A few things about Lima

MRG’s Fundraising co-ordinator Cecile Clerc samples Peruvian cuisine, and reflects on the challenging programme agreed with Afro-descendant partners.

Last night [Friday night] was the concluding evening of the meeting we had with our partners. Those 3 days have gone by so quickly, it’s unbelievable! They were pretty intense too but so productive! The programme of work for the next 4 years that was agreed is ambitious but necessary if we want to achieve changes on the ground and improve the situation of Afro-descendant communities in Brazil, Ecuador and Peru.

As soon as I’m back in London, I’ll be looking for possible funders for this work and I’m sure that this experience, meeting with the partners, inputting on the design of the work will help me.

We had a dinner with all our partners to say goodbye as some were leaving this morning. Peruvian partners insisted for us to try “Pisco Sour”, the national cocktail. It’s actually very good although it’s dead strong… I’m glad we only had one as I would never have been able to climb the stairs to my room.

They also invited us to try the “Chicha Morada” which is (thank God) a non-alcoholic drink made of brown corn. Not bad at all. Talking about beverage, I’m thinking of what we have been eating so far and… I have to confess that it has not been very diverse. We had rice for lunch and dinner, every single day.

When I asked one of the partners if he did not find the food too boring, he just laughed; rice is actually something Peruvian people eat LOTS. They even grow rice in some parts of the country. I have the feeling that back in London, I’ll be avoiding rice for a while though…

Today we went with Samia [MRG’s Head of International Advocacy] for a walk around Lima. We started by the Craft Markets on Avenue Petit Thouars where you can find lots of typical Peruvian objects such as jumpers/shawls made of alpaca, silver frames, jewels… We then headed towards Miraflores which is one of the commercial areas of Lima and ended up by the sea, in a small restaurant where guess what… we had rice!

I did enjoy very much walking around Lima and getting to know the city a bit more. Tomorrow we will leaving Lima to spend the day with Afro-descendant communities in the Province of Chincha. I’m sure it will be another great experience.

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This article reflects the sole opinion of its author and does not engage MRG’s responsibility.