Oct 28
A continuation from my last post about the foods we tried while in Lima,Peru, here you will find an introduction to our first Peruvian dishes we discovered. This is only the beginning, stay tuned for more foods to come!
Of all of the foods I have eaten in the past year and of all the cities we visited in South America, one place stands alone as the shining star. Lima, Peru is without a doubt the culinary capital of this continent. It is putting not only Peru but Latin America on the map and is poised to become the next big thing in the international gastronomic world. There is a new army of chefs in the making committed to bringing the foods from Peru to the rest of the world. And the world, in return, should be very grateful.
We're back! It was my first time taking a 'vacation' to go 'home' so that was kind of weird but it was also pretty amazing to be able to make this opportunity happen. It was a bit of a whirlwind and time flew by for both of us but it was great seeing so many friends and family. I discovered I don't miss New York that much but I miss its people. Okay, so I missed burgers, pizza and bagels!! And real coffee! Now we are back to 'No es cafe' (Nescafe).
Wait, aren't we already on vacation? Yeah, it's just a vacation within the vacation!
Last week, we visited Chile's most colorful city, Valparaiso. If Chile, San Francisco, Brooklyn & Paris had a baby, it might be Valparaiso.
Now that I have your attention, no there wasn't an ACTUAL earthquake here in Chile, although the drink we tried is named for Chile's notorious past with these natural disasters. The earthquake we experienced was the 'Terremoto drink'. It's definitely not fancy enough to be called a cocktail!
What's up with that title? Crazy with may? What does that mean?! Have I completely lost it? 6 months of traveling and now I've gone mad? No, I am simply referring to 'locos con mayo' and one of Chile's more humorous translations.
From the northwest of Argentina we traveled south to Argentina's other (and more famous) wine country in Mendoza. Mendoza is a fairly large city in Argentina, located in the north west part of the country. It's also easily reachable from Santiago in Chile. Mendoza is located in the desert Cuyo region making it an arid, hot place and even though it's a desert, a startling number of trees have been planted all over the city, providing some much needed shade especially in the summer months.
Visiting the northwest of Argentina was one of the highlights of our trip in South America so far. However, I found it a bit daunting when planning our time in this region. There is so much to see and do, where do you start? We knew we wanted to rent a car for sure to give us freedom and flexibility but for how long? Where would we rent the car? I scoured the internet and guide books for answers.
1. Ruta 40 from Cachi to Cafayate
This easily takes the #1 spot. What Route 66 is to the USA, Route 40 is to Argentina. Stunning scenery, cool hippy history, biker dudes heading out into the open road. What more could you ask for out of a route?
Cachi is another unmissable spot in the Andean northwest of Argentina. Cachi is located in Salta province and is southwest of Salta city. Below is the church located in the plaza of Cachi:
So we didn’t just road trip our way through the northwest snapping photos of the amazing scenery. We also ate. A lot. Prior to our journey, I had read about the unique cuisine of the Andan north of Argentina. So I knew to expect specialties like humitas, tamales, llama stews and other hearty dishes like locro and carbonada. While visiting this region, I made it a point to try all of these local dishes, as well as take notes comparing empanadas from Tucuman up to Salta (very different in style). It was a difficult task but a tasty one that I was certainly up for!
Infused exposures 