Gettin´ all Cultural en la Cocina

Yesterday was a big day, my friends.

Four of us from the hostel met up with our beloved Cusqueñan friend (Deiter) around 11am. He had promised to give us a grand tour of the city. Remember now that Deiter was the same bloke that convinced us to trespass into the Incan Ruins a few days ago..

Anyways, he took us all around the city- showing us museums, monestaries and ruins while explaining their signifigance in Spanish.. It was like two lessons in one! He was quite the tour guide. One of the museums contained mumified Incan remains which were fully intact.. some of them still had hair.. spooky. All in all, it was a very educational day.

After our city tour, we all went to a Spanish school to attend a Peruvian Cooking Class that Derek and I had heard about from some girls at the market a few days ago.

This experience was the absolute highlight of my trip to Cuzco..

We helped prepare and cook (and chow down, of course) an authentic Peruvian Dinner for over 20 people (mostly local but some international) consisting of a dish known as Arróz Chaufa or Chinese-style fried rice. We made many new friends.. everyone there absolutely adored us (of course) and our infinite charm.. Laughter was in the air the entire evening.

Afterwards, we all went to a delightful discoteque known as ¨Mama Africa¨ and danced until the sunrise..

We broke a few laws today so uh, we really should´ve gone to Peruvian Prison..

Thats right!

We hiked up to the entrance of the park of the Christo Blancó/Inca Ruins (aka Sacsayhuaman, pronounced ¨sexy woman¨) where we were greeted by ¨tourist police¨. These ¨police¨ wanted 40 soles (approx. 15 dollars US) as an entrance fee to continue the climb up to the park.

However, we are on a budget.

After our talk with the tourist police, this little Cusqueñan teenager approached us and advised us to follow him.. so we did. We talked to him for a while, exercising our Spanish skills, while he assured us that he´d taken others on this ¨free alternative hike before¨.

A bit scared and completely unsure- we continued to follow him up the street towards a residential neighborhood.

At some point, he leads us to a hill on the side of the road and tells us to cross this gnargly-looking barbed wire fence. Derek and I look at each other and decide that trespassing in a foreign country probably isn´t the best idea. However, tempted by the thrill of another adventure, I urge Derek that ¨everything is okay¨.. and I follow it up with a, ¨we can trust him¨...

While climbing through the tangled barbed wire, tearing our clothes, the harsh reality sets in that we really are doing something stupid... yet, again. However, we continue uphill- navigating our way through dense, sharp brush- hearts pounding with fear. At one point, we were definately on someone´s property and we have no idea whether or not there are any existing ¨make my day¨ laws on the books in Cuzco.. this notion alone added a little something special to the whole situation.

Finally, after all of the high altitude hiking, we make it to the top of the hill that overlooks Sacsayhuamán and the Christo Blanco- completely filled with a sense of pride and accomplishment. This Incan archaeological site truly is enormous and magnificent! (to tell you the truth, it would´ve been worth it to pony-up the 40 soles..) We sneak into the site through more dense brush, making certain that our presence goes unnoticed with the guards positioned down below. After entering the site, seemingly unnoticed, we have a look around. We climb around on the ruins and look out over the city. The sky was very clear today so the views were absolutely incredible.

After about 5 minutes on the site, we are confronted by a guard- sternly asking us for our ¨boleto¨or ¨ticket¨. Being the sneaky bastard that I am- I rifle through my backpack with such a contrived look of perplexity on my face. Immediately, I answer, ¨mi bolso esta abierto¨- loosly meaning ( I think, at least) that one of my zippers was open (which it was) persuasively saying that our passes must have fallen out.

Wow, doubt this guard has ever heard this same exact story from a couple of gringos before.. riiiiight.

He tells us to climb back down to where the rest of the guards are stationed, (aka the Lion´s Den) find the alleged guard who allegedly ¨checked¨ our tickets to begin with, and have that guard issue us new ones. We agree and start climbing down- meanwhile, this kid is freaking out. He keeps telling us to ¨esperar¨or ¨wait¨ until the guards leave.. uh, yeah right kid. This kid´s ¨loco¨state of mind really had me frightened. We continue to walk down to the gate, hearts pounding like crazy with the uncertainty of our almost certain fate of going to prison for trespassing. Again, we were confronted by more guards.

They proceeded to escort us off the site.

And that was it! No jail, no extortion, not even a slap on the wrist..

Thank you, Christo.

We booked it back to the central plaza- and here we sit, reliving our eventful day in Cuzco.....

Cuzco, The City Where We Booze-mo'

Have you ever eaten chicken soup?

Why, of course you have.

I really used to adore this meal.



Until last night that is.

Derek and I decided that we needed yet another adventure last night at 8pm. So we popped into a local restaurant just down the street from our hostel. It was a small, hole in the wall type place (which only serves one dish a night, apparently) but we were starving so we deemed it acceptable. We sit down and a young woman greets us with two piping hot bowls of soup. Immediately, we dig in. Everything is going great until I bring a heaping spoonful of chicken foot (pictured above) to my mouth..

We definately have iron stomachs, but the soup was a bit much. Following the soup was a bird entree. Now, I'd like to believe it was chicken too but who knows. We haven't seen too many pigeons in this city which could be a bad thing- if you know what I mean. With my leftover "chicken", I fed a few of the stray animals that were wandering around this restaurant.. So I guess I did my good deed for the day.

I washed dinner down with a delicious Inca Kola, we got the check and got the hell outta there.

How much was the food?

5 Peruvian Soles or, approximately, 90 U.S. cents per person... what a steal!

We returned to our hostel, threw on our togas and went straight to the bar to try and settle our stomachs with the sauce.

Boy, did it do the trick.

(Pictured below: Derek and I doing the International sign for "birdfoot")

Derek and I hadn't been to a toga party together in over 10 years.. we had such a blast! We met several interesting people from all over the world.. including a hot little Canadian number who had a seamstress custom fit her toga. What
an amazing night!

We have a week until our Machu Picchu expedition so we are just counting down the days.. We met a few girls last night who work in a local orphanage so we might try to be productive and do the same...

24 Hours in Lovely Lima..

News!!

Regarding my previous post of the ¨Lima Lunch Fiasco¨: This Just In.. Breaking News.. Derek and I DID NOT, I repeat, DID NOT get sick from our ¨lovely¨ lunch at the restaurant entitled, ¨Rico Menu¨!! However, I am almost positive that I now have new and exciting protozoan friends scurrying around my intestines- but I feel completely healthy regardless.

Anyways, the rest of Tuesday, Feb. 19th went well! We ended up meeting Sarah and Lisa- two lovely ladies travelling from Berlin. The four of us ate some dinner and saw the movie ¨Desperacion en una Noche¨ aka ¨Gone Baby Gone¨ at the local cine.. good flick I might add. Afterwards, we all got some drinks on the balcony of a swanky restaurant which overlooked the city and ocean.. absolutely gorgeous! We sat there for hours just laughing hysterically..

We all awoke the following morning to take an organized city tour of Lima. The tour itself was a bit on the cheesy side but- fun and informative nonetheless. We visited Incan ruins and museums, the main square, a beautiful monestary and underlying catacombs complete with the remains of over 25,000 dead people.. awesome.

Afterwards, we all decided to get a bit crazy and go to some clubs. We all drank ONE, I repeat, ONE Pisco Sour at the first place we went to and I swear that the bartender had spiked it with some GHB, or equivalent, ´cause we were ALL 3 sheets to the wind afterwards.. We danced for a bit, got some food and listened to some of the live and local, Bob Dylan-esque talent.. such a beautiful evening! Well, it was beautiful until we had to leave the bar at 3:15 am in order to catch our 5:00 am flight to Cusco, Peru.. awful.

So now, we´re in Cusco! Cusco is a marvelous mountain city where llamas roam the cobblestone streets and Machu Picchu is only a stone´s throw away! Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I have been told that Cusco is the oldest continually inhabited city in the Americas..


Tomorrow, we plan on doing some hiking to various sites of archaeological interest. Also earmarked, are plans of taking a bus to Puno, Peru. From there we would travel to Lake Titicaca (largest, most gorgeous high altitude lake in the Americas) and stay a night or two on the Bolivian side of the lake; a place known as Copacabana where you stay on some exotic island in the middle of the lake..

As for right now, we accidentally chose the ¨party hostel¨again and there just so happens to be toga party- either tonight or tomorrow..

Maybe Derek and I will be able to attend while revisiting those tender memories of a certain, infamous, toga party he took me to when I was only in the eighth grade..

The Lima Lunch Fiasco..

Ha! Ok, so I really wish I had some pictures to help do the following description justice BUT here it goes...

So, Derek and I took a flight out of Santiago at 8am on Monday, Feb. 18th after only 2 hours of sleep.. this is becoming an awful trend of ours. After a luxurious flight with LAN airlines (highly recommended if travelling through South America), we arrived in wonderful Lima, Peru.

The city of Lima has a current population of apporox 9 million and a taxi driver population of over 200,000!! It is a bustling coastal city with a rich history and endless character..

Oh and p.s., we were specifically told not to even think about even brushing our teeth with the water.. Apparently, Montazuma lives in the plumbing down here too..

So, anyway, we arrive at our hostel (Barranco Backpackers´Hostel is absolutley immaculate, they even give you a towel) around lunchtime and we are absolutely famished! Completely disoriented in the heat and humidity, we start wandering around in search of a place that serves pollo (the safest of foods in these parts). We came across a few different cafes which looked very dirty inside so we trudged on. Finally, after what seemed to be hours of wandering, we saw a menu posted outside of a small building which had "pollo" written all over it. Without even looking inside, we decided to enter.

Mother of God.

What an awful decision.

We found ourselves sitting in a windowless 10´x 15´room with a corrugated sheet metal ceiling that was completely eroded away in one corner. Immediately, a young Peruvian woman asks us if we want "Cerviche". Disoriented and famished, we respond with a "Hell yes", thinking that we´re going to get a couple of frosty beers.

Ha! What we got was the furthest thing from it..

She proceeds to bring out a plate of what looked like seaweed and vomit. It turned out to be a cold, raw, squid plate complete with onions and, of course, seaweed.

We began to feast.

After all, we were hungry and in no state of mind to make any sound decisions. However, we didn´t even touch the pitcher of lemonade that she had also brought out- I mean, we didn´t want to get sick afterall.

So, long story short.. We ate a fair amount of the vomit salad and the lukewarm pollo that accompanied it. The total bill was 8 Peruvian soles or 2 us dollars for the both of us. We paid the check and got the hell out of there- but not before our waitress asked us if we would eat there again- we screamed yes, in spanish, and ran out.

A few minutes later, we entered a legitimate bar and drank away the lukewarm memories of the Lima Lunch Fiasco.

Argentina.. oh so classy

Scary. This word would be an understatement when describing our bus ride from Valpo to Mendoza on Thursday. Our driver navigated primative switchbacks through the Andes which could rival those found on Bolivia´s "Death Road"..

It was so worth it though..

Arriving in Mendoza that afternoon, we were nothing short of impressed. After an intense 8 hours in that filthy bus, we needed to relax.

The streets of Mendoza were clean, the people were nice and the vibe was just what we needed. We took a cab to Hostel Lagares.. AKA the Ritz Carlton. Lagares is the nicest hostel in the southern hemisphere.. the rooms are spotless, showers are hot, kitchen is usable and, most importantly, bedbugs: nonexistant.



Mendoza is a wonderful city with so much to offer! The inviting climate and vineyards remind me of northen cali while the girls remind me of southern heaven. We rented bikes

during our first day and explored the entire city. We found the streets to be lined with shops, cafes and loads of character.

Yesterday, we rented bikes again and took a tour of several outstanding vineyards. We spent 7 hours riding around the countryside and tasting impressive wines. We were also able to catch glimpses of the famous Aconcagua Peak.. the highest in the westen hemisphere (think I might have to wait till next year to climb it). After visiting 4 vineyards and a liquor factory (where genuine Absinthe is still manufactured, yum yum), riding the bikes became quite interesting.. Sharing a one lane road with speeding cars was a bit intense.

Valparaiso, quick and dirty..

Although, we only managed to spend 24 hours in Valparaiso- we definately made the most of it.

This coastal port had lots of character. The houses were painted with every different color of the rainbow, the steep and curvy streets were littered with creative murals and there seemed to be quaint little cafes on every corner.

We spent the entire day exploring the city- appreciating the ocean views from the hilltop. For lunch we ate at a cafe that only served one dish which consisted of french fries, scrambled eggs, onions and steak.. well, at least the atmosphere was good.


The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. Derek and I got toasty at a local bar- just down the street from our hostel (Hostel Yoyo is just like a bedbug farm by the way).. quite fun but not conducive to our 7am wakeup the next day to catch our bus to Mendoza. The only food we could locate was a "Completo"... I hope to God that I never eat another hotdog at 7am..

Argentina, anyone??

Derek and I arrived in Santiago, Chile yesterday and founnd it to be a very bland and sterile place to be. Don´t get me wrong, we were only there for 24 hours so we didn´t get the chance to experience all of it but- we decided to get out quickly..

So, we fled to Valparaiso, Chile early this morning. Valparaiso is a very colorful and beautiful city nestled in the hills on the coast of Chile.. approx. 2 hrs. away from Santiago. The immense character of this place made for a very enjoyable day of exploring. However, we met an englishman who highly suggested a trip to Mendoza, Argentina. Argentina was not on our original itinerary but we just booked a bus ride there for tomorrow!!

Supposedly, Mendoza is a "must see" with much to do.. including a 40k bikeride/winery tour!

Tell you all about it when we get there..

Ciao

Oh Brazil, How I love Thee..

One word. Wow. Carnival was one of the most amazing experienes of my entire life and I will surely be back again next year! Carnival really is THE biggest party on the planet and New Orleans has got absolutely nothing on Rio. I wish I could fully convey my experiences through the follwing but it is just not possible.

Please bear with me as I am in a VERY strange Chilean cafe while writing this.

Derek and I stayed at the El Misti Hostel in Botafogo Beach which was QUITE interesting. Upon arrival, we were placed into the Female Dorm (aye, aye, aye)!! We met people from all over the world at El Misti.. Places such as Norway, UK, Finland, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Chile, and Brazil of course. For the most part, we never met another person from the US! With a few exceptions (me), most people at the hostel (about 80 total) had quit their jobs to travel for months on end. Crazy!

We frequented the "Blocos", which are dozens of organized street parties occuring all over the city. Hundreds and hundreds of people would follow a huge truck which played live Samba music while traveling around the block. Lots of drinking (fortunately, I am keeping a journal) and Street-Meat involved. The Blocos were nothing short of amazing!! Costumes were a must. I wore waterwings and a snorkel.. for 4 consecutive days.. oh so goofy. However, the costume seemed to do the trick with the ladies because I have never gotten so much attention....

Brazillian women LOVE to kiss. Oh, and did I mention that they are the most stunning people on the planet?

At one particular Bloco in the Centro part of Rio- I met a group of local Brazillians that truely touched my heart. We ended up spending several days and nights laughing, singing (Dancing Queen), drinking and dancing together. My absolute favorite night in Rio was spent at a BBQ at Leos house. We danced and sang until the sun came up! This group of people had some of the kindest hearts of anyone on this earth. I really appreciated how genuine they all are.

I will NEVER forget Pedro, Julia, Leo, Kimon and Juliana. I love you guys!!

Pedro is The International William Charles, by the way. We are just like brothers!

The Sambadromo was also a spectacular event. You really need to see it to believe it. A parade of THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of people from different Samba Schools around the area perform with the most intricate and ornate floats Ive ever seen. Some of the floats were fun and had skiers tearing up a slope- while others were highly controversial consisting of dead babies and bloody births.. yuck.

Dont get the wrong idea. Derek and I didnt just drink the whole time. We hiked up Urca Mountain- neighbor of the world famous Pao de Azucar or Sugar Loaf and took the tram. We saw the famous Christo Statue.. so quintessential to Rio. We visited the beaches of Copacobana and Ipanema. We also took the Trolley up into the hilly town of Santa Teresa.. so beautiful!!


Rio De Janiero is truely spectacular with seemingly endless amusing activities.

With such sweet memories of Rio, I am absolutely destined to return!!