Trail to Peak: The Adventurous Path
Hiking, Exploring, Travel & Adventure
Category: Cusco
Cultural Mores: The Strange Quirks of Peruvians
Excerpt: “Every culture, every country, every group of people has its quirks. Viewed from the outside, these common, every day, figures of speech, actions, or things considered normal seem strange, quaint, even bizarre.
I thought you might enjoy some of the amusing things that we saw or experienced when we were in Peru: things we felt were just south of normal….”
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One Last Look at Peruvian Food & the Mercato San Pedro, Part 4
Peruvian food, and especially the food of Cusco’s streets, hotels, homes and restaurants, is fantastic fare. The San Pedro Market, host to many of its fine ingredients, is the perfect place to explore. A window to the culture, it gives a unique perspective on Peru, its people and its food.
Let’s take a closer look at the Mercato San Pedro, now that we have a deeper understanding of the geographic, historical and ethnic influences on Peruvian cuisine that have made it into the wonderful fusion sensation that it is today…
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Peruvian Food & the Mercato San Pedro, Part 3
What do the US Civil War of the 1860s, cotton picking, Chinese migrants, a Japanese insistence on six minutes, super-aggressive Californian trout and a terrible rain storm have to do with Peru, let alone the development of Peruvian cuisine?
We’ve seen a bit of the hustle and bustle of the San Pedro Farmers’ Market in Cusco’s historic old town, with its incredible stalls and the wide variety of produce and products that is sells there in its quite organized chaos. And we’ve explored the historical and geographical influences that have helped make the Peruvian food of Cusco so incredibly delectable. Now let’s delve a little deeper…
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Peruvian Food, Ceviche & The Mercato San Pedro, Part 2
Chef José Luis proudly proclaimed, in a candle lit corner of his Uchu Restaurant, over an incredibly beautiful dish of ceviche, “In Peru we do not eat. We taste.” Sitting at a small table, tucked away in a corner, getting to know Chef José, I looked down into the bowl of ceviche that had just been placed before me. It was stunning. What a way to begin our evening!
But it was not just that the bowl of ceviche was visually beautiful; its tastes were remarkable as well. Each bite was different. The flavours danced and played in our mouths while the ideas that he shared with us about the development of Peruvian fusion cuisine swirled in our minds. It was a tremendous way to start an evening, an evening of exploring Peruvian cuisine during a culinary tour of the city’s restaurants and street food stands.
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Peruvian Food & The Mercato San Pedro, Part 1
I think that the biggest surprise in all of our travels in Peru was just how incredibly good the food was in Cusco.
Those of you who know me well, know that I love cooking and I love experimenting with my food. I knew very little about Peruvian food, other than the fact that quinoa and potatoes were used ubiquitously, and so I assumed that the food would be quite plain. Was I ever wrong! I was simply floored by the tastes & textures, the variety and the creativity that was inherent in the dishes we tried while in Cusco. THIS was no Costa Rican rice & beans food culture!
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So you think you know potatoes? Think again!
Excerpt: “Our storyteller (our culinary experiences guide, the awesome Chef José Luis, pictured with Bill above) summed it up this way, with a devilish glint in his eye: this is ‘a reminder that women save men at the worst moments of their lives!'”
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Cusco City Tour’s Qorikancha
Excerpt: “The message we’re receiving loud and clear, over and over again here, is that the Peruvian (Quechua) and the Incan culture was never completely obliterated, despite the best attempts of the Spaniards to do so. This site is a perfect symbol for that attempt by the “conquerors” (that’s what they are constantly referred to here, not “the Spaniards”) to subjugate the Incas.”
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Exploring Cusco City’s Streets
Excerpt: “We did pass a beautiful scene on the way up, but I didn’t take a photo to respect the family’s privacy. A mother was sitting on a low stone wall outside her variety store (selling pop, water, chips, etc.) with her young (maybe 4 year old?) daughter, reading to her and getting her daughter to identify images in the book. It was clearly an alphabet book and the scene was just delightful as the two went back and forth, with the mom softly encouraging her daughter, with shy glances up at us, and the daughter learning her way through the experience. It was a beautiful moment.”
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Cusco City Tour Part One- Catedral de Cusco
Excerpt: “The overwhelming sense I got from our guide was the Peruvian pride she felt. She adamantly pointed out and repeated the ways in which Peruvian culture was, perhaps with a little guile, included in the Roman Catholicism practiced here. That might account for its popularity: Cusco and its surrounding area have 500,000 people, 91% of whom are practicing catholics. Here’s a few interesting ways in which that Peruvian culture snuck into this cross-shaped, incredibly Spanish-influenced, prominent cathedral…”
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Our 1st Day Spent at Altitude in Cusco
Excerpt: “Acclimatization is a tricky thing. The catch is, that you fly to this super high city from Lima, which is essentially at sea level. It isn’t so much the height of Cusco that gets to you, but the rapid nature with which you ascend/fling yourself there. As our hotel host here says, ‘Acclimatizing to elevation is a little like roulette. You never know who will get hit.’”
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Do you know your ABCs?
Trail to Peak: The Adventurous Path 