Dinner Monday night was our third big exposure to Peruvian food. We were exhausted after a really long day at the Y and in the slums. The bus ride to dinner took about 1.5 hours. Eating dinner around 7:30pm is customary. Lots of people fell asleep on the bus on the way there, and of course we took incriminating photos. We went to a very nice restaurant (our hosts did their best to impress us) and started out with an appetizer that I'd never seen before. It's called a "causa" and is a Peruvian delicacy. A causa is like a potato pancake sandwich, with some sort of stuffing/topping in-between the 2 potato slices. The one we ate had a lobster and avocado middle. It was ok, but I didn't love it.

Next, we ate meat on a skewer. It had the consistency of beef but was a bit more tender and chewy. We found out it was cow's heart. Cow's heart, in additional to other animal organs, started out being served to slaves as they got the leftovers of the animal to eat. Now cow's heart has turned into a delicacy. A few people were squeamish and couldn't eat it. I ate the whole thing. In addition to the cow's heart, we ate a chicken stew with a yellow sauce.

For dessert we were served a traditional Peruvian sweet - little hollow circles that were like donuts with a honey caramel glaze. They are call "picarollos". It was pretty good, but not good enough for me to finish it. Plus, the portions we are getting are huge!

We chose to pre-order all the meals for the group so they would get to try a variety of Peruvian food, and so we could stay in budget and on schedule. I'm really happy we did because I don't think I would have ordered some of these things off the menu, but enjoyed eating them. We couldn't eat many fruits or veggies because our digestive system can't handle anything that hasn't been cooked or peeled. It would have been nice to eat at some less expensive places to see what street food would taste like, but unfortunately I don't think our systems could handle it.

We tasted "Pisco Sour" for the first time Monday night. It's an alcoholic drink that comes in many flavors. It's a bit tart, but delicious. After that, everyone wanted to order one with every meal.

During dinner conversation as I was getting to know my new friends, I found out that Carola's brother in law is part owner of Adobo Grill in Chicago. Turns out, Dana's friend's Dad is the other part owner of the same place! Really shows how small of a world it is, and is a perfect example of 6 degrees of separation.

I also found out that Khalilah studied abroad in Ecuador at the same university I studied at when I was there! She was a few years ahead of me in school so we weren't there at the same time, but it was so fun to reminisce about teachers and campus and everything Ecuadorian. She also got her masters in sports management, and coaches for the girls' feeder teams for US volleyball.

Lastly I learned that Nehemiah grew up playing basketball with Dwight Howard, and at one point was a bodyguard for a Georgia Congressman. How he came to stick with a career at the Y is a wonder.