Category Archives: Peru

November 12, 2012 · 1:56 pm

Pisac ruins and market

Full day in Pisac, first visiting the ruins and the the huge Sunday market. A lot of fun and activity, since we took a spectacular walk down the mountain from the ruins to the market over some rocky terrain, crossing right over some of the ancient stone terraces rising above the town. We had an excellent empanada pulled right out of a huge clay oven at Horno Tipico de Santa Lucia and the best brownie in the sacred valley at the Blue Llama. At the market we bought alpaca sweaters and mittens, a cute knit kids hat, a peru tshirt, an inca cola tshirt, a scarey knit face mask, pornographic inca playing cards, a cd of Peruvian flute music. We bartered a bit but we aren’t very good at it.

tonight we had dinner at mayupata, a somewhat upscale restaurant where Noah had alpaca grilled with miso sauce and I had a good loom saltada, a beef stir fry that seems a good bet when all else fails. Dirck wasn’t eating much. He has had an upset stomach and today a headache which leads me to think he had altitude sickness. Last night we ate at the heart cafe which is a do good place (it helps kids and abused women, I believe.) the food was mediocre, despite the good reviews we had heard. one thing I’ve learned is that the Peruvian version of the American and Italian staples we usually eat rarely resemble what we are used to. the pasta with tomato sauce ends up being sweeter than we are used to, the pizza has odd crust and cheese, the chocolate chip cookie is crumbly like an oatmeal cookie, the burrito tortilla has the texture of Ethiopian bread.

I have also learned that there are broken MasterCard machines all over southern Peru, nd sometimes broken Visa machines. allegedly. Basically the restaurants and shops don’t want to pay the credit card fee. Which is starting to irritate me because they have big signs on their doors touting their credit card use.

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November 11, 2012 · 1:38 pm

moray, salinas, urubamba…sacred valley

I am very glad we hired a driver to take us to the remarkable ruins in Moray and the super cool salt pans nearby because there is no way we could have driven safely ourselves. at first we didn’t think we would need the tall high ceilinged van the driver showed up in but it turned out to be pretty handy, navigating dirt and rock roads through the sacred valley a pond then winding up narrow switchbacks improbably carved into the tall mountains. we drove through glorious green fields of corn and rouge-colored soil where we think potatoes were being planted. and then we drove up and around and up and a little down Nd then up through high mountains with stunning views across the valley of snow capped mountains.

in Moray, we walked around and then into a huge ancient Inca site, rings of stone walls winding downward like an amphitheater. Rough stone steps hang down from each terrace for you to get up and down. Way cool. apparently the Incas used these as test plots for their crops. later we went to near y Salinas, a mountainside filled with glaringly white pools of salt.These are salt mines that have been used to harvest salt since the Inca days. We watched a few people in native dress harvesting the salt. For lunch we ended up at an excellent place, Tres Keros, where we had well cooked trout, chicken and the best logos Santeros (a beef stir fry) of the trip. our driver tried to steer us to some buffet we suspect was run by a friend of his and even told us that tres Keros was closed. but we found it very open when we walked in.

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November 10, 2012 · 1:43 pm

Morning in the sacred valley, peru

I am sitting in a garden with orange, red, white, purple and ink flowers lining a green lawn bordered by a three foot high stone wall. And just beyond that mud brick houses with worn red stucco tiled roofs and just beyond that huge heather colored mountains on all sides, the tops shrouded in clouds. Rising up from the mountain directly across from me are the tannish brown walls of a terraced fortress. these are the ancient Inca ruins of the ollantaytambo fortress that we climbed yesterday afternoon. Spectacular. And they are what we see in the morning as we open the French doors of our second floor room here at Apu Lodge. (see photo below.) There are also the sounds, water cascading down the mountains along the channels lining the narrow cobblestone lanes bordered by high stone walled buildings that open into courtyards and gardens; the varied calls of birds, the occasional crowing rooster and barking dog.

This village is particularly magical at night when most of the tourist buses have cleared out. We ate last night at El Alburgugue the well known old hotel for travelers that is located outside of the village along the train tracks that take people to Macchu Pichu. I had to eat simply since my stomach was still on the fritz but the food was good, especially Noah’s lamb and our shared after dinner brownie. We walked back on a dark street lining the river with the stars very bright in a sky unburdened by street lights, past the town square and then onto our cobbled lane with the water rushing along the channel. We all slept very well.

We also ate lunch at Paki Rumi near the ruins…good albeit atypical burritos as promised. We sprung for the boleto touristica, a 10 day pass that gets you into attractions ina nd around Cusco, not machu Pichu, of course. About 170 soles or 70 dollars. Not sure it’s a good deal but easy. We spent 50 soles on a guide named Wilson at the ruins, well worth it. And 100 soles for the driver from cusco, again worth it.

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Tagged as ollantaytambo, Sacred valley Peru

November 10, 2012 · 12:06 am

The sacred valley: first stop ollantaytambo

Our travel arrangements, the most complicated of our trip, worked like a charm. A cab was waiting for us at 5:45 a.m. Outside our hotel in Arequipa and it whisked us to the airport in 15 minutes. we are liking these smaller Peruvian Airports! Our Taca flight to Cusco was only a little late leaving and the flight was only 35 minutes…and quite a spectacular ride. I am not sure I have flown that close to mountains before. we seemed to be skimming right over Colca Canyon, close enough to see the hole of a volcano and gas rising from it. Our son’s flight from Lima arrived about a hour later, again largely on time. We met the driver from our hotel and away we drove through bustling Cisco, which looks quite different from Arequipa and up up up into the Andes. It was a spectacular 1.5 hour drive, up and around high almost purple brown mountains, past verdant green fields.

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November 9, 2012 · 1:23 am

Sol de mayo, tambo del matadero, restaurant on the roof – Arequipa

Our stomachs were both a little shaky today but we still enjoyed a lovely traditional meal with our friend Ignacio, who is from the family our son is living with in Lima. Sweetheart of a guy who is also a foodie so we did had the best Arequipa dishes! I had a superb shrimp soup – chuppe del Cameron’s – huge fresh water shrimp Ina red bisque with all kinds of stuff in it, a chunk of potato, squash, a poached egg, choclo (thick kernel corn.) I also had my first glass of chicha morale, sweet purple juice that looked a bit like grape juice. I liked it! D had pork chiccarones (yummy fried pork ribs, a roccoto relleni (- red pepper stuffed with chu ks of beef, raisens,etc) and a potato pie that looked like scalloped potatoes but tasted different. For desser we tried another Arequipa specialty quest heldado, a yellow ice cream made with cheese and grated cinnamon. Later we saw someone selling it on the street. (excuse my incorrect Spanish spellings. I will clean up later.)

although I appreciate the artistry of peru’s big name chefs, I have to admit that the food I have liked the most here is the more simple traditional fare. We ate at Chicha, another famous restaurant and it was okay. But I preferred our meal today. I think my stomach did too.

We also saw some more sights including two more superb churches, especially de la compagnia, with it’s gorgeous stone carved facade. It’s worth the 4 soles to visit the lovely side chapel which is hand painted with fruits, veg, figures. Also went to the church near the restaurant where we ate in the pretty little suburb of yanahuara, San Juan Bautista and got a good view of the volcanos rising in the distance from a lookout next to the pretty plaza. Ignacio also took us to see a few Tambos, hidden little lanes lined with old houses that reminded us of mews in London.. Tambo del matadero and tambo Brouce can be found off of bolognese street near the river. We had a drink and superb vibes of the plaza des armed at sunset with the lights of the city and the mountain ranges outlined against the sky tonight at the restaurant on the roof. Well worth the climb and not as touristy as we feared. They even lent thick wool ponchos to some underdressed slovs who sat near us.

Found some good shops too including a really nice handmade jewelry store on Jerusalen street, mutze, and a high end shopping plaza patio del ekeko downtown on the Mercaderes, a pedestrian walkway full of strollers. Great people watching.

Tonight at our hotel we met a nice guy who is a Peruvian actor and singer named Jorge madueno, or Pelo, who just shot s film here. We loved this place!

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November 7, 2012 · 9:40 pm

Monasterio Santa Catalina in Arequipa

Wow! We were blown away by this sprawling, spectacular 16th century monastery. Talk about a visual feast. One beautiful sight after another. The monastery is sort of a self contained mini walled in city with one vaulted “cell” after another for the cloistered nuns, who as I understand it were usually girls from well to do families who lived much better than your everyday nun. Their quarters were often spacious and the thick stone vaulted walls painted in startling hues of red, blue, ochre, and burnt orange. They had their own kitchens and servant quarters. Granted the beds looked a bit spartan. They also had gorgeous cloisters to gather, with painted murals every where and flowers and cactus plants. There were narrow brick or tiled lanes bordered by stone residences. I don’t know how true to life the restoration was but seemed pretty nice. I got some decorating ideas, including some fabulous wall color ideas. of course it will be hard in Iowa to replicate the
monastery’s view from on high of a snow capped volcano.

As my husband noted, some museums grab me more than others. Grand cathedrals and museums full of old paintings tend to bore me quickly.But give me an old house or monastery where I can wander through the rooms and see how people live and I am wide awake. I also love folk art and the kind of melodramatic Spanish art thAt filled the monasterio. There was also a very cool video in a side gallery of contemporary Andean male dancers doing some crazy moves while holding onto a pair of what looked like very sharp scissors. MUST read up on that.

At the public mercado (you knew I would find that right?) we marveled at the astonishing selection of potatoes (Peru is the home of the potato) and produce. Our stomaches are a bit iffy today so we ate lightly. Although we did get a little paper cone with five Dulces (sweets) …tiny crispy cones filled with creamy caramel. Here are some photos of our hotel and the monastery.

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November 7, 2012 · 3:30 am

Watching US election results in Arequipa Peru

Well it would help if we understand Spanish. But hey, we just found CNN in English so we are all set. But there is a certain cognitive dissonance to be watching American election results in this very ancient city in Peru.. We are in an 18th century hostal in the old section of Arequipa, in a room with thick stone walls, worn wooden French doors, wrought iron grills on the windows, thick red bricks by the bathroom. our room opens up into a small stone and tile courtyard with lots of potted plants. Oh god, CNN is talking about how close the vote is in Iowa. This is nerve wracking.

Arequipa is absolutely charming. The Plaza des Armas is gorgeous with a huge white stone cathedral with snow capped mountains looming behind it and two story arched colonnades lining the rest of the square. Oh god, james carville says Obama will likely carry Florida and win the election. Back to Arequipa, the creamy white sone facades of the churches and even the banks are stunning, many opening into lovely courtyards. Then some buildings are painted in deep shades of blue, red, mustard
including la casa de melgar hostal where we are right now. We had an excellent dinner two blocks away at Zigzag, which specializes in meat and fish served sizzling on black volcanic stones. I had rack of lamb. Dirck had chunks of pork, beef and alpaca. yes alpaca. No guinea pig this time.Tomorrow we sight see…first stop the monasterio de Santa Catalina, whose thick stone walls line a long block. Cannot wait. Love this place. Reminds us at times of places in Spain and Italy yet it feels very Distinctly South American…especially Peruvian. Here are some photos of our hostal. Oh my god elizabeth warren won. I am soooooo happy!

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Tagged as arequipa peru, Elizabeth warren, Iowa, obama, Presidential election results

November 6, 2012 · 7:52 pm

Exploring lima with Noah

Several highlights yesterday including sunshine for the first time in two days. As our son said, when the sun shines it feels like you are in the tropics. All the colors are suddenly vivid. We wandered around Barranco for awhile, spending time and money in a fantastic folk art gallery run by a woman originally from Wales. Her pretty old house is packed with weavings, ceramics, textiles, silver jewelry, sculpture from all over Peru. (I will unearth the card to duly record the name of the shop.)

Next stop, our son’s college campus Pontifica Catholica Universidad (sp?) a very modern campus of concrete high rises, where we sat in briefly on Prof. Diaz’s class on Peruvian culture, not that we could understand much, due to our feeble Spanish comprehension. Another crazed taxi ride got us to the grand colonial section downtown where we had a ham sandwich in a famous old place El Cordano with scuffed floors, worn wooden counters, lots of old photos. Tourists occasionally popped their heads in to take pictures. It is that kind of place. Catacombs full of boxes of skulls and femurs and arm bones was the takeaway memory from our tour of the amazing Monisterio de San Francisco, which also had a fantastic old library, moorish vaulted architecture with miles from Seville, Spain. Well worth a visit. The cathedral de Lima was also impressive. Then it was time for a pisco sour, the Peruvian cocktail, which we had at the Hotel Bolivar patio overlooking the crazy evening traffic in Plaza San Martin.

Dinner was a splurge to celebrate our son’s 21st birthday (a little early) at the famous Astrid & Garçon. and yes, I did try their famous cuy, which I would have eaten more of if I didn’t know what it was (guinea pig). it was well disguised, unlike the whole deep-fried version served to our son awhile ago and photographed to frighten the relatives back home. This cuy was slices of meat with crispy skin that did indeed look and taste a bit like chicken. it was served with small blue corn pancakes, a hoisin-tasting sauce and a coleslaw type of garnish. Delicious. Other highlights, ceviche served three ways, suckling pork leg, a light delicately seasoned seafood soup, a carrot cake unlike any I have ever seen or tasted with long white meringue straws, pink foam, a mint ice cream, a dense rectangle of moist carrot cake. A work of art really. Very pricy but we did get a lot including two amuse bouchesand a tray full of little sweets (jellies, macaroons, truffles, warm caramel between two little discs of shortbread.) Reminded me of a fancy meal we had once in Burgundy. Only problem was we were too full to really enjoy.

Right now we are at the airport in Lima, having just learned that our flight to Arequipq is delayed an hour. This after we dutifully left for the airport 3 hours ahead of time. We were warned that the morning rush hour traffic would be bad, and so it was much of the time but our champion driver, from our hotel, the fabulous Second Home Peru got us here in 45 minutes, as promised. lots of long lines to wait in, so the 2 hour in-advance airport arrival was probably wise…except now we have another hour to wait..

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Great day in Lima

Great day in Lima. The place we are staying is extraordinary.
We woke up this morning to discover that we are staying in an art gallery. There is art everywhere…huge bronze sculpted horses and other figures on the green lawn outside our balcony overlooking the sea and on the floor below us whole rooms full of paintings, sculpture, ceramics, mosaics. For our break laser we went outside our timbered house into a courtyard again full of dramatic sculptures, several pre-columbian influenced into a kitchen made of wood, brick, cast iron, everywhere we looked was a sight. The best sight of all was our son n. who we haven’t seen since August. We wandered with him down some curving steps at the edge of the back lawn and found ourselves at a stunning ceramic pool surrounded by ceramics and sculpture and beautiful vegetation. We heard some music coming from another building with vaulted brick ceilings. And lo and behold it was the artist victor Delfin, whose art is all over this place. He was painting a large canvas with a palate of heavy oils with the ocean crashing onto the shore behind him. He showed us all around his studio and more rooms filled with his dramatic art. I highly recommend this place…Second Home Peru. later in the day we saw a hinge sculpture by Delfin in a lovely park on a high cliff overlooking the ocean in the Miraflores neighborhood.
We are nearby in the arty Barranco neighborhood. Midday we went to Miraflores to meet the family our son is living with. lovely people. They took us to a private club down by the beach …Club de Rigatos in the Chorrillos neighborhood where we had our first proper Peruvian meal at San Telmo Cafe. The place was packed with people enjoying Sunday lunch. I had a delicious seafood soup in a flavorful red broth packed with clams, fish, octopus. We also tried some other classic dishes: causa (yellow mashed potatoes with lemon, chili and garlic sculpted into a block layered with different fillings. we had one with crabmeat, another with chicken. We also tried a delicious creamy drink called algarrobina, that reminded me a little of baileys but better and a passion fruit pisco sour.

Later we went to a remarkable outdoor mall tucked into a cliff by the ocean that you couldn’t tell was a mall from the road. Full of people. We had churros, which we dunked in thick hot chocolate and split a sandwich named after the snack bar we ate at called Manolo, that was packed with chicken, ham, bacon, cheese, and a pickle. I have to agree with my son that the pickle added that je ne sais quas…or whatever the Spanish equivalent is. We walked part of the way back to barranca on a balmy humid night high above the coastline which looked magical lined with light and a lit up cross in the distance.

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November 5, 2012 · 3:14 am

October 30, 2012 · 5:54 pm

Advice on how to get Machu Picchu tickets – persistence and a little help from your hotel!

It was much harder than it should have been but I finally am the proud holder of two tickets to visit Machu Picchu next month. My Bolivian friend at our hotel in Peru’s Sacred Valley came through and things did work, although not without wrinkles. Even he had trouble getting the government website or booking system to work properly for several days. So if you are looking to buy tickets, here’s what I recommend: Go through your hotel if at all possible – which means you’ll have to wire money and some personal details (like your passport number) which is a little discomforting. It cost us about $30 extra – $10 per tix comission to the hotel and $10 to wire money – but I think it’s worth the peace of mind to know that you have advance tickets, given that the number of visitors per day is restricted and it take a lot of time, effort and money to get to Machu Picchu – (you have to book advance trains, hotel, etc.) I’m very excited to see this amazing place!

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Category Archives: Peru

Pisac ruins and market

moray, salinas, urubamba…sacred valley

Morning in the sacred valley, peru

The sacred valley: first stop ollantaytambo

Sol de mayo, tambo del matadero, restaurant on the roof – Arequipa

Monasterio Santa Catalina in Arequipa

Watching US election results in Arequipa Peru

Exploring lima with Noah

Great day in Lima

Advice on how to get Machu Picchu tickets – persistence and a little help from your hotel!

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