A Trip Inside Peru
Monday, July 25, 2011
Cusco Bar: La Chupiteria (The Shot Bar)
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!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Cusco Restaurant: Two Nations
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.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
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.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Saqsaywaman
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.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Cristo Blanco (White Christ)
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.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Parque de San Isidro
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.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Peruvian Dishes Part 1
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.