Cusco (Jan. 17-22, 2009)

We awoke in Cusco to breakfast in a pleasant hostal, anxious to see the city after arriving at 11:00 the night before. 

Our hostal, and it’s neighbor where we moved after a few days, were on Calle Albado, a pedestrian alley. Cusco’s two major plazas, marked 3 and 4 on the map, were nearby.

The hostal Orquidea Royal on Calle Albado where we stayed the first few nights is to the left. The Hotel Sueños del Inca, where we moved later, is across the alley to the right.

The Plaza de Armas, Cusco’s main plaza, is downhill about three blocks from our hotel. In the center of the photo is the Jesuits’ Iglesia del Compañia, built to compete with the cathedral, to the left, built by the Bishop. Both were constructed on the foundations of Inca palaces. Surrounding the plaza on the remaining sides, and continuing several blocks deep, are restaurants, sweater and woolens shops, art galleries, hotels, gift shops, etc.

The Cathedral, seen here with a few of the 600,000 tourist said to visit Cusco each year, houses a collection of religious paintings of the Cusqueña school, painted by Indian and mestizo artists in a European style, but with occasional Andean elements.

This is the most famous example, the last supper by Marcos Zapata which shows a guinea pig as the entreé.  (Marcos evidently didn't know that Jesus kept kosher.) We toured the cathedral, but photos are not allowed. This is from Wikipedia.

Southeast of the Plaza 6 or 8 blocks, is the Convento de Santo Domingo, built on the walls of the Inca temple of the sun.

In fact, the historic center of Cusco is built within the Inca capital, using stones from the Inca buildings and occasionally the Inca walls themselves. The wall to the right is reconstructed from Inca stones, to the left is an original Inca wall.

Wall detail.

 

In addition to sightseeing, there is shopping. Alpaca sweaters are the main item for the tourist trade, but hats, jackets, tablecloths, paintings, ceramics, and so on are all available.

And , obliging Quechua children and ladies, colorfully dressed and complete with llamas, are available for photos. 







Cusco is also a great restaurant town, with a tremendous variety to suit every tourist taste and menus in English everywhere (except the Israeli restaurant which seemed to advertise only in Hebrew.)  In addition to the Peruvian/international cuisine, seen below at Pachapapa...

...there were two Irish pubs, vaguely Indian vegetarian (root stews and curries), California vegetarian (salads, soups and veggie burgers), beef burgers, Anglo-Indian, Italian, Chinese, Argentinean, "global fusion,"and tapas, the latter served in the very pleasant bar at Cicciolina below.

And from Cusco, we took the train to Machu Picchu, which will follow soon.

Arequipa to Cusco

(January 2009)

On our last day in Arequipa we went to the city market. As in markets elsewhere, most vendors were indifferent to my questions (Jim “What do you call the yellow melons?” Vendor “Yellow melons.”), a few were irritated, and a few were interested in talking to us.  One of the latter was a woman selling herbs, freeze-dried potatoes (chuño, right), corn, beans, and so on. She answered all our questions and sold us a bag of ground coca, suitable for mixing in food or drinking in fruit juice. We left it in Peru.                                                

                                                                     
                                                                                                                 
With tropical climates in the lowlands, and temperate climates at higher elevations, Peru has a tremendous variety of fruits and vegetables; and low prices. The “frezas” (strawberries--bottom) were 1.50 soles a kg., $.21 a lb.

The fruit drink sellers.

…and the butchers. There was a surprising (to me) amount of alpaca meat. It is evidently the least expensive meat in Peru, is very low in fat and tastes like beef. There was also pork and jerky; beef was to the right.

Chile armarillo, fresh and dry; and rocotos.

The roots and tubers section. In the center is yucca or manioc (a south American domesticate, the world’s 3rd most important source of carbohydrates). Purple corn, to the right, is made into a pleasant drink, chicha morada. Also note the abundant garlic, and many, many types of potatoes, most at around $.05 lb.; plus, complements of globalization, Friskies cat food.

Leaving the market, we were hungry again.  We started with fresh water shrimp a la parmesana;   

And then A had lomo saltado and I had cui. 

 

With music.

Followed by a little shopping. A bought the two dolls the ladies are holding and I took their picture. But then they insisted that A take a picture of me with them; evidently they thought I was cute. The lady on my left was clearly tickled.

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The remaining adventure for the day was getting bus tickets to Cusco. The bus goes from Arequipa to Juliaca, then to Puno on Lake Titicaca, back to Juliaca and on to Cusco, 10 to 12 hours, and $25. The bus was deluxe class, with stewardesses serving mate de coca and almuerzo (rice with a chicken wing & warm jello).

Not our bus, but one like it.
(photo credit)

But, almuerzo notwithstanding, it was a great ride. We left Arequipa and rapidly climbed onto the altiplano at between 4,000 and 4,500 meters, 13 to 15,000 feet.

                                                  And saw vicuna along the way.

I was surprised by the contoured surfaces. The lines appeared to have been ditches or perhaps ridges, rather than terraces. Inca? For what purpose?

Juliaca was not a garden spot, tough the moto-taxis seemed like a good idea.

Leaving, we crossed the soggy flats surrounding the lake and continued on to Puno.

Puno, on lake Titicaca is much more picturesque, though we saw it only from the bus window. We arrived at 5:00 pm, after 7 hours, and left again in 30 minutes or so. Like Juliaca, Puno seems to be experiencing lots of immigration from surrounding rural areas. Leaving, we drove another five hours, and arrived at Cusco around 11:00 pm.

Peruvian Food

(Peru, January 2009, continued)

As you may have noted by now, I was pretty impressed with Peruvian food.

Although I had eaten at Peruvian restaurants, I didn’t know much about Peruvian food other than its reputation as (among) the best in South America and pretty distinct from its neighbors. Ecuadorians, to the north, eat meat and potatoes… and rice, and corn, and plantains.

This photo looks like what Andy’s semester-abroad host family served us in Quito… fried meat and assorted carbohydrates.

And to the south, here in Chile, fresh seafood, simply cooked, and dishes based on corn, beans and tomatoes are typically Chilean; there’s not much complexity and the immigrant influences are mostly Spanish and German: empanadas and küchen.

But Peru [and here I find myself drifting into professor mode] has all the makings of a great cuisine: diverse environments, from the Atacama desert to the Amazon rainforest; an indigenous high culture, which meant that there was a cuisine, and not just food; and extensive immigration from Europe, Asia and Africa, which brought new ingredients and cooking techniques.

The traditional Inca crops included corn, beans, squash, potatoes, peanuts, chilies, sweet potatoes, and avocados; plus lesser known domesticates such as quinoa, a small grain used like rice; oca and ulluco, potato-like tubers; and many herbs and fruits found in Peruvian markets, if nowhere else.

And they had meat: llamas, alpacas, guinea pigs and ducks.

The arrival of the conquistadores brought little culinary sophistication, but they did bring pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, and wheat, plus the essential onions, garlic and cilantro. Africans, Italians, Chinese and Japanese brought more, all now incorporated into classic Peruvian dishes.

The characteristic ingredients of the Peruvian cuisine are potatoes, in many varieties, sizes and shapes;

…aji amarillo (yellow chile pepper, center) and another chile, the rocoto (upper right); tomatoes, red onions; cilantro

...the herb huacatay (left in photo); queso fresco (farmer’s cheese); peanuts; and evaporated milk(!);

These go into a lot of dishes, but among the most common on restaurant menus are:









Ceviche 
Raw fish, usually corvina, lightly marinated in lime juice with a touch of garlic, ginger and chile; and tossed with red onion, cilantro and parsley. Served with slices of sweet potato and Peruvian corn. All kinds of combinations are possible, using shrimp, octopus (cooked first), squid, clams, etc. We even had and excellent vegetable ceviche. Usually a first course. Delicious, cool and fresh. (There’s another picture in the Arequipa section.)














Papas a La 
Huancaina   

 

               and Ocopa 

                                 

These are cheesy sauces served cool over boiled potatoes. Papas a La Huancaina (potatoes in the stile of the lady from Huancayo) include yellow chiles, evaporated milk, and queso fresco, thickened with cracker crumbs. Ocopa includes these, plus onion, green pepper, huacatay, and ground peanuts, and is thickened with crumbled vanilla wafers (or animal crackers). I have only had papas a la Huancaina, which were rich, cheesy and a little bland. I look forward to ocopa …which I plan to make soon.

Rocoto Relleno

Rocotos are chile peppers, very hot if the seeds are included, but only slightly hot if the seeds and veins are scooped out. In Arequipa, where the dish is famous, they are filled with minced beef, seasoned with garlic, oregano, yellow chiles, and minced peanuts; and topped with hard boiled egg slices and cheese. Rocotos are not likely to be found outside South America.

  

Lomo Saltado

This Chinese influenced stir-fry of beef, onions, tomatoes and French fries is on the menu of every Peruvian restaurant.

 

Aji de gallina

And so is aji de gallina, boneless chicken in a cheese and yellow chile sauce similar to that of papas a la Huancaina (also with HB eggs and olives).

Seco de Cordero


Literally “dry of lamb” this fine dish is not dry and may also be made with beef, goat or alpaca. (The name contrasts with agguaditos, “little waters,” dishes which are more soup-like.) The meat is cooked in a sauce of beer, garlic, onions and lots of cilantro. The seco I had in Cusco looked more like the one below: greener is better--if not pretter.

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Tallarines en salsa verde

Spaghetti in green sauce, Peru’s version of pesto, includes walnuts, spinach and evaporated milk, in addition to the traditional basil and garlic. In restaurants it is often offered with chicken or seafood, like this one that I ate in Mangos restaurant in Lima.
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And for desert, Suspiros de Limeñas, “sighs of ladies from Lima,” a meringue-topped custard served with a port wine sauce.

Other dishes you may encounter in your neighborhood Peruvian restaurant are fish, steak or chicken ...la chorrillana, meaning topped with a sauté of tomatoes, onions and peppers; arroz con pato, duck with cilantro seasoned rice; chicharoes de calamares fried pieces of squid (or fish or pork): and chupes, chowders of seafood and vegetables.

Cui, guniea pig, will probably not be on US menus.

Recipes for all these things can be found on the web (try http://www.yanuq.com/english/recipesperuvian.asp) or in The Exotic Kitchens of Peru, by Copeland Marks, a cookbook author who does research like an anthropologist. I’ve used his recipes for some of the descriptions (and some photos are from the web).