Cusco Bar: La Chupiteria (The Shot Bar)

During my stay in Cusco, Peru I got to meet some really neat college students from Wagner University who were working as archeologists on an site near the city. Each time that we went out to experience the night life of Cusco, it was tradition that we started the night at La Chupiteria (The Shot Bar). The bar is about a block and a half from the Plaza De Armas on Tecsecocha 400 which you can get to by taking Procuradores or Tigre.

The drink options here are just about endless with great deals on Tequila, Rum, Vodka and Whiskey. Drinks run from $1.50 to $7.50 which include flaming shots. If you go with a group be sure to ask about the shotski which is a ski with four holes to place the shots in and a group does a shot together.

I highly recommend getting a Teapot if you are going with a group because first of all they are delicious and second, its a great deal. The four options of the teapot range at $18.00 - $20.00 and split between four people its at four and a half shots per person. Each teapot comes with two different liquors and flavorings. Its the best bang for your buck and its fun to pour the shots from a teapot.

The Shot Bar is a great place for a small group to start out your nights, spend a night or even finish your nights at. Great atmosphere, fun bartenders and of course...SHOTS!

Cusco Restaurant: Two Nations

Cusco is a town filled with an amazing life style with a great night life and food. I recommend eating around the Plaza de Armas to get a good balcony seating, but for some good unique food I recommend this interesting restaurant called Two Nations located near the stairs that lead up to San Blas.

The environment of Two Nations is really neat with writings all over the walls from visitors and tourists leaving their mark about what they thought of their trip, Two Nations and where they are from. The ambient is great and the food is amazing! Highly recommend just about anything on the menu, but its a great spot to eat some Cusco pizza! The owner of the restaurant only offers what he believe is the best he has ever tried, if the plate is not the best he has tried then he won't put it on the menu.

The reason the restaurant is called Two Nations is because the owner is Australian and is married to a Peruvian. So the theme throughout the restaurant is two nations united with a combination of two cultures of food. So also come to this restaurant if you are craving a burger or want a salad but a little paranoid from other restaurants, Two Nations makes sure that they disinfect salads and cook at high temperatures to kill germs.
Overall it is a great spot with an awesome environment, highly recommend this stop as one of your lunch or dinner meals.

Qenqo

Qenqo is a under appreciated ruin because it is surrounded by other ones that are much larger, but its architecture makes the site a very impressive creation. Qenqo is all together one rock that was built into the cave it is now. So a hole was actually digged through this massive stone by the Incas to make it a place where shamans performed sacrifices to the Gods.

Qenqo is a very small religious spot of the Incas where shamans of Cusco spent most of their time. It was not often that the Inca Empire made sacrifices near Cusco, but during the droughts llamas were sacrificed in Qenqo. The site really is a great spot to walk around and also observe the massive rocks the Incas worked with.

The best time of the day to visit Qenqo depends during the season because you want to go at the hour where the sun is hitting the statue of the puma. The statue does not look like a puma, but when the sun hits the rock at a certain angle, the shadow will take form of a puma which made Qenqo a place of worship for the puma.

Saqsaywaman

About five minutes away from Cristo Blanco is the more popular tourist attraction called Saqsaywaman. These Inca ruins are known for its pattern of massive rocks on each corner. The Inca empire worshiped several animals just as the civilizations before the actual empire. The Puma is one of the most sacred animals and it is believed that the architecture of Saqsaywaman was in the shape of one. The ruins have been researched and reported as a fortress to protect the capital of the Inca Empire, Cusco.

The Incan architects were some of the best ones this world has had in the sense on how they found a way to place rocks on top of another perfectly with no paste. Each structure is strong and you can't place your finger in between any rocks. The first lesson in Incan architecture that every tourist must know that whenever you find ruins that have very smooth rocks and placed in balanced or even perfect symmetry, then that means the place was very special and most probably a religious temple. So the symmetry in these ruins places a clue that there was a religious presence in Saqsaywaman. There has been indications that Saqsaywaman was a place where the Incas would sacrifice a llama to the Gods during the dry season to please them and receive rain. It is a practice and now tradition still carried on by locals of Cusco that once a year during their holiday of Corpus Cristi a llama is sacrificed in front of a crowd.

In the end, Saqsaywaman is a very nice way to start out your first visit to Cusco. It is not too far from the city and its close to two more tourist attractions (Cristo Blanco and Qenqo). When you buy your tourist ticket, it will allow you to get into several tourist locations during a nine day span. Prices vary for adults, Peruvians, visitors and students. In a separate post I will explain all the details on how to go about getting your Tourist Ticket for Cusco.

Cristo Blanco (White Christ)

Cusco, Peru has changed immensely in the last 10 years due to a stronger Peruvian economy and an increase in tourism. There are several restaurants, bars, clubs and music in the night life of Cusco to attract the young tourists to go out at night. The city welcomes and protects their tourists with a good presence of police as friendly citizens. The Plaza de Armas is a very lively place and the main hot spot for tourists to go to during the day and night.

A great quick stop only 20 minutes away from Cusco is the Cristo Blanco near Saqsaywaman to introduce yourself to Cusco. The reason its a good first stop is that there are not as many tourists there compared to Saqsaywaman. The view of Cusco is amazing, so go ahead and just breath some fresh air and enjoy the view quietly before engraving yourself in the popular tourist spots. Great spot if your by yourself or a group of people.

The Cristo Blanco is placed on one of the very high peaks of the mountains before leaving Cusco so that the statue can be viewed from any point in the City. There is lighting of the statue so it can be viewed at night as well and creates a big bright spot in the mountains. The statue was created in 1945 and donated by Christian Palestinians to the city of Cusco.

Parque de San Isidro

Lima is a big city, but it maintains their parks really well. One of the more wealthy areas in Lima is San Isidro and they invest a good amount of money to upkeep their park and make sure that it is secure. I haven't felt safer in this city since walking through the park of San Isidro with my camera. It is a known spot for wedding pictures and there were two photoshoots going on. My boss and I kind of crept up on them to observe and critique what would we have done. The Park of San Isidro is filled with flowers, fish, fountains and people relaxing. It is a common place for organizations to meet and discuss and for couples to walk around. It is about eight blocks long and each one is amazing. I highly recommend this park to be one of your stops while in Lima. It is very well known by Peruvians, but not by tourists. Enjoy a time to just relax and feel like your not in a big city.

There are a couple of churches near by and usually during Sunday you will find a good amount of people walking by the park. So I recommend going on a weekday and you will run into the residents of San Isidro and maybe a wedding shoot or two. Also if you are in the park during the season, you can get your hands on tons of olives since there are olive trees planted everywhere.

Peruvian Dishes Part 1

Peruvian Cuisine is possibly the best food in the world. The variety is amazing and every Peruvian could easily be a food critic in the United States when asked to describe their favorite dishes. Lima is very well known for its very fresh sea food. Part of the main reason its so fresh is because the current of the shore comes from the south and the water is colder. So fishing in the shores of Lima is lively and can find all types of variety of food at every corner. Throughout these blog posts I am attempting to take a picture of everything that I have eaten in Peru and will write a little bit about.

Canchita:
This is a very common appetizer and Peruvians tend to eat canchita while drinking beer and waiting for their sea food. It is also known to be mixed in some of the dishes like ceviche and chiriuchi. Canchita is dried up corn and cooked in oil with some salt on top. The warmer, the tastier and a great snack to crunch on.



Sublime:
Now is going to sound pretty biased, but I believe Sublime is probably the best chocolate this world has to offer. Part of the reason is that when I visited Peru when I was a child, I would eat these chocolates. Now each time I eat one, not only is it delicious but I get that Ratatouille feeling and nostalgia just kicks in. If I could I would bring back 50 boxes of these guys and just be happy. Sublime is a great chocolate that is not too expensive that all Peruvians love and are proud of. I strongly recommend trying one any time during your trip and start a petition to bring Sublime to the United States. The chocolate has grown to be very popular and now there is Sublime extra crunchy, white chocolate and even its own ice cream. The chocolate is delicious with a mixture of nuts. So if you are allergic, you are definitely missing out! This picture is one of the small fun size, but I will post more of the other types.



Alcachofa:
Now this snack is more common in Latin America and can even be found in the Unite States. But I felt the need to post about it because of the artichoke's in Lima are big and a great snack after or before a meal. Artichoke goes especially well with some lemon juice and cooked for a good hour or so.



Arroz con Pollo:
This is a common dish in Peru as well in other countries in Latin America. But there are different varieties in making the dish. I loved this form of the common chicken and rice dish with peas and seasoning to make it green. Peruvian's have made this dish their own by adding different spices, varieties of corn and aji. This is a great delicious dish that I recommend eating if you are traveling to South America. Its simple and tasty!


Learn how to make Arroz con Pollo Verde here.

Peruvian cuisine is very mature in the sense that everyone has a strong taste in a wide variety of food. Possibly the best food on this planet, if not then probably top three. I look forward to sharing more pictures and hopefully recipes or where to find the best food in Peru in the upcoming posts.

The Park of Love: Miraflores Lima

There is so much to see in Lima and not enough time to see all. But one of the main parks I recommend visiting is El Parque de Amores (Park of Love) in Miraflores. The park is designed for couples to go walk around and relax in peace next to the shore. Miraflores is one of the nicest parts of Lima, it is well kept and more safe than most areas. There is security around the park and it is near one of the nicest shopping complexes in Lima, Larcomar. The park has murals paints everywhere with quotes of people stating who they are in love with. There is also a statute in the middle showing a couple kissing. This is a great spot to get a picture of the shore and walk around with a group, or someone special with confidence and a very nice atmosphere. The park is most popular during Valentines Day when it is filled with couples everywhere and flowers.

Huaca Pucllana: Lima, Peru

First off Let me start off by introducing myself and this project. My name is Daniel McDonald and I am traveling to Peru for about four weeks. The schedule is the first week Lima, second week Cusco/Machu Picchu and Ruins, third the north of Peru such as Trujillo and then another week back in Lima. This blog is going to contain pictures of tourist attractions, food, culture and just interesting photos. I am studying Journalism and Media Studies at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg with a passion for photography. Telling a story through a picture has the potential to reach into someone and communicate emotionally. So hopefully through this blog experience you will enjoy the pictures that are taken through my Nikon D60.

My first week in Lima was amazing. I ate some of the best food in the world and got to see a historical side that Peruvians take huge pride in. It has been 10 years since the last time that I visited Peru, so I am going in with a mature mind and a hunger to learn. The very first place that I visited is a Pre-Inca site known as Huaca Pucllana. Here The Limas (Pre-Incas) where very close to the shore and a center used for ceremonies. The Limas people would do dances and sacrifices on top of the temple to the Sun God. The architecture in Huaca Pucllana is probably the most impressive site here. Since it was Pre-Inca, these buildings that some are still standing is the roots of the minds in architecture in the Americas. The reasoning into why the Limas People built the temples in their style using mud and adobe bricks standing upright is to absorb the waves from earthquakes so that the bricks wont collapse. For a well paid 10 Soles, you can get a full walking tour (Spanish or English) and start in the roots of history of Peru. The tour is very complete because it also gives you a brief introduction to a lot of Peru's traditional flowers, animals and food. Huaca Pucllana is located in Miraflores in Lima and can find more information on how to visit it here. http://pucllana.perucultural.org.pe/