October 2nd, 2018 - My day in San Miguel

Today I needed a bit of rest from a long day of travel. Woke up a second time around 9 am and decided it was time to go out and greet the day.
Naomi and I walked to Plaza San Miguel today to the Western Union so they could change my USD to soles. Later we walked around the mall and window shopped before lunch.
Later we went to a popular Peruvian restaurant that I have never tried the past few years I have been here. Tanta is a restaurant that serves traditional yet more refined Peruvian cuisine in huge portions. Naomi ordered their special which was a tempura cauliflower in a teriyaki glaze served over fried rice. I ordered a cream of squash soup that was delicious. Having a vegetarian lunch was new to me but I felt after that I was full but not bloated at all. A good feeling in the stomach when you're used to stuffing down fatty proteins on the daily.

After lunch we walked back to Naomi's house in San Miguel and I got advice from Daniel and Christian for purchasing a surfboard and he gave me some names of surf spots in Miraflores to check out and south of Lima in Punta Hermosa. Daniel is Naomi's stepbrother's best friend and he is an excellent auto mechanic and works on JDM cars like AE86 corollas and drift cars. Christian is his good friend and also enjoys working on cars. We navigate the language barrier by practicing our poor Spanish and English with each other.

After a good nap, Naomi's dad came and picked us up for dinner. We hit some rush hour traffic on the way. For dinner we ate some true Peruvian food. Cau cau is a dish that is potatoes and tripe stewed in ají amarillo. I have mixed feelings on this dish but I can eat it. I really love the homemade soups Naomi's grandmother makes. 

Today we had sopa de pollo with fideos munición. The noodles are like little pellets so that might be why it translates to ammunition. Delicious soup though!

I'm finally home now. Tomorrow Naomi's mother travels here to Lima from Huaral and we will have lunch together. Mañana en la noche, vamos a celebrar cumpleaños de su papá. Okay that's about as far as I get in Spanish as well as knowing the preterite and future tenses. I'm going to keep active tomorrow and try some workouts in the local park during the day since I haven't surfed or had time to shop for boards. I'll post my routine in tomorrow's blog. Thursday I am hoping to head out to Miraflores and find a board shape used or buy a new one from Klimax surfboards depending on prices. I'll keep everyone updated!!

Here is some salsa and a sweet video of local San Diegan surfer Rob Machado describing the same kind of feeling I get with the awesome people down here. I am so excited for my first paddle out but that may be a little less than a week from now. Good thing I got 6 weeks and plenty of time to wait for the kind of swell I saw a week and a half ago. Let's drink to this. ¡Salud!