"Estoy Jugoso"

My Christmas lunch at Cabaña Las Lilas in the neighborhood Puerto Madero of Buenos Aires, Argentina:

One of the best rib-eye steaks, ever.

Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá

This post is a little late, but I went to Panama City, Panama on December 4^th to the 6^th on my way back from New York.  Copa Airlines had the cheapest tickets back to New York, and since I was already going to be flying through the airline’s main hub in Panama City, I was able to do a long layover there for only a small additional fee.

I stayed for two nights in a hostel in Casco Nuevo, which is the newer, more modern part of the city.  It had been a while since I stayed in an 8-bed dorm room, so it took a bit of getting used to, but the staff was friendly and the beds were clean and comfortable.  During my full day in Panama City, I of course had to go see the Panama Canal.  A long, but cheap cab ride away is the Miraflores Locks, which is where you can walk through a small museum on the history of the Canal as well as see the Canal in action.  I got to see a huge ship go through the locks, though quite honestly, it was a bit anticlimactic seeing the water raise the ship up the locks.  Here are some photos:

Still, the construction of the Canal was quite an amazing feat.  It was interesting to find out that Panama is currently building two more locks in order to allow more and larger ships to pass through the Canal.  The projected date of completion is 2014, 100 years after it first opened.  Now that Panama has full control over the Canal, it seems that their small country of 3.5 million people will have a secure source of income for the long-haul.

I also had the chance to walk along the Cinta Costera, or the coastal belt, that connects the new and old parts of the city.  The weather wasn’t the nicest, but it’s beautiful to see the skyscrapers and modern buildings on one side of the coast in contrast to my destination, Casco Viejo, the old city:

Casco Nuevo from Cinta Costera

Casco Viejo

I also really enjoyed passing by the fish market and seeing the colorful fishing boats along the coast against the backdrop of Casco Nuevo:

Casco Viejo itself was absolutely gorgeous, and probably my favorite part of the city.  I love the Spanish architecture, and what makes it really interesting is that only some of the old buildings have been restored.  Thus, stunning and colorful homes, restaurants, and storefronts are intermingled with dilapidated buildings, some of which only have a front wall with open windows, through which you could see the wild vegetation growing behind it.

I did go to the top rated restaurant on trip advisor, Marina, Marina, but unfortunately the food doesn’t compare to the food in Peru.  I had some ceviche (Peruvian ceviche is MUCH better) and an interesting steak that was rubbed with coffee and topped with avocado butter:

        

I was only there for one full day, but it was a nice day.   I felt like I did everything I needed to in the city, though I hear there is much   more to do outside of the capital, which I’m sure I can save for a trip back to Panama in the future.  

Anticuchos (Cow Heart)

Last night I tried anticuchos or cow heart, a popular Peruvian dish:

It was surprisingly tasty!

Mi Primero Mes en Perú

¡Hola de Perú!

It's been one month since I've arrived to Peru, and a long overdue update is certainly needed.  For those of you who do not know, I am currently taking a year off from medical school to do a year of clinical research through the Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship.  My medical school is one of the host sites for the Doris Duke program and also one of six schools that has two international fellowships.  I was fortunate enough to receive one of these fellowships and just started the international component of my year in Lima, Peru!

Before coming to Peru, I was working with my mentor at Columbia on projects in HIV prevention and helped with recruitment of participants for HIV vaccine studies occurring at CUMC.   Here, in Lima, I have continued to work on research projects in HIV prevention at a site called Impacta (Asociación Civil Impacta Salud y Educación).  Impacta is an NGO that is a research center and clinic for those with HIV/AIDS and at high-risk for HIV acquisition.  It is mostly funded by the NIH, and is one of the sites that is part of the global network of institutions aimed at developing HIV prevention methods.

Impacta is one of few centers in the country designated by the Peruvian government to prescribe antiretroviral medications, and patients can receive their medications and care for free.  The center is equipped with two floors of clinic and a full laboratory capable of doing virtually any test in-house that an HIV-positive patient would need, more than what Columbia can say for its HIV patients.  It's quite an impressive place, and everyone at the site is equally as impressive and friendly.  They have made my transition to the center quite easy and enjoyable.

Lima itself has been beautiful and an incredible place to live.  Fortunately, I was able to leave New York at the start of winter and head down south of the equator for the beginning of their summer.  One of my American friends down here likes to compare Los Angeles to Lima, which I think is a very good analogy for those who have never visited.  Like LA, Lima is a sprawled out city (of approximately 8 million people) on the Pacific coast with warm weather, a ton of Spanish-only speakers, great restaurants, and various, distinct neighborhoods.  There are three barrios that most foreigners live in -- Miraflores, Barranco, and San Isidro -- which are comparable to three LA neighborhoods -- Santa Monica, Venice Beach, and Brentwood -- respectively.  I am living in Miraflores, the most touristy (though not overwhelmingly so), which conveniently has everything I need within blocks from my apartment, including grocery stores, restaurants, the gym, department stores, shopping mall, nightlife, and the beach!  Impacta is located in Barranco, and is also only a 20-minute walk from my apartment.

When I first arrived, I moved into a home owned by a Peruvian family who lived in one part of the house and rented out the rest of the nine rooms.  The location was perfect and I had my own room and bathroom.  I lived with Peruvian and French students, which allowed me ample time to practice my Spanish and make some non-American friends.  After a month, however, I decided to move into a real apartment with an American and German both working in Peru.  My German roommate has a Peruvian boyfriend (basically my third roommate), and we also mostly speak Spanish at home.  Photos of my new apartment are below.

Lima has been named the gastronomical capital of Latin America, and it sure lives up to its name!  Some of the best restaurants in the country are within walking distance of my apartment, and many of the others are within walking distance of my work.  Peru's unique history and landscape allows it to combine a tremendous variety of ingredients into one meal.  Its location on the coast affords fresh and plentiful seafood combined with spices brought from Spain and exotic fruits from the jungle.  There is also a significant Japanese and Chinese immigrant population in the country that brought over its own interesting flavors, and Chifa restaurants serving Peruvian-Chinese cuisine can be found every few blocks, which tastes very similar to American-Chinese takeout in the US.  Also, the significant Chinese population here makes me look less like a gringo than I had imagined, though I'm sure my thick accent easily gives it way.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of what I've been up to for the past month.  I will periodically send mass e-mails with larger updates every month or so, but will be continuing to blog about my time in Peru (and the rest of Latin America) on medstudentinperu.blogspot.com until I leave in May.

¡Hasta luego!