Frogs, drinks and birthdays in Peru

Posted on March 12, 2012 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Seriously, I cannot party like a young person any more.

Mamacita linda celebrated a birthday last week and we celebrated in the proper tradition of Peruvian birthdays. In other words, eat, drink and dance till the wee hours of the morning. We started with the family at our house, Pisco and soda because I didn’t have time to make proper Pisco Sour for them all, and then to “Sr. Panda” for some yummie food.

Back at our house for cake. Peruvian birthday cakes only have 1 candle, whether you’re turning 1 or 100. Not like up North where the nr. of candles matches the nr. of years. Peruvians don’t seem to keep track of the years, Patricia doesn’t know her brother and sister’s age without seriously thinking about it.

Mami's birthday cake

Mamacita linda on her birthday!

Our apartment here in Cuzco is very small (hopefully this year that will finally change) and we can’t really entertain friends and family together, so we had decided to have the family at our house first and then a few drinks with friends at The Frogs, a sort of hip / bohemian bar close to the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco. We got to “The Frogs” around 10pm and this is where the party really took on its Peruvian character. Some of Patricia’s friends showed up early, but others didn’t show up until 1:00am, which this is totally normal here.

At the Frogs in Cuzco

We had lots of finger food and then more cake. As you can see we had a little glitch where we ran out of forks for the cake…

Cake for mami's birthday at the Frogs in Cuzco.

When you run out of forks....

We had a good time at “The Frogs” with a ridiculous amount of finger-food, more cake, and, errgh, a few drinks. The deal was that Patricia had booked a reserved room for our party and gotten a package-deal with food and drinks. At the end we decided to have the waitress bring all of our remaining drinks for a nice picture 🙂

Drinks at the Frogs in Cuzco

If you thought the party was over just because it was going on 2:00am or so, you must not be Peruvian! At 1:00am the party around the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco is just getting started. The girls decided to take the short walk from “The Frogs” to the Plaza de Armas and go dancing at one of the local discos, I think it was “Mythology”.

A few months ago there was a big to-do about the mayor of Cuzco trying to close all the discos at the Plaza de Armas. How’s that bone-headed idea working out you ask?

Just have a look… I mean, nightlife is part of any big tourist city, from Miami to Amsterdam to Downtown Disney.

Mythology disco at the Plaza de Armas Cuzco

Mamacita with one of her best and most-outgoing friends

In the wee hours of the morning we headed home but some of Patricia’s friends stayed out a bit longer. I suffered the next morning, this party stuff is for young folks 🙂

My most popular Peru pictures on Flickr

Posted on February 24, 2012 by wwelvaert under History and culture, Life in Peru

I’m a bad picture-taker and lately I haven’t had much time to share via social media – so happy I got rid of my Facebook 🙂 – but occasionally I upload a few pictures to my Flickr page. I’m sometimes surprised by which pictures are rated as most popular or most interesting after some time on the site. The following are some of my most popular Peru pictures on Flickr:

Many of my most popular Peru pictures are pictures of Peruvian food. Here’s a picture of typical Andean food, I believe this was at a wedding party:

This picture was from our trip to Ancon, a beach resort just north of Lima. I can see why this picture would be popular, I mean, just look how good-looking he is 🙂

Of all my popular Peruvian food pictures, this is actually the only one of food that I cooked myself: papi’s world famous salchipapas! Salchipapas are a popular snack in Peru, french fries, fried slices of hot-dog and all the sauces you crave. I like mine just with ketchup.

Here’s a picture of Peru’s national dish: ceviche. We took this on our trip to Huanchaco. I was very sad to learn last week that our friend and host in Trujillo unexpectedly passed away last week. QEPD Sr. Alejandro.

My pictures of the shrine of Señor de Huanca near Pisac are also popular. According to the legend, the shrine of Señor de Huanca is where God made his home among men. It is believed that Señor de Huanca will grant any blessing to those who come with a pure heart. The idea of pure heart is not necessarily the definition that the Roman Catholic church might give, it is simply pure heart. The shrine of Señor de Huanca is a bit of a blend between the traditional Andean religion and the Roman Catholic religion brought to Peru by the Spanish. For any religious or spiritual person, you should not miss a visit to the shrine of Señor de Huanca when you are in Cuzco.

Another picture of the shrine at Señor de Huanca, my beautiful wife and baby at the side of the main Señor de Huanca church building. In the buildings behind them true believers enter to light candles and ask for the blessing of Señor de Huanca.

Another example of the blend of Andean and Roman Catholic influence: Chiriuchu is the typical dish on Corpus Christi. Chiriuchu is the Quechua word for “cold dish”.

More Peruvian food pictures. This soup was cooked by Patricia’s 80-something grandmother, on her fogon, traditional cooking over an open wood-fired flame.

What would all that good food be without a good drink? I don’t have any pictures of Peru’s national drink, Pisco Sour, but here is a picture of another drink more popular in the North of Peru, algarrobina.

Many visitors come to this blog searching for info on Señor de los Milagros. Señor de los Milagros is worshipped in Peru as He is believed to protect Peruvians from earthquakes and other harm. The month of October is month of Señor de los Milagros, during this time there are processions throughout Peru when the image of Señor de los Milagros is carried through any and all neighborhoods. Here is some good background on the origin of Señor de los Milagros.

Another way you will see the blend of Andean and Christian culture is at Christmas, take a look at this typical Andean baby Jesus figure, it looks nothing like the traditional Roman Catholic image of Jesus:

Finally, we haven’t really done much touristy stuff in quite some time but here is a picture of Patricia and some of her friends visiting Choquequirao. It takes 3-4 days hicking (there and back) to visit Choquequirao. Really, you shouldn’t let the picture fool you because even though they all look like tough adventurers here, the truth is all of them are very much city slickers 😉

As I said, I’m not a good picture-taker by any stretch of the imagination. If you are looking for really good Peru pictures, check out Cusquenian’s Flickr page.

Finally, I also upload some of my flying / ferry pilot pictures if you’re into that kind of thing.

Feliz 14

Posted on February 15, 2012 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

A day late but still funny, from the Misiura FB page:

Happy belated Valentine’s Day everybody!

Meet me out in the street, mamacita tonight!

Posted on February 7, 2012 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

I’m craving hot greasy pizza at the moment. Peruvian pizza isn’t that great but the exception is La Romana Pizzeria in Cuzco. The pizza is excellent and the servers know us well enough to tolerate our wild little Brianna.

Tonight I’m in the mood for a yummie pizza (mitad Vaticano y mitad Romana) and a jara de sangria, but the question is whether mamacita linda will be home early enough. One of the only bad things about living in Peru is that people who work corporate type jobs must work really long hours. Patricia’s normal hours are 9:00am to 8:00pm, 6 days a week! She does get a 2-hour lunch break which is enough to run home for a bit.

It’s not unusual for Patricia’s work hours to run a bit late in the evening, so here’s to my mamacita linda:

Meet me out in the street, to be exact, at La Romana Pizzeria on Av. Tullumayo in beautiful Cuzco, Peru 🙂

Also, not meaning to change the subject to awful bad, we have another reason to celebrate today in addition to my craving of hot greasy pizza: 20-something years ago today, somewhere in Cuzco in the back of a taxi (*) on its way to the hospital, a baby girl was born. Feliz Cumpleaños a mi cuñada!!!

(*) Not kidding, true story.

Souvenirs are overrated

Posted on January 23, 2012 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

I travel quite a bit and of course I have to bring home gifts from every trip I go on. Mamacita linda has even trained our 2-year old daughter to say “bring gifts” when she knows papi is ready to go on a trip. Most of the gifts I bring for our daughter get some use but the ones I get for mami usually end up collecting dust and taking up space:

The T-shirt I brought mami from Iceland 2 years ago? Worn once I think.
Necklace and earrings I bought in Cartagena? Never used.
The Big Ben souvenir mamacita asked me to bring from London? Stuffed in a file cabinet.
The cute pillow from Poland? Never used and haven’t seen it in forever.
The cute polar-bear hairclip I picked out at the souvenir store in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik? Mami looked at it once and said: “Cute, but you go to Canada and bring me back something made in the Philippenes??” Never been used.

I could go on. Clothes are always a bad idea. I buy something stylish and sexy and mamacita says “I can’t wear that here. It’s too cold in Cuzco to wear that.” I buy something comfy and mamacita says “Why do you buy me old lady clothes like that? Buy me something cute next time would you.”

Anyway, I’m writing this sitting in departure gate 19 of the Lima airport, waiting on a flight to Miami. I’m on my way to Kansas to pick up another new airplane from Cessna. The real reason I’m fussing and ranting about souvenirs right now is that souvenirs take up space in the airport where something useful could be, say something like FOOD!!! Airport food is never a great idea but in Lima the choices are really slim. For all the great food you can find in Peru the Lima airport is not a good place to go when you’re in a rush and haven’t eaten.

At the Lima airport there’s a food court with a McDonalds, Papa Johns and a few others. You can get a pretty good “pollo la brasa” at Manos Morenos but they give you like 6 french fries. There’s a Dunkin Donuts at the food court in the Lima airport and you can always tell the Cusquenos traveling home to Cuzco because you’ll see them carrying a dozen donuts through the Lima airport (there’s no Dunkin Donuts in Cuzco). I always feel like such a fool when other gringos in the airport stare at me walking through the airport with my Dunkin Donuts bag. They’re probably thinking something like “why would this fool come all the way down to Lima to buy a dozen donuts?”

At any rate, other than the food court there are few restaurants in the Lima airport. There are 2 restaurants in the international gate area, both ridiculously overpriced. Cheap Dutchman that I am I’ve never eaten at either of them. I just ponied up S/.26 (~$10) for a soda and sandwich at the 365 Deli by gate 19. Ten bucks for a sandwich that had like 2 slices of roast beef on it!

Peruvian food is great but forget Lima airport. The first thing I plan to do when I get to Wichita tomorrow is stuff my tummy with a big juicy steak 😉

“Ai Se Eu Te Pego!”

Posted on January 9, 2012 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

This song is so popular in Peru right now, you hear it everywhere and all the time. In the supermarket, on your combi, somebody walking by in the street listening to music on their cellphone, …

With one click of your mouse (I know I’m old fashioned, no need to go there) you too can have happy, catchy lyrics you don’t understand (unless you speak Portugese) in your head for the rest of the day!

Another version:

Here are the “Ai Se Eu Te Pego!” lyrics in Portugese and English.

What songs are popular in your part of the world right now?

Peruvian food brainteaser

Posted on December 30, 2011 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Here’s a questions for all you foodies and Peruvian food fans:

When making papi’s famous chicken and french fries – Peruvian style of course – which ingredient is most likely found underneath the living room couch?

While you ponder on that let me tell you I like my food simple. I’ve had a chance to eat fine cuisine at some of the best restaurants in different places around the world and I do enjoy that occasionally, but for the most part simple is better in my humble kitchen. One of the things I don’t like about Europe is that many Europeans seem to try and do fancy food all the time. You get a really pretty-looking plate with some unidentifiable food that leaves you $50 poorer but still hungry. Not me, I’ll take a simple plate of good food over fancy fish eggs any day.

When I was a kid we rarely ate out but I remember during one summer vacation eating at a restaurant with my parents and grandparents in La Jonquera, Spain. While we were enjoying simple yet delicious steak and french fries my grandfather told us this very Belgian story:

Two guys are at a restaurant and order steak and french fries. The waiter brings 2 plates of steak and fries. One guy asks his buddy: “Which plate do you want?” His buddy takes the plate with the biggest piece of steak.

The first guy says: “That is not polite, when you take the first plate it is not polite to choose the plate with the biggest piece of steak.”

“OK”, says his buddy. “So you choose”.

The first guy ponders for a moment and then grabs the plate with the biggest piece of steak. “I’ll take this one.”

“I thought you just said it isn’t polite to choose the plate with the biggest piece of steak!” exclaims his buddy. To which the first guy responds:

“It isn’t polite, but I don’t care, I’ve got the biggest piece of steak!”

I was only 7 or so at the time and thought that was the funniest story ever.

At any rate, have you figured out my Peruvian food brainteaser? If not I’ll give you a hint: it’s the same ingredient you would look for under the couch when cooking pretty much any Peruvian food. Here are the ingredients for my world-famous Peruvian-style chicken and french fries:

Chicken.
Potatoes.
Spices: salt, pepper and cumin al gusto.
Last but not least: look under the living room couch for Peruvian lemons! Soak chicken liberally in Peruvian lemon juice.

Papi's world famous chicken and french fries

OK, maybe in your house the Peruvian lemons aren’t under the couch but properly stored in the kitchen somewhere. In our house nothing has been properly stored since Pitufiloquita has gotten big enough to reach practically anything, even if she needs to drag a chair around to reach what she wants to get at. She likes to take our Peruvian lemons to her little play-kitchen and inevitably all my Peruvian lemons end up on the ground and under the living room couch.

That was easy, no? As soon as I said Peruvian food you knew there would be Peruvian lemons involved somewhere. Practically all Peruvian food gets lemon juice: salads, meat, fish, etc. Of course lemon juice is a main ingredient in both the best known Peruvian food (ceviche) and best known Peruvian drink (Pisco Sour), but you find Peruvian lemon juice in practically any Peruvian food. There is even a supposed Peruvian hangover cure based on the lemon juice.

I guess I should clarify the thing I’m calling “Peruvian lemon” here is closest to a “lime” or “Key lime” in US stores, it’s the little green one, not the really sour yellow one.

Also as a little disclaimer, I’m by no means a Peruvian food expert. In my kitchen everything is al gusto and nothing is ever cooked the exact same way twice. Every day is a new adventure. If you’re looking for a blog that is really good about Peruvian food, check out Kelly.

So if you’re entertaining or just in the holiday spirit and want to impress your friends with your Peruvian food expertise, just add Peruvian lemon juice to whatever it is you wanted to do in the first place 😉

Pitufiloquita enjoying chicken and french fries - Peruvian style!

Mamacita linda having papi's world famous chicken and french fries

Playing cards with my grandparents on vacation in Spain, many moons ago.

Vacation in Spain

All is normal in Belgium

Posted on December 28, 2011 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

Occasionally I check the news headlines back in the “old country”. Loosely translated, the top headline on Google news Belgium reads:

“Minister Vande Lanotte requests investigation into higher beer prices.”

Belgian minister of economics requests investigation into higher beer prices. Salud!

Johan Vande Lanotte is Belgium’s new minister of economics and I actually had him pegged as one of the more reasonable politicians in Belgium.

Here in Peru, most Peruvians have a fairly low opinion and approval rating of their politicians. What’s interesting to me though is that during any conversation I have about politics with a Peruvian (for the most part I stay away from the subject) most Peruvians somehow think politicians in those far away Northern countries are really the proverbial cat’s meow.

I love Europe but the leaders there live in such a fantasy world.

Peruvian Christmas carol by Juan Diego Flórez

Posted on December 28, 2011 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

In the comments to my previous post reader Natalia suggested this wonderful Peruvian Christmas carol composed by Juan Diego Flórez, so here it is. Huayno Peruano Navideño, compuesto por Juan Diego Florez:

Happy holidays to all!

Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town

Posted on December 23, 2011 by wwelvaert under Life in Peru

We’ve done this here before but I see absolutely no reason to break a good habit. Merry Christmas to all, Feliz Navidad a todos!

UPDATE:

Another one of my favorite Christmas songs: Joan Jett’s live punk-rock style rendition of Little Drummer Boy. Goes to show girls don’t just do soft and mushy.