Mistura

Yesterday, I went with a group of friends to Mistura, which is an annual food festival in Lima. Mistura showcases Peruvian ingredients, traditional dishes, etc. from over 350 different parts of Peru, with 54 different restaurants, 70 food carts, and 14 different rustic kitchens. I think Mistura must be similar to Taste of Chicago, which I avoided attending for the 14 years I lived in Chicago. However, I enjoyed Mistura, particularly the bread corner, chocolate corner, and the Pisco and coffee salon. There was a great market area to buy grains, potatoes, veggies, etc. 

 

We didn't try any of them, but you could buy and taste cuy (guinea pig), anticuchos (beef heart), alpaca, and more Peruvian "delights"at Mistura. The line for some type of pork was very long, but my friend and I enjoyed churros and veggie burritos instead!

The official adult beverage of Peru is called the pisco sour. There were hundreds of piscos for smelling, tasting, and buying at Mistura. I even got a tutorial on how to make the very best ones! All of the people working and selling food at Mistura were eager to talk with us and to have us practice our Spanish, etc. 

      

Some people ate a traditional Peruvian food called Pachamanca. It is a mix of meat (beef, pork, chicken and lamb), vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans and corn) and other extras like humitas (corn tamales and cheese pastries) that is buried under the ground (dirt) and cooked over hot stones during certain months to celebrate the harvest. The flavors of the warm earth/soil are supposed to make the ingredients even more flavorful.  Pachamanca is typically made in the highlands of the Andes and is reserved especially for religious and community festivities, as well as social celebrations like weddings and birthdays.

There are many, many varieties of potatoes in South America. One website says there are over 3,800 different types in Peru alone. http://preview.tinyurl.com/94ax8ou One of the cool things to see in the markets, and especially at Mistura, were all the different potatoes. 

My favorite food to try at Mistura was a hot drink that tasted like peanut butter... dangerous!

I wish I knew who these people represented, as they were part of the opening ceremony of Mistura 2012. I enjoyed them anyways!

Rubbing Elbows with the Rich and Famous

This evening, I attended a music performance by our Suzuki violin players that was held at another private school in the area. Our students were the second group of performers, and during the intermission as they prepared to play, we heard some people mumbling that the President of Peru was in attendance at the performance. One of my colleagues, who is Peruvian, leaned over to me to let me know that I was sitting in the same row as the President. I laughed, but turned to look, only to discover that President Humala was sitting six seats away. (It turns out, his daughters were also performing in the music festival.) One of the presenters welcomed the President and the audience clapped as he stood to wave. Following their performance, many of our children were able to have their picture taken with the President. Can you imagine having your picture taken with President Obama?! Of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity either! 

The Big Screen

I went with friends to see a movie tonight- the new Woody Allen Movie, To Rome with Love. It turns out, most of the movies are shown in English here, with Spanish subtitles, which is a great convenience for me! Unfortunately, this movie has some parts in Italian, with Spanish subtitles, where in the US the subtitles would have been in English. I used my minimal Spanish knowledge and the context of the story line to make sense of the movie, and don't think I missed too much!

Riding the Bus

Our school has 20-25 school buses that bring kids to and from school each day. The entire parking lot is filled with them, and kids have about 10 minutes to find their buses and to take a seat on them. I think this board was a great idea. The numbers of the buses are placed on the board in the order of their place in the parking lot line.

Most of the buses are smaller than those we have at Ivy, but students are going to many different locations around Lima. On certain days, the kids ride different numbered buses, based on their after-school activities. There isn't a Park District, so the school community provides activities such as gymnastics, soccer, martial arts, dance, swimming lessons, gardening clubs, arts groups, etc. We have buses that are ready to pick up kids at 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, and 5:30 almost daily.

Here's the great part. There's a bus that can take me home too! Teachers have the opportunity to ride the staff bus at around 4:30 daily as well. Yesterday was my first bus ride home from school. It wasn't too bad, though I will probably end up sticking with the taxi rides to and from school on most days. That trip only costs about $6 each way or $8-$10 for a pre-arranged car ride.