Peru catch-up

(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.