... in 80 jet lags ...: February 2013

25 February, 2013

Some Colombia coming next

And it's still the morning of 24th here, not 25th February!

And more Arequipa...

Kristina the doll knitter, she named the doll
she sold me Kristina too.

Devil in a church in Arequipa!
I've almost come back!!

More food!
Arequipan specialities

Arequipa

Arequipa cathedral at sunrise

Arequipa is called the white
city, with stone made from
volcano ash

Morning scene from Arequipa

Church carvings

More photos from Peru!

Misti the Arequipa volcano

My arched room in Arequipa

(Written in Colombia)
I have some time to write down a few impressions of this trip, rather than just post photos (they too are coming).
So for those who don't know much about Peru (and apologies but the history with be from a culinary point of view...) - it is a country of many mixes of cultures. Of course there were the Incas and then the Spanish but there is also a huge ethnic Japanese population and also the Chinese population.
So after the war, Peru was in turmoil with capitalist and communist forces fighting it out and creating chaos and a negative reputation for the country. Terrorism was rife and Peru was a dangerous country to visit for impressionable gringos like me.
This continued into the 1990s until a Japanese background man became el presidente and sorted out the terrorists and started to restore peace to the troubled country. A very polarising figure, he is now serving a 40 year sentence in jail, for human rights abuses during his time in office(or dictatorship as defined by others). But according to my guide he was the man who started to restore Peruvian pride in their country, culture and cuisine.

Peruvian cuisine is so great because it is a mix of so many cultures, freshest ingredients and a creative promotion of local produce by a rising army of Peruvian chefs. Talking about ingredients, Peru has more than 8000 varieties of potatoes, where potato originated from, but is also home of the peppers (capsicum), tomato (I didn't know that one!) and many others I cant remember. It also has many unique fruit and vegetables such as lukuma which I tried as a shake and which has a wonderful smooth flavour of butterscotch but without the fake sugar! Peruvians eat very fresh and the raw fish ceviche is not served after 3pm (except to greedy tourists like me) as only fish less than 8 hours dead is considered fresh. And fresh it is! I'm sure I saw fish wink at me from my plate, I ate scallops from the shell, so fresh they didn't smell like anything but salt water. Peru is also known for the cuya or guinea pig and personally I don't see anything wrong with it. We eat cute rabbits too! Not to mention Kangaroo, our Australian symbol! I think maybe presentation of it might be the problem as it's given to you on a plate on its back, with the little hands holding its stomach and the teeth visible in a deadly smile. Anyway, it tastes OK. ;-) What also tasted OK and here is a shock even to me was the beef heart I ate! Yeah, Peru is not a country for faint hearted vegetarians, none of Latin America is, I don't think. I never ate so much meat as I am eating here, mum would be proud for all the protein consumption I've been doing.
After Lima, I went to Arequipa in the mountains, at the foot of 3 volcanos... Volcano Misti appearing on the photos later. The altitude is close to 3000 meters and did that kick my ass! Like in Bhutan in December 2012, I woke up out of breath, had a mad altitude headache and generally felt awful. Well that's why God invented coca!
Coca leaves, in the form of tea, lollies or an addition to any food or drink consumed, make you feel better. So does cocaine apparently, which is a more advanced product made of coca leaves. Anyway I stopped at tea and lollies. But they do have the same energising effect, I can tell that after having 10 lollies and a tea in a day I could not sleep till 4 and woke up at 5 am! And if I felt tired the next day, there's always more coca! I'll suffer when I stop I'm sure, but hey, i'm typing this ultra fast! ;-)
Arequipa, which is largely ignored by tourists who stop only overnight on their way to Cuzco and Machu Pichu, is called The White City since most of it is built of the ash of the volcanos mixed in with some hardening agent, which I'm pretty sure was not cement. From what I noticed it is also a city of arches with most ceilings, including the airport, made of rows of arches, supposedly more resistant to earthquakes. As my guide told me: "We get earthquakes everyday! Small ones, but they are here even today!"
I didn't feel any, but I'm hoping she was right!
Arequipa was in a state of emergency when I arrived though, but not due to earthquake, but a 3000m high flood! In one afternoon more rain than they get in a year was dumped on the city and people died, things got flooded and I almost didn't get there due to flight cancellations. When I got there, apart from some big puddles, no sign of the disaster.
Foodwise, Arequipa also didn't disappoint and I tried many local dishes, as well as 3 versions of ceviche.

I'm OK

Hello from Mexico City, sorry I've been quiet but I have been sick and yesterday (yes, my birthday) was the first day off. Today, still Sunday morning here, I feel better. :-)

23 February, 2013

That time again...

Happy Birthday Pushkin x
My only regret.

15 February, 2013

Peru gets into TOP5!!!

Sorry Bhutan, as exotic as you are, food left a bit to be desired, so in the new TOP5 destinations are (all equal!):
Berlin, Iceland, Istanbul, Libya and now Peru! :-)
Some more food photos:

More ceviche, with pisco sour
= perfect lunch

Grilled heart with aoji (spicy
yellow pepper) sauce and of course
GIANT corn

12 February, 2013

South American hot blood (in a good way!)

I couldn't avoid it any longer... I had some business meetings and I got kissed and hugged!!!
Oh and the young man who served me breakfast said: "Miss you have SPECTACULAR eyes! Really! Like a cat!!!"
Since I woke up at 3am and did my morning run then, they must have been red!! But I'll take an honest and true compliment like that any day! ;-)

Pisco sour addiction

Practical pisco lecture...

Pisco, lime, sugar, egg white bitters...

Oh, you make one again, or 3!

Ceviche cooking class

Finito - It was the best!

Marinating....

Start with raw fish.

I LOVE LIMA!!!

I did a Lima culinary tour yesterday and drank good coffee, tried eating many different local dishes, drank too many Pisco sour cocktails, went to a market with many local fresh fruit to try, cooked my own ceviche and OMG how good is Peruvian food! I am so looking for a Peruvian restaurant back home!this would have to be one of the best and most varied cuisines in the world! What a surprise!

Oh and I saw the old Spanish city, the ocean and some old ruins... But did I mention the food?!

ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!
As my photos are transferring slowly from the phone to the ipad on the limited hotel wifi... Here are some unedited photos (unedited because I will make them arty later).

Purple corn, chillies, limes= heaven!

Freshest seafood -YUM!

08 February, 2013

Crazy Pakistan stories

Here are a few instances of how crazy the country and its people were:

After work, I was having the food poisoning salad at the Kohsar Market (of course I would find out it was poisoned later...) and my driver was strangely chuckling to himself when I left and more when I came back. Thinking that maybe I have some strange sign on my back or something else, I finally asked him why he was laughing. "You know whereyou just had lunch? You know who Mr Tasseer is?" Of course I know the answer to neither. "Mr Tasseer, he was assassinated here last year!" Says the my driver and he's so happy I'm thinking he has the most morbid humour I have ever met... "Why is it so funny?" I finally ask. "Because of who killed him! His DRIVER!!!" Cackles my driver smiling triumphantly. I got it then!
One of the agents I work with was taking me for a safe tour of Islamabad (it is his Merc that you can see the Mosque from) as he's driving up Margalla Hills, our conversation turns to TV, which I don't watch, except on the road when my favourite NatGeo show is on. What show, asks the agent. Air Crash Investigations, I admit embarrassed. But the agent is very excited and says he likes the show too. He then takes me on a very personal, tailored tour of Islamabad - the crash site of the crash of Airblue flight 202! Lovely!
Talking about airplanes etc... The Benazir Bhutto International Airport (not to mention more assassinations) would have to be the worst airport I've been to, beating Kolkata by a mile! My luggage was opened and searched 4 times and x-rayed once, since Pakistan is a major route for Afghani opium trade. One of those times a sniffer woman stuck a massive needle into my open bag and as she pulled it out she sniffed it, checking for opiate smells, I was told. She surely looked a lot nastier than any sniffer dog I had seen so far! At check-in, I also had to pay some bribe fee, that was hand written on a piece of paper that was shown to me, of course no receipt was given. Then when my 29kg bag was finally closed and checked in, they protested it was too heavy and that I would have to pay excess luggage fees. Finally seeing my chance, since the only scale there was broken, I said "No! No scale no fee!" The staff there laughed so much, they gave me an invitation to the Business lounge.