Tuesday, September 15, 2009

peruvian food.

Is very tasty! And most often inexpensive by western standards. I wasn't very good about chronicling my meals via camera, thanks mostly to bad lighting, but I do have a few captured images. And some notes about my epicurean findings.

two kinds of ceviche, causa rellena, enormous corn, and spring rolls

Peru is known for its ceviche and we had some very tasty ceviche in Lima. My favorite was at La Mar, a rather upscale restaurant just on the skirts of the Miraflores district. The ceviche lacked the acidity that ceviche normally has (thanks to the "cooking" process in lime juice), allowing the flavors of the fish to come forward - I'm not sure how they did that. My friend and I shared the ceviche misto, which included tuna, octopus, squid, and shrimp, though I could have easily kept that to myself. I thoroughly enjoyed the design of the restaurant as well; like most limanean buildings, the restaurant employed concrete, but was softened by the use of wood (cedar perhaps?) detailing (namely as beams and joists to support a translucent screen to allow natural light in), and shallow pools of water. Truly an oasis in the middle of Lima, a sentiment apparently shared among limaños as the restaurant was very busy.

chicken and sweet tamales on top of heated stones

after everything is put in, herbs surround the food to infuse more deliciousness into our tasty meal

pacha manca

Modest only in price, our traditional Andean meal, pacha manca, was equally impressive and delicious. The food - spice-rubbed chicken, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, corn, and sweet tamales - is cooked in the earth by heated stones. Though this is a traditional Andean meal, we shared ours with the residents of Ichimay Wari, an artisan barrio outside of Lima.

corn - or choclo in Quechua

Peru reportedly has the most variety of potatoes out of any country in the world. They love their potatoes! Corn is also a mainstay; it's not sweet like corn found in the Pacific Northwest, but the kernels are enormous - about the size of a thumb nail - and plump. Like the potato, there are various types of Peruvian corn. In the Andes corn goes by its Quechua name, choclo, and is often served with a salty cheese and herb sauce. Choclo y queso can be found in most markets and a staple street food.

cuy (guinea pig)

During our day at El Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco, we were served another tasty and traditional meal, including cuy - ie: guinea pig. The meal began with quinua soup (a local grain) and followed by various dishes, including Peruvian tortillas (nothing like Spanish or Mexican tortillas - these are essentially fried potato pancakes filled with goodies), numerous potato dishes, greens, corn, and of course cuy. The skin of the cuy is the favorite part for many a Peruvian - it's crisp, yet a bit chewy. The meat is a little gamey and sparsely found on the little bones of the guinea pig; my preferred means of eating cuy is via pasta. Gourmet restaurant, Chi Cha (cleverly named after the local masticated corn beverage, chicha, more below), served up a delicious cuy ravioli in a red wine reduction (among other yummy entrees).

limonada and chicha morada

Popular non-alcoholic beverages include freshly made limonada, which is really made of limes, not lemons, and chicha morada - a non-masticated blue corn drink. Chicha morada is sweet and often includes spices such as cinnamon - very tasty but I don't recommend drinking a whole pitcher of it as I once did - bad stomach-ache! As for the masticated stuff (ie: fermented by human saliva), traditional chicha is served all over the Andean countryside. Locals make and serve chicha out of their homes - you can identify them by the red bags attached to long poles at the entrance to the house. Other colored bags have different means that I failed to remember. I tried chicha during a weekend trip to the salineras (salt pans), and all I can say is that I tried it. It's an acquired taste. For the beer connoisseurs, Peru does not offer much - just Cusqueña and Cristal - which are both lagers (one of my least favorites, following pilsners - yuck). Cusqueña has a dark, malty beer as well, but one is really enough as it's very sweet. One has better luck with Peruvian wine, though arguably Chilean, and especially Argentinian wine is better. But I have faith that Peruvian wine will only get better, it is just a matter of time.

Lastly, my list of recommendations.
- ceviche at La Mar, in the neighborhood of Miraflores in Lima
- pacha manca somewhere, anywhere
- empanadas! Peruvian empanadas are incredible and should not be missed
- fixed lunch menus - normally cheap and tasty
Cusco favorites:
- MAP Cafe, in the courtyard of El Museo del Arte Precolombio, don't leave without trying the pork adobo - the ravioli served with it is to die for (made with sweet potatoes, goat cheese and amaretto), I also recommend the pink soup, a puree made with beets and potatoes
- Inka Grill - everything is wonderful, but definitely leave room for the pear poached in red wine with cinnamon ice cream - simply amazing
- Chi Cha - cuy ravioli, any of the entrees actually

Saturday, September 12, 2009

old stuff.

As to be expected in Peru - especially in the heart of the former Inca Empire - I saw a lot of old stuff. Seriously, it's an archaeologist's paradise, and for better or worse, a tourist mecca. Within the borders of present-day Peru, one can find the built remains of numerous Pre-Columbian cultures, including those of the Chavin (~900-200 BCE), Paracas (~600-175 BCE), Moche (~100-800 CE), Nasca (~1-750 CE), Tiahuanaco (~300-1000), Wari (~500-900 CE), Chimú (~900-1470 CE), and Inca (~1250-1533 CE). Cusco and the neighboring Sacred Valley is home to a plethora of (mostly) Inca building and agricultural sites - the evidence shall follow.

Pikillacta

As I said before, Cusco and its surrounds were once the home of the Inca Empire, but interspersed among the Inca remains is a Wari site, Pikillacta ("City of Fleas"). An Andean ghost town, my friend and I were the only ones wandering around the site, virtually clueless to its purpose to the Wari culture. Though my sources are disputable, Pikillacta apparently was once a military, storage, and/or administrative outpost. I'm not quite sure. Gypsum can be found on some of the walls, indicating that the complex was once completely white. There was a "museum" at the entrance to the site, but it only chronicled the excavations, rather than provide information for the uneducated tourist. And a massive, prehistoric shell and skeleton of an armadillo - seriously. There's also a massive gateway just outside of the complex built originally by the Wari, and later fortified by the Inca Empire.

Qorikancha and Santo Domingo

Cusco (or Qosqo in Quechua) held the seat of the Inca Empire and the city was filled with temples and holy sites. Until the Spanish arrived. Santo Domingo, a Dominican church and monastery, sits upon the remains of Qorikancha ("Golden Palace"). The Spanish often appropriated indigenous religious spaces as the foundations of their Catholic churches - in addition to Santo Domingo, Cusco's Cathedral and the Jesuit church, La Compañia (likely there are others I'm unaware of) both sit on top of the foundations of other Inca temples. This sends a very strong message to a conquered people, though the Spanish were not the first to utilize this method in the Andes - the Inca did this as well to other Andean cultures.

Qorikancha held the Temple of the Sun (the church of Santo Domingo uses the foundations of this temple), Temple of the Moon, Temple of Venus and the Stars, and the Temple of Lightning. Gold had no monetary value within the Inca Empire, but it held religious significance and was said to cover all the walls of the temples. Likely that gold is now the gilding used in churches in Peru and other former Spanish colonies.

Saqsaywaman

Saqsaywaman (yes, pronounced very similarly to "sexy woman") resides on a hill overlooking Cusco. There are two theories regarding the purpose of the site, either it was a military fortress, or a large sanctuary and temple to the Sun. Likely it was the latter as remains of priests were found in the complex, but who knows as the Spanish were pretty successful in destroying any supporting evidence. And over the years, colonial Cusco was built up by the stone from Saqsaywaman. Even so, the site is still rather impressive - the stones that make up the zig-zag shape of the walls weigh up to 130 tons, which would have been a feat to construct into a building complex, let alone move the individual stones. According to our guide, one can see representations of animals in the walls, such as llamas, snakes, fish, and guinea pigs (photo of llama on the left, guinea pig on the right). I could see them, but it could also be wishful thinking - again, who knows.

Tipon

Tipon was pretty amazing and lacked the tourists found at Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu (both below). I'm not sure how much of it was reconstructed (again, not much written information there and my friend and I decided against hiring a tour guide), but it was incredible to see the way water was used and channeled throughout the site. I would imagine Tipon was used for agriculture, as the other terraced sites were as well (and would explain the water channels).

Ollantaytambo

The day we went to Ollantaytambo, it poured. And apparently many people go to Ollantaytambo on Sunday - when we were there - thanks to the scheduling of group tours and such. So while keeping our eyes to the ground, we attempted to navigate around hundreds of tourists - with cameras in hand - who likely just wanted to be back on the bus and on the way to Machu Picchu. However, I digress. Again, terracing = agriculture, and this outpost was built by a military general, whose name naturally escapes me. This was also a temple complex and it is said that the face of the most venerated god, Viracocha, is carved into a neighboring mountain. If so, he looks a bit like Grumpy, the dwarf.

Moray

Somehow my friend and I dedicated an entire day to Moray. That's not to say the site or the surroundings are not worth the time - they very much are - just we had some transportation... issues. Be slightly skeptical if a taxista says he can take you somewhere, somewhere he's never been (this would not be the last time a taxi driver would "know" where he was going).

It is said that Moray was used as a nursery and that each terrace has a different microclimate. The impressive terracing of Moray is perhaps only surpassed by the incredible mountain surroundings - the Andean highlands really remind me of Colorado (dry, red dirt, rugged snow-capped mountains).

Machu Picchu

And as promised, Machu Picchu. Located at the "eyebrow" of the jungle (the train ride from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes - the town at the foot of Machu Picchu - illustrates the sudden transformation from arid to temperate climate), Machu Picchu ("Old Mountain") is the only major Inca site to survive untouched by the Spanish, as it was unknown to the majority of the world until just under a century ago. In 1911 Hiram Bingham was led to the site by a local farmer, Melchor Arteaga (indicating that locals were perfectly aware of Machu Picchu prior to western arrival), and since has become one of the top destinations for the traveling fiend. Continuing an aged tradition of taking things that aren't theirs, Bingham and his Yale entourage took many of the artifacts back to Yale, and the University has yet to give them back to Peru (apparently it's being discussed).

Nevertheless, Machu Picchu - as to be expected - is breath-taking. Scholars are still trying to figure out what the exact purpose of the site was, though likely it was a retreat of sorts for the privileged and royal family. It was built by Pachacútec, the ninth Inca (the title of Inca is used only for the ruler) who was responsible for massive architectural campaigns throughout the Andes. As it stands, Machu Picchu is not self-sustaining, supporting theories that either it was a temporary residence, or abandoned before it was completed, possibly in order to save it from Spanish plunder and destruction.

I had the fortune of visiting Machu Picchu a total of three times (regrettably not by Inca or alternative trail - next time!), yet I seemed to take the same pictures each time - the view of the site is truly commanding and difficult for the photographer to not be drawn to! My friend and I missed the opportunity to climb Wayna Picchu ("New Mountain" - the mountain at the left of the photo above) by about 5 people - only 400 are allowed on it per day, and we were likely 405 and 406. Instead we hiked to Intipunku ("Sun Gate") to see how one would approach the city on the Inca Trail.

What I find most interesting about Inca architecture is the lack of desire to build up. Most civilizations are concerned about reaching the heavens, while the Inca Empire attempted to become one with the landscape, or at most subtly change the landscape around them. I think this is partly due to the reverence of Pachamama (Quechua/Spanish word meaning "Mother Earth"). Other cultures, initially had large cult followings to a mother earth diety (such as Artemis to the Ancient Greeks, who was part of a duality with Apollo, sun and sky god), yet they grew out of fashion as male sun gods and other gods of the heavens became more powerful and dominant in various cultures (and still remain so - consider Jehovah, God, Allah, etc). Of course the Sun God was revered in the Andes, but it was part of a duality - earth and sky - that remained important to the people and their various religions. I can get into a whole treatise about this, but I won't, I just think it's pretty cool that the Inca Empire, as well as its Andean predecessors, were so connected to the land.

If these images have successfully made you desirous for more, go here.