Peru Day 12: The Food Tour (and more)

Teresa booked us on a food tour. I was excited and in a nutshell, it didn't disappoint.

The Lima Gourmet Company

We were picked up by Lucas in a Merc,  promptly at 9:30am. Service with a smile.. and what a smile he had, too. Warm and contagious as it was, he had us at "ola"!

Like he read our minds, the first stop was for coffee. We drove a short distance to the district of Barranco. Known as the bohemian, hippie area of Lima, it was hopping with trendy restaurants, bakery treasures, hip street art. Barranco, once a dive... unsafe and unsavory, is now exclusive and fun and all about preserving the colorful architecture and history that makes it special. The streets are lively and sprawl from the main square down narrow cobblestone ways, to the Pacific Ocean itself.

This is the "bridge of sighs". Legend has it that if you make a wish, hold your breath and don't let it out until you reach the other side, the wish will come true. The bridge is longer than it looks, but with some speed walking near the end, I made it! (I have a cold so I think my effort should count for double the good luck.)

If you are there with your sweetie, you are supposed to hold hands and walk the bridge, breath held, together... for a lifetime of happy relationship!

We visited Tostaduria Bisetti. Apparently this is one of the top 10 coffee places in the WORLD. What makes it so? Well, indeed the coffee is very good, but I think part of the draw is there is a coffee laboratory onsite. Little Peruvian fingers are sorting individual beans for size and color and only the very best are going into the coffee that is roasted, ground and brewed here. In an ongoing fashion, experimentation is also underway. How can they improve the taste and quality? They are driven to come up with innovative "recipes" for the best cup of Joe and create an unforgettable coffee drinking experience. Teresa and I (and Cuy) enjoyed a cup so smooth and wonderful, we thought we'd died and gone to heaven. It was served with a sweet potato cake with a dusting of cinnamon - warm and delicious.

Also in Barranco is La Bodega Verda. This little cafe is half in a tiny old house, half under the umbrella of the  giant tree in their wee courtyard garden. It serves good, healthy food, made from scratch. And milkshakes made from the lucuma fruit on that giant tree!

Lucuma is a starchy yellow fruit that has a slightly mango-y flavor with the consistency similar to avocado. The milkshake is sweet, fruity, creamy and filling! As I tried to get my tongue into the bottom of the to-go cup we left with, Lucas warned us to pace ourselves. The food tour was just getting started!

We drove north of Mira Flores to a market, next. I think we were the only non-locals there. Everyone else was either taking a break from work and eating at the market, or there to purchase food to take home and cook. This market was a hive of activity with different produce (and smells) around every corner. Lucas introduced us to all sort of new fruits, some more potato types (Peru has 4000) and we got up close and personal with meat too. While I agree it's important to know the origin of our food  and the connection to the animal it used to be, I might have crossed the the TMI line a little here... especially seeing the forming eggs inside the chicken on a hook and the pig's head!

THIS is where tripe comes from!

Rooster fish and some little sharky thing

Granadilla

Cacao - with aspirations to become chocolate in my belly!

At the food market, Lucas presented us with a basket of fruit pieces. We tried A LOT of new things... prickly pear, mango, a peachy colored banana, granadilla, avocado, chiramoya, cape gooseberry... Peru is floating on a sea of fresh fruits and vegetables. "Processed" means your friendly butcher or grocer has taken the liberty to dice or dress your produce, to make life easier at home. I could definitely live here!

Speaking for myself, I was already full. But now it was time for a Pisco Sour class and a class on Ceviche making at a cool beachside restaurant.

My ceviche was spicy, thanks to the serious crushing I gave my tiny orange chili pepper. This dish was quick to make, healthy and delicious.

Dallice, Marco the chef and Teresa

As for that Pisco Sour:

3 oz Pisco 

1 oz key lime juice

1 oz simple syrup

1 egg white

Fill shorter glass with ice to cool it. Tip all ingredients plus ice into taller glass. Shake hard! Strain the ice out as you pour into smaller glass again. You should have ONE finger of foam on the top and no more. More, indicates your Pisco Sour was made in a blender. Add a couple drop of bitters to the center of the foam. (This used to be to disguise the smell of the egg... but these days not necessary.)

As we sucked down our Pisco Sours, Lucas again warned us to pace ourselves. Another Pisco Sour was on order at the next place. Dear God! No wonder we were so giggly and drunk that night at Aguas Calientes. We had consumed 3 of these drinks each, at altitude... and today I find out each one had 3 shots! Kinda amazing we were able to walk about Machu Picchu the next day. And not so surprising I had to straighten a number of my pics with editing software. Hahaha.

Anywho... a tipsy me, followed Teresa to the car and we set off for our next gastronomical delight. A selection of large and small plates at Huaca Pucllana. A swanky, modern, classy and likely expensive restaurant, perched on the grounds of the ruins by the same name. I imagine it's hard to get a reservation here... unless you are with Lucas.

Here we also gobbled down a "flight" of desserts - and a Pisco Sour made with passion fruit.

Stick a fork in me. I'm done!

All we had left in us was a walk to Larcomar Mall later that night, for dinner overlooking the ocean and a stroll around this layered building, protruding from the cliff!

Goodnight everyone!

Peru Day 11: Goodbye Cusco. Hellloooo Lima!

We were just saying goodbye to another blue-sky day in Cusco as Carlos picked us up and took us to the airport around 7:45 AM.

Here we go again!

I have been using the precious (rare) downtime of the past 24 hours to catch up on some blogging and journaling. Emotions connected to memories that already seem a lifetime ago, are strong. I'm so grateful for the laughter, joy, kinship, wisdom and encouragement that my friends have brought to this adventure.

Have I mentioned that this is really my first time travelling an extended period with friends? I'm normally with Mark or more often, alone. It takes a special person to put up with me... and me them! I'd call this a complete success though.

Ok, let's talk about Lima now. We had an Airbnb apartment booked already and our host was planning to meet us at 12:15 PM to let us in and orientate us a bit. Her name was Carla. She met us at the door of the secure building on arrival and was quick to get us sorted. The apartment was on the 13th floor... that would be the roof. Seriously. The roof!  You take the elevator to the 12th floor, then hoof it up the stairs to the roof, walk across the roof to our door... and let yourself in. The view of downtown Mira Flores is fab!!! We are 10 mins walk from the Pacific Ocean and between mini skyscrapers, paragliders are floatin' by!  What?! Uh-huh... paragliders!

Lima is a city of 12 million people. It's busy. There don't actually appear to be road rules of any description, but we were later informed there is ONE. "Don't crash". Everyone has a hand on the steering wheel and the other firmly pumping up and down on the horn. For those without horns, there are whistles. Peruvians love their whistles!

Alex had given us some great tips on things to do in Lima and we used day one to start ticking stuff of the list he gave us. Not far from the apartment were .... you guessed it... markets! Who needs more alpaca hats?  I do!  It was like we had both forgotten that there is a weight limit on our luggage. Oh dear.

We also harbored an undying urge to find a new friend to share our Lima journey with, since Kelli was home by now. A cuy did seem like the best choice, under the circumstances. We adopted this little cutie, today.

I think the find of the day goes to John F Kennedy Park and the Kennedy Park Kittens though. This city park is riddled with cats. Some feral, some colony cats and others, just abandoned there to roll the dice on their future.

With the magic Google Translate glasses on... 

Teresa and I, being cat ladies, loved the fact that cats roamed the park, sleeping on park benches, never seemingly wandering just outside the park, where 3 lanes (at least!) of traffic hurried by, 24/7.
We wandered through this park and tried our best to make friends with the beautiful felines 2-3x/day! Most of them didn't want to know us... but a few were adoring and smoochie. And I may or may not have brought some of my chicken from the restaurant into the park to treat a few! Shhhh.

Actually there is a non-profit organization in charge of the kitties. Cat food and water is plentiful. They are taking responsibility for medical care and neutering. Amazingly, there is an adoption program too. For cats that can be rehomed, the organization matches them with suitable new families - after doing home visits and investigating you first of course!

For more info or to make a donation visit the website: https://gatosparquekennedy.org
They also have a Facebook page.

Just like that our first day in Lima was drawing to a close. It was time for dinner and a quick supermarket visit.

Yes, that is chicken on a bed of fried banana!

Artichoke hearts. All the hard work has been done for you.

Olive sandwiches. Umm.. no comment.

Tomorrow held the promise of a food tour, booked months ago. But tonight held the promise of an early night, each in our own room for the first time since we left Colorado. 

Peru Day 10: Last Day in Cusco

It had to happen. Teresa and I, now left to our own devices, slept in (not really), had a big San Augustin Hotel breakfast (with detox juice) and began to tick of all the things that were on our to-do list.

At 8 AM, we dropped of laundry. One week into the trip and I'd say we had worn to the point of nastiness, almost everything that had been packed. Including gloves, hats, scarfs, jackets and all the layers that go beneath. Pick up was 7 PM the same day, so now we had 11 hours to whittle away!

By 9 AM we were touring the Historical Museum on the other side of the main square. Fascinating! It was broken into two main parts: The Inca part and the Spanish part. By all accounts it was a violent transition from Inca spirituality to Catholicism. Politely declining to be converted, was not an option. Pretty sure that's not what Jesus had in mind when he said go forth and spread the word... but what do I know?!

There was a trio playing in the courtyard. Beautiful. Gentle music.

Then we hit the markets. It was time to pump our blood full of some of that delicious fruit smoothie that we tried the other day. A little pick-me-up, if you will. I'm still working on the proviso that I have hiked enough uphill this week to warrant some extra sugar.

We also found some little bags of Peruvian salt of various descriptions and picked up some as gifts. I did have some concerns about the weight of my bag and honestly, there is nothing light about carrying salt and I'm not sure why I didn't remember that!

The spontaneous part of our day happened when we were stopped by a cute young Peruvian gal on a back-alley cobblestoned street. She was offering us 'masaje' at her new spa kinda place. 10 mins later, we were each laying on massage tables, covered in clean sheets, getting our feet worked on with essential oils, to the sound of pan flute music. O.M.G where has this been all my life?!

Around lunchtime, we met up with Alex at the main square fountain. So nice to see him again! It had been all of 18 hours since he left us at the hotel last night and already we missed him. The 3 of us enjoyed a rather spectacular lunch at Inca Grill overlooking the square. FANCY! I had the most delectable short ribs and these little purple potato dinner rolls. Mmmmm...

And then, it was off to the art district. Basically we climbed a hill toward a church and along the way, visited gallery after gallery and found trinket shops out the wazoo. The vendors saw us coming. Despite only having one head, I apparently find myself buying 3 hats! There is something quite decadent about alpaca wool apparel... Unfortunately my friend and I appear to be enablers, rather than the voice of reason, for each other.

With just one thing left on our Cusco bucket list today, we took a small break at the hotel first.

The Qorikancha Museaum is a small but significant one. It took all of 15 minutes to get through the main part... but we took a bit longer in the mummies room. Yes, you heard me correctly. Real, actual mummies. Human sacrifices "rescued" by archaeologists and displayed 2 feet from you, behind a little bit of glass! There was hair, toenails and black skin stretched tightly over bones as each mummy is rested in fetal position. I'm not even sure how I feel about this.

 Stop reading if you are weirded out by these things....

The mummy room had a distinctive smell. I would say something between a horse saddle and a rehydrated potato. Huh... yep. Still not sure what to make of the whole thing except to say it was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm still mulling it over. The mummification cult/followers would treat the mummified leaders as though they were still alive. Carrying them around, serving them food then giving them "time together" and the best part... taking leadership wisdom from them... "listening" to them! It eventually resulted in factions between Incas, since there were also leaders who were alive and well and sometimes the mummies and the live leaders didn't agree so there were conflicts.

What a way to end our time in Cusco, huh?!

Dinner? Rainbow cake and tea in our hotel room. Yeah. I'm on vacation and that means I have zero guilt about eating cake for dinner. Especially 7 layers of different colors, enveloped in a whipped white frosting! (I know what you're thinking. "Dallice never seems to have guilt about cake for dinner, even when not on vacation." 'Tis true! Hahaha. Life is too short!)

The rest of the evening involved picking up laundry and packing, repacking and packing again. I was fairly convinced that my bag was now close to going over 50lb.   Wish us luck at the airport tomorrow!