Pirates snorkeling and rope swing tour.

Peru: Lima and Astrid y Gaston

Saturday, June 28, 2014: Exploring Lima

We had an early flight out of Cusco flying into Lima. It was a short one hour flight and Lima was actually a (long) layover for us as part of our flight back to NY. Once we landed in Lima, we stowed our luggage at the airport and jumped in a taxi for downtown. As we drove through the city, we immediately noticed a huge difference in air quality. The air felt so dense and polluted in Lima compared to Cusco. In addition, Lima felt a lot more like a metro city whereas Cusco had much more indigenous people. It was almost like we were in a different country! We took a taxi to the city center where we saw a historical buildings and architecture with a fountain in the middle of the square. It was very underwhelming and at that point, I realized that there probably wasn't a whole lot to explore and see in Lima. After walking around the square for a little while and snapping some photos, we walked over just a few blocks to the Church of San Francisco. Apparently there was mass going on and there were lots of people gathered outside and a huge line. There were so many pigeons flying around and small street vendors selling snacks and flowers and religious products. Peter bought some amazing churros here. They were so good, we bought another. He also had some quail eggs from a street vendor, but there was something about pigeons flying around that took my appetite away. I did really enjoy the best churro ever though. We took a taxi to Miraflores where we stopped by a supermarket called Wong (a huge chain) and bought some snacks. We were ready for a meal and decided to go eat at Rosa Nautica based on a recommendation from Wayki Trek. The food was very very underwhelming which we were so disappointed about because Lima was supposed to be a big foodie city. We ordered a bunch of seafood given that it was a seafood restaurant and had high expectations for ceviche since Lima was known for the ceviche. It was also very average. Perhaps we just don't like ceviche? But that's so weird because I love sushi. I must commend that the views from Rosa Nautica was amazing though. We ate right on the pier just over the Pacific ocean. It was a gloomy and cloudy day, but we made the most out of it with the great views of the coast from Rosa Nautica.

Lima city center

Lima city center

 Lima city center

Lima city center 

Lima city center

Lima city center

Lima city center; walking over to Church of San Francisco

Church of San Francisco

pigeons galore

Someone's excited for quail eggs

Miraflores district

 Steps down to the coast 

Me and Peter

View of Rosa Nautica

Walking along the ocean - there were a lot of people surfing/learning how to surf

Gloomy and cloudy - we couldn't tell if it was smog

Little crabs everywhere

Peter's favorite restaurant in the world (not)

We sat outside - this was our view. Amazing ocean view.

Peter's view facing the coastline

Lunch at Rosa Nautica

the steps we climbed in Miraflores

Miraflores

Walking along the boardwalk in Miraflores where the Pacific Ocean hugs the coast

 View of the coastline of the Pacific Ocean

View of Rosa Nautica

Miraflores

Miraflores boardwalk view

After lunch and walking along the boardwalk for a bit, we realized that there really wasn't that much to see and do in Lima. We opted to walk around the popular (and extremely westernized) outdoor mall at Larcomar Shopping Center. All the stores there were from the US. There was even a pinkberry where they had these goldenberries topping that I really wanted to try and Peter said they were really good when he had them in Vancouver. They weren't that good here in Lima though - they look like little yellow cherry tomatoes.

The world cup was going on and people at the shopping center was gathered around to watch

The main reason why we wanted to pay a visit to Lima was to eat at Astrid y Gaston. It was named in the top 20 of the World's 50 Best Restaurants by San Pellegrino. We had so much time to kill between lunch and our dinner reservations (which were such a pain to make by the way because the restaurant was in the process of relocating from Miraflores to their current location in Casa Moreyra in San Isidro. We were originally going to just take a taxi from Miraflores to San Isidro district but Peter had the brilliant idea of walking there since we had so much time to kill. I'm so glad we did because I felt like we truly got to experience/explore the different Lima neighborhoods, particularly the residential areas, by walking. We passed through busy main streets where we were able to pop in and out of stores to browse souvenirs. We then crossed over to quieter streets where all the local residents lived. Many of the homes we passed by were beautiful and super luxurious looking. They reminded me of the big homes of rich Jewish communities in Brooklyn, NY. 

After walking for about 45mins, we finally got here just a little early for our reservations. The restaurant at Casa Moreyra was stunning.

So elegant looking

We're finally here!! We are ready for a good meal in Peru.

Waiting to be seated

We enjoyed a lengthy and informative tasting menu that took us through the journey of 5 different landscapes of Peru:

1. The Pacific Ocean
2. The Desert
3. The Andes
4. The Altiplano (High Plain)
5. The Amazon

We enjoyed 29 courses (most I've ever had on a tasting menu!) and we were just stuffed. Each course was so unique and I loved that each dish represented a part of Peru. The plating was beautiful and the service was relaxed and discreet. We especially loved one of our waitresses who was super friendly and down to earth. The meal itself was super delicious and gastronomic! Let's walk through what we had that night:

Casa Hacienda Moreyra

Starters were: Spirit (Johnny Walker Black Label alcoholic drink) - good but strong for me

Roots and herbs (delicate flakes of bread/cracker) with a delicious fluffy butter cream

Olives (the 3 balls in bottom left corner)

Carrots, squid ink (little green plate in the bottom left corner)

Anticucheras skins (3 chips with 3 different fillings: chicken, pork, fish)

The Pacific Ocean

Sea prawn and pickles - I think this was my favorite bite of the night. I think the prawn was raw but the delicate orange coating on top made it look cooked

To the very left is Anchovy alfajor

To the very right of the plate is Seaweed, peach

Melon cucumber, sea urchin and clams Ceviche

Pisco beach

Lobster, pacae, maca

The Desert

Memories of Cantalloc

 Southern asparagus

Mackarel escabeche

Crab, stinging nettle

The Andes

Corn, cheese, rocoto

Purple potato

Huatia

Huatia - to accompany the potatoes above

Frutillada, molle

The Altiplano

Quinoa sprouts

Trout, custard apple, duck

Beef shank, watercress

Oca, lamb, sage

The Amazon

Toasted pig jowl, sachaculantro

Chocolate

Aguaje, lucuma, purple corn

Zapote, lima

La Tasta Cafe finca, cold extraction 

Coins

After dinner, the staff called a taxi for us to head back to the airport for our flight back home, but before we left, we asked if could have a tour of the kitchen. We even got to say hi to the head chef Diego Munoz!

There he is!

Completely stuffed at the end of our meal. It was delightful, and just the perfect ending to one memorable and amazing trip!!!