If you´ve lived in Lima for any length of time, chances are you´ve already found The Corner. If there´s one thing American tourists have a nose for, it´s a sports bar!

Although going to an old-fashioned, American-style sports bar might seem a little silly when you´re surrounded by the spectacular, exotic beauty of a country like Peru, the fact is, those of us who live here sometimes miss the feeling of sitting back on a brisk autumn day and watching a hard-fought game of football (for the purposes of this article I will refrain from referring to it as "American football").

As you may have figured out, fans of football are few and far between here in Lima. To my knowledge, there are exactly two bars that carry football games with any frequency (and neither of them have all the games, but that apparently is due to a mix up in Puerto Rico...don´t get me started).

The Corner is the only bar that caters almost exclusively to American sports. Besides football they have basketball, baseball, boxing, etc. It´s a whole smorgasbord of American activity. Better still, all the announcers are in English, and you´re allowed, even encouraged, to scream at the screen in that utter euphoric joy (or disgust) that the performance of your team warrants.

Being originally from Wisconsin, I have a true and unbiased love for the greatest sports franchise in the history of the known universe: the Green Bay Packers (12 NFL championships, the only community owned NFL franchise, a waiting list of 70+ years for season tickets, and Brett Favre). Before I discovered The Corner, I was actually reduced to sitting in smoky Internet cabinas for three or more miserable hours while I listened to the game broadcast on the radio and watched a primitive, green, rectangular graphic that showed only a football and the direction it was heading. It was terrible, sheer torture for a 100% green and gold-blooded Wisconsinite.

The first time I walked into The Corner and saw football being broadcast in all its glory on all of the magnificent screens, I literally heard a heavenly choir sing, "Haleluja!" When I saw that The Corner offered something called "The Tower" of beer, I sat down and cried.

The Tower is an event more than it is a menu offering, and it has to be seen to be believed. It´s exactly what it sounds like, a literal tower of beer with your own tap at the bottom and a virtual endless supply of cool, golden liquid. There is no creation on the face of the planet that can instantly guarantee the start of a party the way a Tower can. When your Tower arrives, people will meander over from other tables and simply sit regarding it in awe like it´s some holy relic. Grown men take turns having their picture taken while the Tower is still full and glorious; and, ten or fifteen minutes later, when the Tower is reduced to a sudsy glass shell of what it once was, there is often a moment of reverent silence.

Beer, Chicken Wings, NFL, NBA, March Madness, rowdy guys having a blast...The Corner has it all. Best yet, because this is a foreign land, there is a sense of camaraderie and mutual joy that permeates the whole establishment. Steelers fans sit with Bengals fans, Packers fans sit with Viking fans, either act would be disastrous stateside, but here, it´s acceptable. At the Corner, traditional rivalries are swept away and the only thing that is left is the love of sport...and beer!

Check it out: The Corner Sports Bar and Grill, Av. Larco 1207, Miraflores. 444-0220.