peru: part 2

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the original water purifier

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chifa - cuisine created by 19th century southern chinese immigrants coming to peru using local peruvian ingredients such as aji rocoto, aji panca and aji amarillo chiles, cuy (guinea pig), potatoes, sausages and now peruvian asparagus. this was the best chifa joint we explored.

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alpacas at 13,000 feet on the journey to chivay

best restaurant of the entire peruvian trip...complete native authenticity in the middle of absolutely mars-like nowheresville. this spread would take me a month to put together even if i was surrounded by the best farmers markets. unbelievable!

chicken with rocoto chiles, beans and sausage, alpaca with dried potatoes, cuy with pasta

the spread. an oasis of grace




the hotel in yanque





view from our room. best view from any hotel i've ever stayed in. complete with incan terraces and trout stream.







canyon de colca - from it's high peak, down to the river it's 11,000 feet deep, twice as deep as the grand canyon. just around the corner it's 500 feet deeper, making it the deepest canyon in the world.



andean condor - largest wingspan and heaviest of all land birds

don't move...just keep smiling






canyon de colca

rush hour

another great spread

floating reed islands on lake titicaca

the uros and aymara tribe members who inhabit this man made island of reeds

whipping up some guinea pig raised in the hut behind me

busting out some indigenous folk songs

tequile island on lake titicaca-the highest navigable lake in the world. the mountains in the background are in bolivia.

lunch at an indigenous taquilernos home. look how blue the skies get here.

when's the last time you were greeted to eat with a smile like that?

sopa andena-quinoa, peruvian potatoes, ancient squash

our beloved host showing off her perfect caramelization

lake titicaca pan seared trout, papas fritas, arroz, beet-papaya ariquipa salad cooked with tons of love and one heck of a view. amen.

next stop: the glaciers of salkantay...