I have been meaning to mention 'food' again - and keep forgetting. Peru has offered quite a step up in the selection and quality and flavour of food compared to Ecuador. We sampled Guinea Pig in Ecuador and were not that impressed. It is a well known delicacy in Cusco too, so some of us ‘re’-sampled it. In summary, -a 'gamey' version of chicken or rabbit but not much of a meal!!! The restaurant selection in both Arequipa and Cusco has been amazing. There just isn't enough days and meals to eat! Food is relatively cheap (but it can be more pricey in the flasher restaurants) but the wine isn't far off N.Z. prices - mainly from Chile and Argentina but we have found one we like from Peru too. Soup is a common item on the menu and the creamy soups Peru offer can be a meal in themselves. Stuffed avocado with vegetables is another favouite. Alpaca meat - we have had one fantastic 'tender' steak and since them much of the meat has been tough. We were not expecting a lot of flavours with the meals but have also been pleasantly surprised there. A chilly salsa is common on the table. As for local drinks the one you have to try is Picso Sour (Pisco, a liquer made from grapes, lemon, sugar and egg white ) We had our first sample in Lima at 'the' bar recommended by Lonely Planet and we were really disappointed. But there have been further opportunities to sample and …..it’s not too bad!
Now, for all those ‘Gentle Readers of Awakeri’ or people who have read the book about the story of Colour – we have seen the parasite on the cacti that produces the vibrant cochineal. We have had the fresh little bug squashed to demonstrate the red ink product and amazingly enough, the ‘dried’ insect also gives off the same vibrant red! This dye colour is just one used in the colouring of the lama / alpaca wool for all the hand knitted products available.
As far as luggage that we carried (yes, we ‘started with 13 kg each). We have bought very little in the way of extra clothes (a few warm things as we move south), but our bags are a similar weight. We are getting a little sick of the same clothes, but it is amazing what few clothes you need. We sent a parcel of ‘goodies’ including art, home from Ecuador which has already arrived. This week we have sent some art home from Peru and Claire and Robin who leave for N.Z. early this week will be heading home with an extra bag of gifts from us to the kids. (Along with another ‘art’ piece – a tapestry)
Yesterday we went mountain bike riding around the Sacred Valley. A 31km ‘very challenging’ route. I had envisaged a gentle romp through the villages taking a couple of archeological sites. But this was serious downhill (and ‘some’ up), that took almost 6 hours. It will be good preparation for what is planned in Bolivia!!!! Earlier this week A.J. and I spent a night out in the valley at a gorgeous village called Ollantaytambo – I needed to mention that as many of these names are simply a blur ‘until’ you visit and then they can roll off your tongue – this was one to tackle! This village is described as “unchanged for 700 years – a great example of Inca architecture”. It had ‘super’ narrow cobbled streets, great chunks of carved stone in the buildings and a couple of remarkable ruin sites on the adjoining hillsides – a good place to stay overnight.
We are now sitting at Cusco airport ready for a flight to La Paz, Bolivia. There ‘was’ trouble around Lake Titicaca (the road access into Bolivia) earlier, so we booked this flight 10 days ago just in case the trouble continued and there was a rush on flights (there are only 2 a week!)
We chatted to Matt on SKYPE the other night. He is still in Peterborough, England working on a berry farm – fencing and mowing. He says he is off to Romania in another week – for the barley and wheat harvest and then will be back in England for similar. He seems happy and well. He did go down to London last weekend and ended up catching up with Luke Milton who has just arrived from N.Z.
That’s about it for news – have just arrived in La Paz – another ‘well’ elevated city at 3600m – and our room on the 3rdfloor of stairs is a puff to reach!
N.B. The previous post was titled Puno and machu Piichu ...... a typing error ......Machu Picchu!
No comments:
Post a Comment