Vivas Los Mayorgas Part 1

We have only been away from our families and in South America for a little over a week now. We feel like we have been in Peru much longer. We had very high hopes for Peru and they have been fully exceeded in just one week. We have seen more of Peru in a week than some people get to see in a month. We miss our families and friends but week one has really shown us why we made the drastic decision to explore South America.

It only took us a total of 7 hrs with two flights one from NYC to Bogota and from Bogota to Lima. We were on a Colombian airline (wine is complimentary J) and arrived in Lima around 5:00pm. We were greeted at the airport by lovely Penny and Pedro Mayorga. The Mayorga family has played a huge part in our trip to Peru so I will give you a little background on their fine family. Pedro was a good friend of mine starting in high school. His mom Penny (a beautiful Welch lady) worked at my high school in the English department. When I moved to Boulder Colorado I became close friends with Juan Mayorga (Pedro’s older brother) who also ended up moving to Portland Oregon. He is a very good friend of Kim and I. Juan was a big factor in helping plan our South American adventure. He is a full time guide for Youths for Adventure trips in Peru. Eleodoro (nickname LoLo) is father of the Mayorga family. He is Peruvian though he has traveled the entire world himself. He has been a huge help with our trip thus far. The Mayorga family becomes complete with Fran, Pedro’s twin sister who now lives in London.
The first thing we noticed when we were picked up in Lima was the driving and how different it is from the States. Peruvians put a whole new meaning on aggressive drivers. If you are not an aggressive driver here you will be stuck standing in one position for hours. Penny had adapted great to the driving. She drove us through some of Lima and then along a coastal highway where we arrived in Barranco. This is the oldest district in Lima and filled with cute shops and lots of bars. After checking out the ocean view from the end of the Mayorga’s street, we arrived at a beautiful paradise which they call home. This property has been in the Mayorga family for years, even keeping it when they moved to the States in 1992. The first thing we noticed about their house was the amazing variety of plants everywhere. The house open’s up into a huge beautiful courtyard with exotic plants and a cute little fishpond. We got the grand tour of their gorgeous home covered in stunning mahogany wood. Here we even have our own bedroom overlooking the courtyard. The Mayorga home has a marvelous rooftop deck overlooking the Garden where we spent the next few hours catching up with Pedro, Penny, and LoLo.
The next day Pedro was eager to show us Lima so we decided to take the town by foot. We walked to Mira Flores, the next district over, with great shopping and entertainment. We walked along the ocean on a scenic view path with Pedro telling us a little about each place. We ended up walking for about 4 miles. We found a really neat semi precious stone shop with tons of beautiful pieces from near and far.

After walking around for a bit we met up with Pedro’s mom Penny to have our first taste of a classic Peruvian lunch cuisine called Ceeviche. We ate at a beautiful restaurant called Del Final Mar where she generously treated us to one of our favorite meals we have ever had. Ceeviche is raw fish cooked with onions in citrus. The acidy from the citrus lightly cooks the fish. Our mouths dropped to the floor after trying one bite of this amazing dish. Our meal also included a fried seafood plate, scallops with melted parmesan cheese and tamales (PICTURES BELOW). After a filling lunch we walked to an Inca market where we saw tons of beautiful silver jewelry and alpaca fur products. We ended our first day with a wonderful family dinner at the Mayorga home. Penny made an original Peruvian dish called Arroz con Pollo. Kim begged Penny for the recipe. It tasted so unique and wonderful.