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| Today we ate lunch at this outdoor mall called Minka. This place was, in a word, AMAZING! It has over 2000 stores. They had everything from motorcycles and cars to raw meats/poultry/chicken. This photo captures a happy Chadd eating at Pardo Chicken. This was, far and away, the best meal we've had so far. I asked for avocado in place of "lettuce and tomato" and this is what I received! I think it's probably the equivalent of 3 whole avocados and it cost all of $2.50. |
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| We managed to find a salon to give Chadd a haircut. Chadd was resolved that "if they F it up, you can just shave it off". Chadd was so pleased that he tried to convince the stylist to move to California. |
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| Well, sorry that this pic is crooked (I'll address later). After Chadd's haircut at the Minka, we asked if they knew of a place to get a back massage (making sure to emphasize that we want legitimate massages...). Well, we then encountered the first of many kiosks that offered "anti-stress" massages. Here, we paid the equivalent of $8 US for a 30 min massage...gotta love it! |
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| Here's Chadd, "assuming the position" for his massage. Yes, as you may have surmised, we definitely draw a lot of attention. Not only are we veritable "giants" here (average dudes look about 5'8" or so and I haven't seen anyone near 6'3"), but we are the only ones with beaming smiles taking pics all over the place. |
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| This is "ingresos", the massage kiosk we went to. |
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| The "salon" where Chadd got "the best haircut EVER"-lol |
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| I thought this was cool. Inside of the Minka, they sell seeds and grains for everything from Maca to Coca... What a country! |
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| Harina de Coca... |
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| Here is a closer pic of the raw materials you can get to make whatever your heart desires... |
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| Another look at the bails of raw materials |
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| I had to take this pic because I don't know that I've ever seen grapes so vibrant in color. What we learned here is that all produce here is organic, not because people demand it, but because fertilizers, pesticides and the like cost money and the farmers can't afford them. As such, everything here tastes fantastic and looks the way nature intended. However, unlike in the States where the "ORGANIC" label necessarily hikes the price, we were amazed at how inexpensive everything was... |
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| Ok, had to buy some strawberries and Chadd and I are eating em now. This sign tells you that for $1.50 soles (about .60 cents!) you get 1 kilo or about 1/2 lb of fresh strawberries...unreal! |
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| There were produce stands like these all throughout the Minka. |
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| Here is a closer look. They have fruits I've never seen (yeah yeah, those who know me know that's not saying much as I'm not exactly a fruit connoisseur). Also, most such stands offered 2-4 different kinds of avocados alone... |
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| WOW! look at all those bananas!! Seriously, this pic doesn't even begin to capture how many bananas there were... |
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| This is the start of the "meat/poultry/fish/gawd knows what" section... |
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| Distant pics of some chickens that have all seen better days. Nevertheless, soon they will either end up in a Peruvian home or, perhaps, one of the multitude of KFCs they have here! Seriously, it's unreal--they have more Chinese Restaurants and KFCs than Irvine has Starbucks (was gonna say "than Irvine has Camrys but that isn't even close to true!) |
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| These are local "taxis". Chadd tried to convince them to take us to our hotel. However, just because we (well Chadd) were willing to battle crazy drivers (like nothing I've seen outside of Tijuana!) in buses and semis, these guys riding stretched single-cylinder motorcycles sure weren't! |
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| ...and this is what happens when you make a wrong turn in Lima. The Minka is in a nice region, or at least appears so from the side we entered. Then, we decided to exit on a different side and this is what we encountered. |
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| ...another look of the "wrong turn" region... |
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| ...and another |
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| Ok, come on now, this is awesome! This cop may or may not have a gun but deezam, he's got a light-saber!!!! |
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