Chinatown

6/10/16

Being in Peru I had a couple things on a mental bucket list. Those things were to paraglide (check), surf (check), get a piercing (check), to eat the best ceviche in the world (check), and to go to Barrio de Chino, the chinatown of Lima. There is such a noticeable population of Chinese and Japanese immigrants here because during the industrial boom, Chinese and later Japanese immigrants came to the new world looking for jobs. The Chinese especially kept tight knit circles and created their own neighborhood. I like to go to Chinatowns in every city I go to because it is a culture I can identify with, they usually have a bunch of interesting shops, and the best food. Around 11am Vicky, Gabby, and I got in a cab headed our of Miraflores and to Chinatown. On the way there we pasted through many questionable neighborhoods, our cab driver even told us to keep the windows up, but I was not deterred because I knew once we got to the Arch there would be rushed people going every which way. In fact this was true, we took a picture under the arch and proceeded to find a place for lunch. We settled on a Chifa (Chinese and Peruvian fusion) buffet which had a wide mix foods from wontons, spring rolls, fried rice, chicken and broccoli, and a whole two tables dedicated to dessert. After lunch we walked around through Chinatown, and found a gigantic market filled with venders for everything from meat, hardware, to clothes, to kitchen supplies. Walking through the meat section was probably the hardest because of the smell but one of the most adorable things happened when a butcher tossed a piece of meat to a huge dog in the middle of the aisle. I'm sure the image is less than cute but the look on the dogs face when chowing down it was clear someone was happy.

We had to get back to Miraflores because Vicky was meeting Alexis to surf. Meanwhile Gaby and I watched their things and I took a couple more pictures of the two girls surfing. The rest of my day was filled with errands like buying a suitcase and picking up my laundry. Tonight I look forward to another night at the coolest bar in Lima, Ayahuasca.