Salvador strikes his film star pose (actually trying to look over my shoulder at 'Backyardigans on the TV)

One of the great things about Salvador is that he is more effective and persistent than any alarm clock.

A fermented vegetarian nappy in the face at 5am would rouse even the deepest sleeper.
This came in very handy today as he gave us six whole hours to prepare lunch for our friends.
The lunch itself went very well and the food I made was delicious.
It was one of those rare occasions when everything went right.
I still bear the scars of the 'special' curry I made for Esther's family a few years ago, not realising that Peruvian curry powder is 99% pepper and as such repulsive.

The look of polite horror on her aunties and uncles faces still haunts me whenever I cook for anyone else.

Today I made Avocado Stuffed with Quinua, Corn & Coconut Curry and Mango Fool.

Our friend David got it just right, rather than bring a bottle to lunch with an alcoholic, he brought me a bottle of red hot Colombian chilli sauce, nice touch.

With Evo Morales being inaugurated as Bolivian president today, the conversation inevitably turned to politics and the forthcoming Peruvian election.

We all have varying levels of interest in this country, emotional ,financial or family and the prospect of a president with no economic policy and whose only experience is in the military, fills us with dread.

As I said to David and Gary, Ollanta Humala's politics may well not prove to be the problem but his complete incompetence might.

We are pretty much agreed that having people in power that stick up to the USA is good but the required balance looks unlikely to be achieved.

There are lts of rumours pinging around Peru and South America at the moment and not many of them sound too positive.

Aside from that Esther & I scoured the market in the afternoon for Twix to sate my chocolate craving (unfulfilled) and picked up some new films to watch (Memories of a Geisha, Domino, Himalaya) during the week.

Much as we would like to go to the Sacred Valley for a change from the city, in this weather the buses have a habit of skidding off the mountain passes, so films it is for now.