La calle

For my profesora de español and some of the others in the hostel, I am infamous for having eaten cebiche en la calle. They seem to be of the opinion that eating raw fish is something that should be done in a restaurant, not in a small stand on the street where the person preparing the food doesn't have access to basics like washing their hands every once in a while.

But, eating in the streets is one of the aspects of travelling that I love. Hot dogs in New York City. Anticuchos (cow hearts), api (a hot purple corn drink), and hamburguesas in La Paz. Sopaipillas in Valpairiso.

Even the foods that didn't make their way to my heart through my stomach, like that drink with the dried peach floating in it and some mote (grain) on the bottom in Santiago, are an experience.

But Lima, it seems, isn't really a street food town There was picarones in the parque in front of the hostel. Donut shaped fried dough (like beaver tails in every way except shape) with a honey syrup poured over it. Sandwiches with fried meat, turkey being the most popular. Allegedly there were anticuchos available, but I never encountered any.

So, what people rave about in Lima is the restaurant food. The chifa (which to my palate tastes like the Chinese food found in Montréal outside of Chinatown), the seafood, the cebiche, the criolla.

When my digestive problems disappeared, along with 800 soles in medical bills, let's hope my insurance covers that, I wanted to give cebiche another chance. This time without inspiring groans from the other people in the hostel. I chose the most talked about cebicheria in the area. One with enough success that they are spreading the joys of cebiche internationally.

Being alone, and the place being popular enough that every table is taken, I am seated at the bar. I order a cebiche mixto, which includes the obligatory raw fish as well as a mix of other seafoods, much like I had in the calle.

The woman seated next to me, a representative for an American high end tour organizer, starts talking to me. The usual where you from. What you doing here. ASL. She tells me that she's here to evaluate the food as this is where they send their clients while they are in Lima.

Now, the best place that I have found to eat in Miraflores is Miguel's, a sangwicheria. I order the middle of the road burgers, the ones without too many ingredients, and I can't imagine how big someone's head would have to be to eat one of the larger ones. My favourite was the one with egg, cheese, burger, fried plantain, and more grease than in a week's worth of unwashed hair. Simply delicious.

After we finish eating (I had my food and some of hers as the waiter, who knew we didn't order or get seated at the same time, gave us two plates for her dish), she asks me what I thought of the cebiche. I told her the ingredients were obviously of high quality, it was definitely good. But I preferred my cebiche from la calle.