Big Benz

Real Madrid may well go out next Wednesday in the Bernabeu and not go through. Given they need a 1-goal win to force extra time, or needing a multi-goal win to avoid extra time against a much younger, faster, probably better conditioned team. But honestly that's why I want to write this now, to extol the incredible rise of Karim Benzema ever since Ronaldo took his talents away from Madrid, a slow rise from getting out of someone's shadow, to very much staking claim as one of the best in the world.

Big Benz is an odd nickname, and I think while it was probably coined with affection, I feel like it took a bit of a derisive meaning over the years. As Benzema isn't notably big (he's not small, but not big) it might have been more on his lumbering, his often heavy touch when looking forward. Benzema for years had to play either as a striker-in-name-only used to hold up play for Ronaldo, or miscast on the wing. It worked, and often he had success - especially during the height of the counter-attacking Mourinho and Ancelotti years. Benzema was important, but he wasn't Ronaldo, he wasn/t the dominant midfielders of Casemiro, Kroos and Modric. He wasn't even Varane and Ramos. He was just, sadly, a guy - a well compensated, guy.

It's amazing to look back now and see Benzema as the out and out talisman of a still strong Real Madrid when he is easily at best the 7th most important member of the threepeat Madrid UCL team (behind Ronaldo, the three midfielders, Ramos and Varane). While a lot of people will just say Ronaldo overshadowed him, he did struggle with confidence, and more pointedly finishing - especially during his fairly milquetoast 2017-18 season - a large reason why Madrid took a huge step back in the league that year. Of course, Ronaldo would leave that summer, and while things were mostly a mess in 2018-19 as Madrid navigated the ill-fated Lopetegui year, when Zidane returned, the symbiosis with teh French legend just had Benzema go off, and he hasn't stopped.

Real Madrid is not a bad team. It has been overstated how improbable this run to a legitimate chance of a Champions League Final is. Let's remember they're the runaway La Liga winners on points and very much on form. But in the Champions League, where they've been outplayed for large stretches, Benzema has been the very equal of three-peat era Ronaldo. 

With Benzema's two goals in the first leg of the Semifinal, a far-harder-than-it-looked half-volley from a cross, and an incredibly ballsy panenka, he now has 9 goals in the knockout stages - with potentially two games left to chase down Ronaldo's 10. And really, Ronaldo from that 2016-17 season is the only time I remember anyone being on this extended of a run.

For a quick run through of Ronaldo's exploits that year, he had two goals in Munich in the 1st leg of th QF, a hat-trick in the 2nd leg, another hat-trick in the 1st leg of the SF against Atleti, and finally a brace in the Final. It was magic. This is close, from his hat trick against PSG, to his next hat trick against Chelsea, to his other goal against Chelsea to wrap things up, to finally these two. He is Madrid right now.

Benzema's story is a story of persaverance. Again, don't want to give him too much credit, he was starting as a lock 1-st team player for Real Madrid the whole time, but he was never loved, consistently overshadowed by bigger, gaudier players (and gaudier fees - e.g. Bale). He had his fans in the Bernabeu, and had a great relationship with each of his famous run of managers - particularly his relationship with Zidane. But to see him take flight, a good 10 years after arriving, is just amazing.

Benzema is just a note perfect player right now. His movement of the ball is great. His holding up of play was always good but hasn't dropped a bit. His quick shot reflexes are incredible - see hte goal that broke PSG's heart. His placement on shots is amazing. He is literally a perfect striker, for a player who's almost claim to fame was just never being too perfect. 

Madrid may lose on Wednesday. That is, no matter how much black magic they still seem to have in the Champions League, the more likely outcome right now. If that happens, this Madrid run will recede, other than it continuing a new streak of Semifinal appearances (now at 2, after an 8-year streak from 2011-2018). But if they win..... actually let's not even wonder about that. Let's just bask in Benzema's glory, and the long road it took to get here. Big Benz has earned that nickname bestowed upon him, being massive, being huge, being the talisman of the world's biggest club, at long last.

Re-Post: The Return of the Fans

It hasn't been exactly one year since the start of the 2021 NBA & NHL Playoffs, but we are at the start of the 2022 NBA Playoffs (with the NHL to start in two weeks) so I wanted to look back at a really interesting time. COVID-19 is not behind us, but very much in the background, with most countries opened up, most mask mandates gone (ahead of some getting restated...), and 11 months basically of tons of fans in seats. It wasn't always like that - very much not. Go back 11 months and the ideas of even half-filled buildings belting out noise watching players for the first time in over a year was just insanely uplifting. It was a moment to savor, when we collectively realized just how integral fans are, in their return even more so in their absence.

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For many sports fans, especially those that care about hockey, this is the best part of the sports year. Nightly sets of important, pressurized, playoff games in both sports day after day. It was the most return to sports moment of last year in late Summer when the NBA and NHL playoffs were there, but there was of course one giant elephant in the room in the fact of who wasn't in the room. The empty bubbles were sanitary, were quiet, were special in their uniqueness but still a little less than. That's no more.

When the Stanley Cup Playoffs started a week back, coincidentally right after the nation received new COVID guidance, we knew we were entering something special. The first game was in Washington, with not the biggest crowd but lives fans rocking the red and cheering on an OT winner. It really took of the next day with games in Florida, with about 12,000 fans. That game, a fired up, high-octane, back-and-forth game with countless hits and skirmishes was the moment it became real: this is the true return of sports.

There is still a little bit of me worreid that we've moved too fast, that going from barely anyone in attendance to 10,000+ in many arenas (we'll get to the 15,000 in MSG in a bit) is a bit rushed. It could have adverse effects. But for now, it also gives us heaven. For so long I couldn't wait to watch a sports game with fans again. We got bits and pieces of it during the MLB World Series and throughout the NFL season. But even the most crowded game looked sparse. There were a few moments, like the few Bills fans in attendance cheering on a pick-six, but nothing like this.

The NBA was able to do a decent job of their bubble setting, putting their floor on almost a stage with flashy visuals on each side. It was easy to not notice empty seats, but its also so easy to notice the filled one now. The story of the first couple days of NBA playoffs was the incredible scene in Madison Square Garden. Sure, some of that was it being the first Knicks playoff game in eight years, with a legitimately good, tough team. But it was also the return of New Fucking York. The city that was hit harder than any other large metro earlier than any as well. New York was a ghost town, written off. It's back, and so are the damn Knicks.

But to me the scenes in hockey arenas have really brought me back. The roar of a goal, any goal. We've had more OT moments this postseason as well. That incredible passion, evern in places like Florida, Carolina, Nashville - these non-traditional markets are also not coincidently the ones that lifted more restrictions and allowed more fans. The first chants, the first pounding of the glass, the first goal horn and goal song. All of it so pure, so incredible.

I remember months back when we were going throuigh the darkest period as a country over the winter, there were these shots from New Zealand cricket or rubgy matches with full stands. They earned that, earned it by having imposed far stricter, for more intrusive restrictions than America ever did. Well, it is our turn now. We didn't earn this in the same way - but we did in a sense that we took to vaccinations (well, at least we did). We waited our chance to return back to indoor arenas, but man are we taking full advantage of being allowed back in.

I enjoyed sports prior to these playoffs in the past year because it was such a welcome escape, a slight return to something normal, to remind of what we lost from March through June. At the time it was such an incredible feeling, but given we have the counter example now of the NHL playoff games in Canada still being played in empty arenas, it is so stark a difference to have fans back.

The games are better, the experience so much fuller, the feelings so much more joyous. It's a different world we live in  now. We aren't done with the pandemic, not by a long shot. There's a lot more to get done, be it reinvigorating the vaccination program, opening up borders, feeling OK to go to a crowded bar. But getting sports in this way, with thousands of jacked up fans ready to shout their lungs out, is a crucial, far more meaningful than expected, step back to normal.

Lima Trip, Central

So, going to Central was the main highlight of the trip. Partially because I had already eaten at Maido, and largely because I fell in love with the thought of the place after watching the Virgilio Martinez episode on Chef's Table. There were a few differences between Central today and the one from Chef's Table - first they largely re-did the interior to a much darker, homier vibe. Second, these almost art piece dishes from those days were replaced by smaller art pieces - still probably every bit as tasty, but I have to admit less 'wow' than it looked on camera. No matter, though, the experience, the meal, was perfect.

Oddly, the 14 course meal is actually reduced from 18 courses (pre-covid), but it still ended being probably the most filling tasting menu I've had, and maybe right behind Azurmendi as my second favorite meal (on a good day, maybe I'll give the edge to Central. Anyway, on to the dishes

Yuvo Seaweed, Clams and Squid (10 metres below sea level - MBSL)

Every dish here was a holy fuck - I mean in reality the entire meal was. The seaweed dish was a lovely blue color, with some unknown yogurt like thing underneath. The clams ceviche was beautiful. But the squid cracker was a perfect amouse bouche. At this point I knew I was in for a ridiculous treat.

Shrimp, Loche Squash, Avocado snacks (55 metres above sea level - MASL)

This is where things got crazy, it in a sense is a squash and shrimp soup, but it was in a hollowed out squash, with dust of squash skin and squash leaf, which just a perfectly heavenly soup underneath. Somehow it had a clear squash flavor and an incredible shrimp curry flavor, with neither cutting each other out.

Cocona, Papa Voladora and Yacon Root (1350 MASL)

This is where the dishes just became unexplainable. What was hilarious is most times as they brought out the dish each time they also brought out the peruvian ingredient that it came from and here they were like "we took the skin of this cocona seed and turned it into a pulpy thing" and then made a dumpling with the outside and made honey from a root. And I was just like - well, god knows how they even thought of this, but let's do it.

Corns, Kiwicha's and Sweet Potato Leaf (4200 MASL)

This was, I guess the "simplest" dish, which was a perfectly hearty corn puree, two types of sweet potato "leafs", with little 'kiwicha' like berry things. This looked like one of the dishes I had in mind when I had in mind when I was coming to central. So simple, in a way, but so delicate.

Murike Grouper, Razor Clams and Vongole (15 MBSL)

If there was any 9/10 dish, it was this one, which was anyway great. A lightly friend grouper in a truly heavenly razor clam broth, with vongole seeds on top as a spice. The vongole was far more imapctful, spice-wise, than I was expecting.

Cecina, Aparaima fish and Cassava (148 MASL)

This was another ridiciulous dish with a beautifully cooked fish with a cassava and pork foam (another "sure, why not?" dish) and a andean salt spice powdered on top. Just an amazing combination all things considered - with the pork foam being just a great thing to put on top.

Scallops, Sargassum and Cucumber (0 MASL)

This, oddly enough, was my favorite dish. A scallop ceviche with an emulsion of coral, coral and seaweed crackers and beet-pickled cucumbers (yeah, again, what?) layered on top. Again, this is what I mentally had in mind for Central - even if the dish was 'smaller' than the plates they had on Chef's Table.

Octopus, Sea Lettuce and Codium (25 MBSL)

The shaved octopus was nice, but the codium (no idea....) and mint sauce underneath was even better. The sea letter lattice was just a beautiful topper. This was something, I guess, of a palate cleanser before the 'mains' but was great all by itself.

Oca, Chaco clay and high altitude leaves (3750 MASL)

This is one of the dishes that got a lot of play on chef's table, a perfectly cooked potato, cooked in a Hautia (versoin of an underneath clay oven), with another random root-based mustard sauce. It was amazing how soft, smokey and perfect that little potato was.

Pacu fish, Watermelon and Coca leaf (190 MASL)

I might have lied, this might have been my favorite dish. The pacu fish underneath was nice, but the watermelon sheet was just incredible. The coca leaf sauce on top was great as well. Just perfect, just a perfect damn little bowl of something I would never even consider making (but will try!)

Pork Belly, Olluco and Callampa Mushroom (2700 MASL)

The last main was a perfect, and I mean truly damn perfect, pork belly with olluco shavings on top (they called it the yam version of a truffle - for whatever that means) and the mushroom string on top. I'll say this, Central loves their little string/lattice toppers and they were all just amazing.

Chriimoya, Andean Verbena and Cualiflower (2800 MALS)

I'll say this without a doubt, Central had the best desserts of any tasting menu I've ever had, save for maybe Sud 777 in Mexico City. This was a great start with chrimoya underneath the charred slate of cauliflower. I love when these places just audiociously throw a random vegetable in a dessert - here with the cauliflower; Sud 777 with onion. This was excellent.

Cabuya, muna leaf and Kjolle (3600 MASL)

This might have been better. I truly have no idea what I had, other than this quinoa looking thing was ice cold (perfect) and the 'kjolle' based jelly (again, what in God's name is this). It was a small, almost sorbet like dish, but just the wildest take at it.

Mucilage, seeds and shells (1800 MASL)

Okay, I get they called it mucilage, seeds and shells, but this was basically just cocao like eight different ways - and it all generally worked. My favorite was the gremolate (right most, colorful) and the jelly (middle of the middle), but really this was just a smorgasbord of Peruvian Cocao. What a capper.

Lima Trip, Maido

Snacks of Amazonic Potato, Rice Senbei and Duck

Three little two-bite bites, all great. The potato was so soft and mushy (in a great way). The The rice senbei had such a nice little soft pillowy center. The duck was maybe the least effective of the bites despite it being beautifully smoked - but that says way more about the first two bites. As always the presentation was just perfect.

Sea Foam and Seaweed Crackers

Okay, now we're talking, underneath the foam made of crab was little pieces of crab, just effortlessly tasty. The seaweed cracker crumpled so nicely into it too. This was a glorious dish.

Chawanmushi of Popeye Crab, sea cucumber and limpets

Apparently chawanmushi is a common Japanese lunch, so this was a really elevated take on it, with just perfectly cooked crab, limpets nad sea cucumber, with a great just perfectly runny yolk on the top. Again, jsut a really nice dish.

Bream tempura with amazonic potato sauce

The bream tempura had this little dusting of something on it (forget what it was, didn't write it down). It seems weird to have fried fish, effectively, in this type of restaurant, but it was perfectly flaky, with these little pieces falling off and letting you use as mini-fries for the beautiful potato sauce.

Nigiri of the day (something with o-toro, eel and other stuff)

Maybe the best dish of the night. Perfect o-toro sushi, with an emulsion of sea urchin (yeah, no idea), with foie gras (of course) and eel on top. I mean, how could that not be perfect.

Something I forgot to write with River Eel

Honestly, forgot what this is. My write-up called it 'River Eel over some stuff'. Honestly was the most forgettable dish of the night. Still, of course it was amazing, but they can't all be brilliant.

Take on ceviche with pork foam

Holy hell man. Literally was ceviche of the freshest fish, with leche del tigre, a great spiced sauce additive and amazonian sausage crumble. Again, how could that not be great. I will say, maybe the biggest difference between the meal this time and last was it was heavier - more sauces and soups and the like.

Abalone soup dupmling 

Jesus christ man, maybe the best dish of hte day. Literally an Abalone soup dumpling. Everything else in the dish was great too, but just that in itself is worth 1/12th the price of admission - if not a good 2/12th or 3/12th.

Beef tongue with a jora papad

It was almost jarring to get a dish that featured meat. Of course, it wasn't a normal meat, but the most beautifully tender beef tongue imagineable, with a divine corn-based puree and sauce. In theory this is the one dish on the menu I can "make" - and may even try a version of it. But I certainly won't be able to get the beef anywhere near that tender.

Shoyu, pineapple and coconut desert

Deserts are generally never my favorite part of a tasting menu, so I was a little saddened to see that there were three dessert courses on the menu, but this one didn't disappoint. Pineapple and Coconut aren't my two favorite flavors, but for whatever reason it worked man.

Pure Amazonic cacao with mochis

Maybe the most beautiful desert I've ever eaten at a tasting menu. Not the tastiest (though was plenty tasty), but the presentation here was marvelous.

Doroyaki (japenese mini-cake) and cacao mochi

A great finish, as much like the start, it was just a couple bites. First a little mini-cake that was just so soft and perfectly textured. The cacao mochi was a nice little kick on the way out. Maido was just so pristine this time - I would put it behind Central (to come), but maintains its place relative to every other restaurant on my Top-20 list

Lima Trip, Day 5: Lasts in Lima

Technically my trip ends tomorrow, but what was supposed to be an afternoon flight out of Lima, with a stop in Houston, is now a morning flight (United changed this after my booking), with now a lengthy layover in Houston. Long enough that I could away with working tomorrow and nor burning a vacation day spent basically in planes and airports, but still an inconvenient way to in a sense end the trip earlier than planned.

For two of my friends with me, their trip is continuing, with flights out this evening to Cusco, on the path down to Machu Picchu, the same jaunt me and the other two friends took so many years ago. There is a bit of nostalgia and jealousy, particularly because I really liked our time in Cusco, with very warm memories of the Loki Hostel and general merriment (part of which was watching the epic that was Game 7 of the 2016 World Series). Anyway, for me it is back to real life, but before I slip into total depression there was one last day to enjoy.

By the way, I realize both in this post and the one about yesterday, I'm already writing it a bit forlornly, and while I very much know how stupid that is - this weird slant at looking at vacations the second the halfway point is over - it is something I sadly have never really been able to control.

Funnily enough today had the best weather in the sense the everpresent fog that enveloped the city from time to time was basically absent aside from the true waterfront. The day did start with a walk to the Larcomar, which is truly just a stunning setting for a mall, worsened by the fact that of the restaurants within it sit Chilis and TGI Fridays - why America had to do this.

Prior to that though was a bit of a curveball, as when I was taking my eMed Abbott covid test, I dropped the q-tip and was told in not so polite terms by my proctor that I was screwed and the test couldn't proceed. Of course, I only brought one of these tests - as did my friend who is flying back with me. So, I had to scramble - luckily there was a testing site aside a hospital 10 minutes away, and they were a breeze to work with. Within 30 minutes of my despair, I was the proud owner of a negative covid test.

From the Larcomar, with brief spots trying to see if there was any point buying way too expensive Alpaca shawls (answer: no), we left for lunch, the last pre-planned meal with a reservation, at the bustling El Mercado, is San Isidro (a block away or so from Mayta). The place had a very similar feel to La Mar - a canopy above a wide area, with a long bar with the kitchen right behind, with a truly face-to-face view of the busiest cooking staff I've seen. The place was humming with just so many great looking dishes.

I got a tiradito of two fishes cured with a combination of leche de tigre and XO sauce - a great combination it turned out, and then a really nice, warming, seafood stew. Others in the group got on Octopus cooked on plancha dish that seemed like their specialty, and other ceviches. There's a great fact that a place like El Mercado really hammers home - Lima is a great food city for many reasons beyond just having a Maido or a Central - the regular food spots themselves are just incredible.

After lunch, we went to the last main tourist attraction of the trip, the Circuita Magica de Agua - a large, perfectly kept park with a series of fountains that go on and off in different ways each day for about six hours. It is admittedly best aroudn sunset when the fountains get colors and the like, but we didn't have that luxury so we enjoyed it in the day.

Like basically all the parks in Lima, it was stunning in its cleanliness, its unifornmity, its brilliant upkeep, and how open it seemed despite being in the heart of this massive metropolis. From the park we went to an artsy area in San Isidro to get some last minute souvenirs. I have to say that the one thing I was not able to find in Lima was a perfectly middle-tier souvenir spot. Everything either was really nice but expensive (this place, Dedalo, etc.), or a bit too tourist-trappy (everything near the Plaza de Armas, for example). In the end I'm following my path of a more quantity over quality approach which hopefully served me well.

From here we had one last round of beers as a larger group in BarBarian in Miraflores  all the various beer spots we went to, it's very much a toss-up on which stay open on Sundays. This isn't the last one for me on the trip, but after we enjoyed a couple brews, two of my friends headed out for Cusco, leaving me and another to walk aroudn some more, have a few more beers, and forget about the fact that we are returning to the dreaded 'real world' quite soon.

To earn our last couple brews and the upmarket food market dinner we would set off on a 1-hour walk from BarBarian, near Parque 7 de Junio, past our hotel, down to Barranco, and for the first time walk the Malecon on that direction, and while it was tiring under what has been constant 70%+ humidity (I still don't quite understand how or why it doesn't actually, well, rain), the last part of that walk on the Malecon, with a bright orange sun setting over the Pacific, with no fog in sight, was just perfect.

The houses/apartment buildings in that area were also a sight to behold, all fancy, all probably quite expensive. Barranco a block inwards becomes the Brooklyn-ish place of nightlife and graffiti wall art and youths, but on the waterfront it is as posh as similar neighborhoods were in, say, Melbourne. Every walk has been worth it, every part of the city other than its old city center (the part surrounding the Plaza de Armas) is green, clean and just pleasant.

Barranco Beer Company was more crowded than when we came at a similar time yesterday. More surprisingly, it was all locals. I shouldn't really be so surprised - Peru has a very strong beer culture, something that seems consistent with Chile, and South America in general. Their standard/country beer - Cusquena - is rubbish, but that has given places like this, or more upstart ones like Red Cerveceria, a chance to blossom.

Dinner was at Mercado 28, which is a large upscale food market, with vendors selling interesting food, a mix of foreign influence and local cuisine. It also happened to be a block away from our AirBNB and somethign we walked by a few times in the past. The setting was really night, with a good crowd still fairly late on a Sunday night. We went for a sampling of Peruvian spiced wings, a lovely choripan sandwhich, and a amazonian chicken starter. For a few of the stalls we didn't patronize incuded multiple serving asian fare, one Mexican, one Korean, one with more of a grill theme, and a few deserts - all with a central bar in between. Mercado 28 was a great way to end the vacation, with us staying there about 90 minutes in all until it was time to retire for an early flight.

I'll have more thoughts on the trip overall in time - probably not enough for an A to Z type post, but at least a post on each Maido and Central, if not something to wrap up Lima as a whole. In the end, I'm glad we did come back here. Looking back at my trip to Peru in 2016, the Lima portion was quite rushed, and aside from Maido and general Loki tomfoolery, wasn't all that memorable, and certainly not even close to exhaustive. After this trip, I can truly say I've experienced Lima in all its glory.

Lima Trip, Day 4: Amongst Lima

Before I dive in, I thought I would start with a simple maxim of life, seemingly - that five day trips seem to be much better, personally, than four day ones (which this is essentially, Thursday through Sunday, with most of Monday spent traveling back. I think the biggest difference is a slight one - it is just not having that 'middle day.' Mentally going from "hell yeah! first half of the trip!" on Day 2, suddenly to "Damn, where on the back half" the very next day is a bit upsetting. I realize this is a very small, pointed idea - and I want to test this the next time I'm on a three-day trip, but anyway, let's get over me bemoaning that my vacation is on its back-nine and get on with it.

Coupling this weird feeling inside is the fact that today was the truest example of the fact that we are still very much traveling in a time of Covid. On the whole, Peru is doing an admirable job in still giving a shit. I haven't been in any country that tkaes mask wearing more seriously than Peru - especially with a high majority of people wearing a mask on the street. 

The first part of our day was a trip down the Malecon to the other side, towards Barranco. Today the fog was at its worst in the morning - definitely given up trying to predict and/or understand how this works. Barranco during the day, I have to say, is not as interesting or pretty a place as Barranco at night - partially due to a massive street construction project on one of the main thoroughfares in the neighborhood, putting new, nice looking tile. Lima has really an effection for making everything just look nice.

We had no real end in mind on our walk through Barranco, we did pass some nice street grafitti and murals, many ornate buildings - two of which have been converted into bars/lounges that we went to briefly the first night and will likely come back tonight. We had a quick drink at Red Cerveceria, that was hosting some weird bread-making or beer-making class - we couldn't discern what exactly it was and didn't want to clearly intrude.

From there we started our odyssey towards the heart of Old Lima, the area around the Plaza de Armas at the very North side of Lima - the part of Lima that aside from these historic buildings dotting its impressive main square has been largely left behind for boroughs like Barranco, Miraflores and San Isidro. It is also in this drive that you realize just how large Lima is - quietly a sprawling Metro area of 9mm people. This end is a good 10-15 minutes further than the art museum that we went to the day prior.

The Plaza de Armas is really beautiful, but for the moment is being somewhat sullied by, and this is a familiar sight, massive construction projects of upgrading and re-paving streets around it. The actual square itself, with the Catedral de Lima on one side, the Governer's Palace on another, and nice ornate buildings on the other two, is quite beautiful, really something equal to most European cities. 

We first went to Sangucheria El Chinito, which is a reknowned, very simple sandwhich and meat chain that has franchises all across the city. It is fast food in speed, but even more homey and 'real' in appearance. My Chicharron sandwhich was truly lovely - not too much meat that it was hard to eat, enough to make it filling, a nice soft yam underneath and just the right amount of crisp. Were going high brow for nearly every meal on this trip, but this was a noted, and well worth it, exception.

After that we just walked around as we came right in the very odd 1-2pm window where all the main sights are closed, and the main square itself is closed to pedestrians for no apparent reason. Luckily it was already about 1:45, so we just had to meander for a bit before we were let in. 

The first stop was the Catedral, which was really large, well maintained, had some interesting catacombs, and very little of the overly oppressive excess that befits its European counterparts. Now, it is nowhere near as grand, but it is nice to go to a church and not leave with the feeling that there's a lot of muted evil behind the grandeur.

The other two churches around the Plaza de Armas provided nice picture opportunities on one of their sides but aside from that exhibited one of the remaining issues of thsi covid period - Lima had taken the decision to renovate large swaths of both buildings. Again, a somewhat understandable decision but not great timing for us.

This area of Peru is really unlike any others. It is far busier, more clearly "3rd world", and very similar in my view to the old town area of Mexico City near the Zocalo (their version of the Plaza de Armas). It is still way more well maintained than similar areas in India (I hate that I always have to compare these places to India...) but it still a bit of a far cry from Miraflores and Barranco. I guess what is truly commendable about Lima is it has those other areas.

We still have a few more tourist sights to go tomorrow but at this point have seen basically all neighborhoods of the city we likely will. I'll say that Peru is likely moving up in my Favorite Cities ranking. On the one hand, I do wonder how much of that is the fact that I've now gone here a second time and had the time to just experience the city in a way that I haven't many others on the list. On the other, Lima has shown itself really well. It probably won't catch Santiago as my favorite Latin American city - Santiago is just slightly more advanced than Lima, but Lima v Mexico City will be a good debate.

Not a debate is how good Central was - again, in another post.

Before dinner though was a stroll through Barranco - only two of us went to see a few shops there for souvenirs. Both were very expensive, which goes with a general feeling that Lima if anything is more expensive than expected. It isn't expensive in a vacuum, but I felt it was more so than Mexico City - even El Chinito, the sandwhich was a good $5. 

Anyway, the first shop Portico sported a bunch of Alpaca based clothing which was all outrageous. The other spot, Dedalo, also was generally expensive, but had a bunch of art, crafts, clothes, basically everything under the sun, all by local Peruvian artists. I bought a few things that totaled $50. Afterwards we walked around Barranco some more, going to Barranco Beer Company, a well reputed, if a bit too commercial, craft brewery. Even if their setup was more commercial (i.e. for mass consumption) than, say, Red Cerveceria, their beers were quite good. 

After that and some R&R at the AirBNB, we were off to Central, conveniently located in Barranco, making our location of post-dinner activities pretty obvious, except for a few unforseen twists. First being that Central had multiple 'take-home' items which we had to safely transport back to the AirBNB for safekeeping. After that, we had to hop right back down to Barranco to trawl across streets giddily from Red Cerveceria (still good), Ayahuasca - a nice bar built into a big old house, and a few others. It was a lovely 'last night' in a sense, and Barranco is right up there with Condesa in Mexico City, and Barrio Bellavista in Santiago for my favorite in Latin America.

Lima Trip, Day 3: The Green City

Today in Lima was all about the cities greenery (with an Art musuem and a craft beer bar thrown in). We woke up with the fog finally gone (though we would find out this is more of a morning thing), and Miraflores gleaming below. The first trip after a coffee was to walk along the Malecon, the long stretch of oceanfront, cliff-top pathway past park after park, statue after statue, and just greenery everywhere. 

This is one of the elements I do remember from our first trip, this walk along the Malecon, but this time we went further than before - it stays mostly flat but for a few areas that dip down, and it is here where there are paths that take you from the Malecon cliff-top to the beach below (way below, we did not do this). Probably nothing in Lima is as notable from a visual perspective as these cliffs that go basically straight down a few hundred feet, with four lanes of road and about twenty further feet of beach between the end of the cliff and hte Pacific. From this angle, the Pacific for certain looks imposing and not too friendly to dip in, unless you are one of the many surfer types that were doing so.

The Malecon stretches for about 6 km or something - of which we walked maybe 2 before turning off as we were now within earshot of our lunch spot, the well reputed, well frequented La Mar Cebicheria, a lunch only spot under a canopy roof tucked into a corner of a road. I'm probably way underselling my description here, as the place is well adorned and is packed, and continually has a line. We had to wait about 20 minutes and bt the time we left aroudn 1:45 it was way more lengthy of a line.

The place is a haven for seafood in every way, with us splitting two ceviches and two tiraditos, my favorite of which being the 'Tiradito de la 90s' (unsure why the name) with cream of aji amarillo. It was excellent, but in reality all their food was excellent. Maido and this are the two repeats of the trip food wise, and I guess it was good to get both repeats out of the way early - but it was still fun to eat at both.

After La Mar we wandered for a bit as we had planned to go the Huaca Pucllana ruins but very late in teh game figured out you need to make an advanced booking. Anyway, from there we went to the the MALI (the fancy initialization of the Lima Art Museum) which is housed on one corner of the giant Parque de Exposicion. The Art Museum was nice and quick, a jaunt through Peruvian pre-history, the Incan period, the Spanish reign and post-Spain, with a large collection of Indigenous art - including a really nice gallery that showed paintings that had all the trappings of Catholic scenes but with their own Gods instead. 

Downstairs was a couple collections of modern art, one with quasi erotic art which apparently seems to just be a thing in Peru. Anyway, it somehow was less clearly erotic than the collection the day prior at the Larco Museum. After the museum we wandered around the well manicured lawns of the Parque de Exposicion, which was just so damn green. From there we went to the Parque John Kennedy / Parque 7 de Junio (they're next to each other), which are much smaller but unsurprisingly so since they are smack dab in the middle of the Miraflores part of the city. 

It is hard to get over how green the city is, and how well manicured each of these parks are. There are always people around tending to the flower beds and parks, watering them, looking after them. I'm sure it is partially a way to keep everyone employed, but it is truly nice to see. 

From there we went bar hopping, which is not something we will ever avoid if given the chance. This is the one day we don't have a michelin star dinner, so we had a bit more time to kill before dinner to explore. 

The street was a little gulley off of Parque 7 de Junio, which had about 10 bars. A few of them were craft beer bars and cervecerias, of which two we went to, and made a commitment to come back. The first was BarBarian, which had a really nice vibe if a bit too commercial. The beer was good, but nothing too heavy/hard/high ABV - clearly a place more meant for people to have a good time even more than drink great beer. 

The second was Clan Cerveceria, which was more my style, with multipel really high ABV beers in small amounts - including two above 10%. We didn't have those now, but just a couple good 7% IPAs in a nice setting. They had an odd "you have to order food" rule, which fries was an acceptable ord4er so it wasn't to meaningful, but was still interesting nonetheless given we hadn't faced this in any of the other bars we went to.

Dinner was supposed to be more low key, algiht as a restaurant Mayta is very much on the rise as another brilliant inclusion to Lima's food scene. But when we got there, in its beautiful, green, airy space in the swanky San Isidro neighborhood, instead of going a la carte, we got a 7-course, very reasonably priced tasting menu. Given that, I'll cover this as well in a separate post (no idea when these posts will actually occur, in all honesty.

After dinner to walk off the unintended feast, we walked through San Isidro from Mayta to Carnaval - a weird walk through an admittedly beautiful, rich, neighborhood, with the weird Pacific mist wafting all over. I really have no idea how to describe the weather - it is very cloudy, very foggy (though only parts of the city - more inland is fine), but there is still an everpresent 0% chance of rain...

Carnaval was a lot more crowded today, and we waited a good 30 minutes before getting seated. Inside they were doing good crowd control (everyone needs a seat - no standing). The other little secret about why the wait was so long despite there not being a sizable line is that no one leaves - and for all the right reasons. The vibe in the place is great, the drinks are all great. We stayed from about 11:45 to 2:15, and while it was 50% capacity by the time we left, there were mutliple tables that were there before us that remained. It was not the planned way to spend the rest of the night, but like we did with Mayta when presented with an unforseen option, we took advantage of it.

Lima Trip, Day 1-2: Re-tracing Steps

Day 1

In 2016, I took my first international trip with my high school friends - save for a cruise in 2014 that touched on some islands that were very much made to cater 100% to the trashy American tourists most of us were. It was a smaller group in 2016, with just three of us heading down to Peru for a week, a way too quick week where we lost a whole day just traveling from Cusco to Machu Picchu, and a trip that we basically had 2.5 days in Lima.

Well, six years later I conned the same two friends, plus two others, to join me in Peru for my birthday. The two newbies are taking the foillowing week off to do the Machu Picchu stuff that we already did, but for the three of us it is a bit of way too quickly earned nostalgia. There won't be too much downtime, so I'll largely be writing these of memories in lazy afternoons, late nights or on my flight back home.

There are many differences from this trip and the first one, from us being 25 year old travelers fit to stay in a youth hostel (Loki), and now old enough to intentially stay in an AirBNB, where not only would we not be mingling with other youth hostel-ers, but not even by chance running into random hotel passers-by. THe other difference is this groups love of food. 

Lima is notably home to two of the Top 10 restaurants in teh world (per San Pelligrino's widely somewhat accepted list), Maido and Central. When we went in 2016, none of us had ever eaten a truly world-class tasting menu meal, but we scored a reservation at Maido and were astonished. I feel like we attempted to go to Central but couldn't get a booking. Since then mutliple of us have eaten at Gaggan (though all separately), we've eaten as a group at Azurmendi and Belcanto last year in Spain & Portugal, and have also risen up our respective job ranks so we can splurge a bit more.

Maido would be on the first night of the trip (my birthday), with Central on the Saturday. But before we could even get to Peru, I first had to deal with two foreign countries. More notably being my first time hitting the soil of Colombia, if only in an airport, and more sadly, having to brave the experience that is JFK Airport for the first time in 3.5 years.

I used to love JFK airport, specifically Terminal 4 which until it became essentially a Delta hub around 2015 or so, was a lovely international terminal that had a large stretch of it, with good restaurants, bars, shops, clubs, all pre-security. It was the international-focused terminal that New York deserved. Delta then took it over, and while the terminal is still nicer than Delta's old T2/3 spots, it is become an overcrowded, security-ridden mess.

My flight from JFK to Bogota (a new airport for me!) takes off at 12:25am. Right around that time there is a flight to Dubai, Tel Aviv, and a London flight at 11pm. So the terminal isn't empty. I guess someone forgot to tell the JFK people, as every restaurant and bar was shut by 10pm (i.e. before I even got there), and ever concession was closed by 11pm. Anyway, my friend and I were in no mood really to imbibe as we both wanted to sleep on the flight.

Avianca did treat us well, with them flying their new A320neo, which had newer economy seats, still tightly bunched up as always, but with a much helpful USB charger (really should be standard in 2022). The flight to Bogota was uneventful. The stay in Bogota was short, but eventful in its absurdity. We ended up at the last gate of the terminal, with a good 8 minute walk to the central head-house where security was set up to allow us back to the departure area for the connection to Lima. Of course the flight to Lima happened to be on the exact same plane we took to Bogota in the first place. I was planning some witty joke in spanish to tell the flight attendants when I boarded, but instead found that a new crew had come in for this flight.

The flight to Lima was even less eventful, same plane but no pillows - but with the tradeoff of having a whole row to myself that allowed me to sleep some more. For essentially a broken red-eye, I was able to get roughyl a good nights sleep, which posited us well for our first day-to-night in Lima.

Day 2

Driving from Lima airport to our AriBNB in Miraflores was interesting. At various times I saw myself comparing what I saw to India - always favorably. The immediate area aroudn the airport had what I assume is their version of slums, but they are brick apartment buildings rather than tin roofed huts like in Mumbai. As we got closer to the city center, other than the everpresent fog that dominated the first day, the city brightened up brilliantly. We drove on the highway near the coast on the way to the airport which finally brought back some memories. You would think I would remember more about this place given we jsut went there six years back.

The Miraflores neighborhood is right in the middle of the city, in between the bohemian Barranco area (which we are planning to spend many a night) and the more urban, commercial area to the immediate north. It is a good place to stay, but for what we had planned on this first day was a bit mis-located. After luckily getting into the AirBNB early, we left around noon for lunch at La Picante, a well made mom-and-pop restaurant that quickly to me became somethign like the Peruvian version of Miller's Thumb.

It was a very fish heavy menu, with a selection of Ceviches, Tiraditos (sliced raw fished drizzled with stuff), Chaufas (fried rice), Calientes (hot entrees) where you pick a style and a type of fish. It was decorated really well, sadly with partitions up as Peru seems to take Covid way more seriously than any other country I've traveled to to date. We split a couple ceviches, both classic peruvian with Tiger's Milk, one 'Picante' with fish, the other more traditional with Langostino. Both were amazing. Then split a couple hot dishes, one being a braised beef short rib (really good, but still somewhat sad that we gave in and did order meat) and a stewed fish.

We then walked around that area from La Picante to the Museo Nacional Arcologico, which of course happened to still be closed due to covid. They had a side exhibit built into an old large house on the history of Peruvian independence, which was still nice and it was free, but we were all seething that none of us figured out it was closed. That museum was a late add to our list anyway as we were really on teh way to the Larco Museum (the Arcologico museum was half-way).

This whole area of Peru is very residential, and reminded me of a much cleaner, prettier, greener version of certain Bangalore neighborhoods or Bandra. I don't know why the India connection lasts so much but it really fits for some reason. All streets had well made houses, all with a random smattering of colors, with lush greenery everywhere. Seemingly every four blocks or so was a little park. It truly is what India should be.

The Larco Museum made up for not seeing the Arcologico museum, as the main exhibit of the Larco was a trip to Ancient Peru through to the Incas (so stopping basically as the Spanish conquered). It was a really nice trip told through pottery, jewerly, sculpture, with each region and time havign its own style that the Larco did well to explain. They also had two other exhibits that were, let's say, different. First was their 'storage' area which is basically four rooms with cabinets everywhere with just 'extra' pieces. It is astonishing in its largesse, just floor to ceiling, wall to wall, sculptures and stuff.

The other is a more interesting exhibit, and what the Larco is probably most (in)famous or, the Erotica Gallery, which explores the ancient Peruvians odd penchant for erotic scultpure, from actual scupltures to erotic carvings on top of normal water jugs. It was presented very tastefully but was still, openly, weird to see this in person.

From the Larco Museum we took an uber to the other end of town, again driving the road near the beach now much more crowded than in morning, to Barranco, to Red Cerveceria, one of the more well reputed craft breweries in Lima. Red Cerveceria served some really cold, really hoppy IPAs, among their more normal offerings (a lager, an ale, a weisse, etc.), in a really nice space. It was fairly empty when we came - but started to fill up with some foreigners and moreso post-work locals by the time we left around 6pm. At this point some returned to the AirBNB, while me and one friend took a walk around Barranco down to Dedalo, an art and craft gallery near the water.

Barranco is a really nice, if more artsy, neighborhood that had about five or six bars that we crossed on our walk, and this wasn't even the most 'bar-y' part of the barrio - that's where we'll be later tonight. But first was Maido, which was incredible and will be covered in excruciating detail in a separate post.

Post Maido we went to Carnaval, which is Lima's most reputed cocktail bar, and while it wasn't as magical and inventive as, say, Cause Effect, it was about 75% as close and made some truly great, if a bit too easy to down, cocktails with a great vibe as well. From there we headed back to Barranco, which was a bit quiet - granted the places that were open were crowded and jolly, but speaking to a few locals they told us that even as the city opens back up post covid, Thursday's are way less crowded than they used to be. It's all a process I guess.

On Kansas Finally Getting It Done

I don't know if I've seen a game change more times in terms of my view on "This game is over" coming up so many times and switching from side to side. In the end we got a classic, but there were three different moments I thought we were far away from it. First was Kansas's quick 7-0 sprint to start the game. It seemed they were playing at a different pace, a different level of precision.

Of course, then UNC went on a 38-15 run to take their 16-point lead, where they were getting an offense rebound on like half their misses, getting tons of free throws, and a suddenly, seemingly undersized Kansas team was missing layup after layup. Not great - and it looked over, and we could turn the 2022 Title Game into another game Bill Self would lose as a favorite.

Then of course there was the 10-minute stretch that ended with the Jayhawks up 56-50 (a 31-10 run), punctuated with a Remy Martin three, and a Jalen Wilson and-one - and it definitely seemed more than over at that point, that Kansas took it over, were running the Tar Heels out of the gym, and would cruise to a safe victory.

Of course, while some of that was true (it was clear North Carolina was a bit worn out by the end, even aside from the injuries), North Carolina valiantly came back behind their rarely-played 8th guy in Puff Johnson and made it a game down to the wire. It was a great end to what was a great tournament, short on buzzer beaters, but full of upsets (St. Peters!), classic finishes, the end of Coach K in the best/worst way possible, and of course a worthy Kansas team finally getting a second title for Bill Self.

It is very ironic that this is the team that finally gets Bill Self his long awaited second title. This wasn't an unknown team, it was Top-5 for much of the year, was a #1 seed in the tournament, and if you said at the start of the season that Kansas won, no one would be shocked - unless we looked back at all the better Kansas teams, both on paper and actual performance up until their untimely loss.

Whether it was the 2010 team that went 32-2 led by Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins and both Morris twins, that got shocked by Northern Iowa, or the team the following year that also went 32-2 and got shocked by VCU in teh Elite Eight. Whether it was the great back to back teams in 2016 and 2017, losing in the Elite Eight both years, first to Villanova (admittedly, teh eventual champion) and then to Oregon in a stunning upset.

Bill Self's tough exits are only meaningful because how often he gets his teams to a place with a top seed and so many expectations. There are no down Kansas teams, which makes it very likely there will be some loss in the tournament each year. Well, not this year. This team succeeded in especially all the moments the prior incarnations slipped.

From their ability to be composed throughout their 2nd round game (a common Self tripping point - look to the 2010 team) despite never really getting much separation from a game, underseeded, Creighton team. Or them coming through after a rough first half in the Elite Eight (THE Self tripping point) against Miami to blitz them with one of the most dominant half you will ever see in a 47-15 domination.

And of course there was that final - playing about as bad as you can in simple ways. Not finishing at the rim, not boxing out, not playing fast against a team that was hurting to play slow after expending so much against Duke and playing largely a 7-man lineup all year. Well, they reversed all those things in a dominant 10-minute stretch that will define this team because it was so accordant to what they used to do when faced with nothing going their way. This team came together, made the right changes, and pushed, pushed, pushed through a 10-minute sprint to re-take the lead, basically for good.

From Christian Braun, finally hitting layups after missing so many in the first half, to Remy Martin finding his stroke with a series of threes, to Jalen Wilson and Dajuan Harris playing haunting defense. But let's focus on David McCormack, who was fed the ball over and over and failed over and over in that depressing first half, to clinching it with two great clutch bunny hooks to close the game out. He was one of the few players to actually be a key performer on the oft-mentioned 2020 team that was #1 at the time of the shutdown, and he seemed to wear that a lot, first as a weight that dragged him down, but then as a way to attain his personal mountaintop.

For a second, we should talk about North Carolina, who played excellently and just ultimately lost to a better team. They survived what seemed like a lost season to put it together and play well above that 8 seed. They were mentally strong enough to strut into Cameron indoor and dominate Duke in Coach K's last home game. They were good enough to take a 25-point lead against Baylor, and calm enough to survive Baylor's comeback run despite referees basically committing crimes by how much they've swallowed their whistles. They of course were strong enough to play Duke to a draw the whole way. And they shown bright against Kansas, it is just the Jayhawks shone brighter.

The Jayhawks ultimately win a 2nd title in Bill Self's run that he and their program so very much deserve. This program has been among the best for such a long time, despite having few true five-star recruits compared to other programs (granted, it hasn't been barren). They have come close, but also achingly far when they should've been closer. But they finally did it - in historic fashion with the comeback. The Jayhawks made history, capping a historical tournament, from a historic run by a 15 seed, to a historic final moment for Coach K, to history in the title game. It was beautiful, and better yet that Kansas was the final team standing.