Summer 2007, No.1

A condor at Cruz del Condor near Cabanaconde, Peru. Taken in June 2007.

Thai tapas

Most of the meals we've had in Asia have consisted of street food -- noodles, soup, curries, fruit, juice, and sweets, all cooked up and served street-side. Some street-food operations are little more than hot dog stands, but others are outfitted with the street-food equivalents of Viking ranges and Sub-Zeros.

The tricky part is figuring out what we're eating. In Vietnam, the vendors post signs listing what they are offering, and we eventually learned a few key words to decipher what was what (pho=noodle soup, my xao=stir-fried noodles, bo=beef, ga=chicken). In Cambodia and Thailand, where the writing systems are completely unfamiliar, we just go by look and smell.

Bangkok is definitely the street-food capital of the region. The variety of foods on offer here is amazing. There is so much to try that a few days is not nearly enough time to try it all, even eating three meals a day (plus snacks!) on the street. A few nights ago, we decided to maximize our street-food opportunities by cobbling together a meal from several different vendors (I would call it "tapas," except we're not in Spain). We laid a few ground rules for the expedition:

1. We would choose several food items that were in snackable portions, followed by a main course, followed by dessert.

2. We would not rule out eating anything because it was unfamiliar or looked weird.

3. We would apply the "Supersize Me Rule": If someone asked us a question ("Do you want dried baby goat testicles with that?"), the answer was yes.

4. The one exception to the foregoing rules was shrimp, because anaphalectic shock is no fun at all.

We started with fried quail eggs. The vendor slid eight tiny little eggs onto a plate and then hit them with a dash of pepper and some soy sauce. This dish was definitely the dark horse candidate, but turned out to be our favorite:


Our next stop was a vendor selling kebabs. We had a beef kebab and a pork kebab, which came with hot peppers and pineapple in addition to the meat, and were grilled to order and then doused with a spicy and sweet sauce:


We wanted one more snacky food before sitting down for our main course, so we stopped at a vendor selling little fried torpedoes, though we had no idea what the torpedoes were made of. He cut them into bite-sized pieces, and then finished them with a spicy sauce. It turns out they were made of a fish batter -- not bad, and the sauce was tasty, but this was probably our least favorite dish of the night:


Onto our main course: rice porridge, which we had seen before, but had never gotten around to trying. The woman asked if we wanted pork and egg, and of course, in keeping with the ground rules, we said yes. She cracked a raw egg into the bottom of a bowl, and ladled a thick rice porridge studded with pork meatballs over the uncooked egg. We mixed it all together, added some fresh ginger and scallions, and dug in:


The porridge was great, and filling, but we still needed dessert. We knew exactly what we wanted: durian. We had seen durian growing in an orchard in Vietnam, and had smelled it at fruit markets across the region. It smells like a sickly-sweet pile of rotting garbage that would make anyone wretch, but people say that it smells like hell but tastes like heaven. We decided to find out for ourselves, so we found a fruit vendor selling fruit, sticky rice, and custards:


We ordered durian with sticky rice and coconut milk, and dug in. The durian does taste better than it smells. It's very sweet, and the pale yellow meat is soft and a little stringy. If you just had one bite of durian, and held your nose until the thing was in your mouth, you'd be fine. But here's the problem: while you're eating, you still have a bowl full of durian stinking just inches from you, and it's pretty hard to ignore the smell. Glad we tried it, but not sure we'll try it again any time soon.

Signs, signs, everywhere are signs

Most signs here are translated into English because, let's face it, not too many people study Khmer as a second language. Generally they get the point across, but we especially love those with misspellings, incorrect translations, or idioms, which never translate well.


Desiphected? Desiphected?!? THANK GOD we got all those shots, otherwise there's no way we'd sit on that toilet seat!


I don't know about you, but I've been in Penn Station at rush hour in the summer, and the "flavour of a railway station" is not one I care to experience.


7 hours a day, 20 days a months? 7 days a week, 20 hours a day? 0700 to 2000? Who knows?


So let me get this straight, go this way to get to this way? Glad that clears things up.

Learning my lesson

Over the course of my life, there are a few bits of wisdom that I have picked up, the application of which I believe will lead to a long, healthy, and happy life. I thought it only fair that I share those insights with you, Internet, so that you may have the benefit of that wisdom.

Bit o' Wisdom #1: Always keep an eye on your gas tank, because it's really embarrassing to run out of gas LESS THAN A WEEK after getting your drivers' license.

Bit o' Wisdom #2: Make sure you have the Bruce Springsteen tickets before you leave New York, because going back to get them once you've reached New Jersey will be a MAJOR pain in the ass.

Bit o' Wisdom #3: Charge your camera batteries BEFORE going to see the Temples of Angkor, because, for all their architectural prowess, the ancient Khmer did not master electricity.

Despite my failure to heed #3, we managed to snap some great pictures of the Angkor temples with J-P's camera. This one is of the sunrise over Angkor Wat. It was one of the most spectacular sunrises either of us has ever seen, made even more stunning by the temple silhouetted against the red sky.


Here's one of the Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom, which is graced by over two hundred faces -- each several meters tall -- sculpted into the sides of the temple.


This last one is from Ta Prohm, which was made famous in Tomb Raider. The temple is crumbling and covered with trees -- sometimes the trees are furthering the destruction by spreading their roots through the stone, and sometimes they are helping to keep the walls together:

War

On the phone with my mom the other day, I told her about all the places we were visiting in Vietnam -- Hanoi, Danang, Hue, Hoi An, Saigon -- and she responded "Honestly, Melissa, I have a hard time picturing any of those places as vacation destinations." I know that many baby boomers probably feel the same way, and I can understand why. It's as if twenty or thirty years from now our kids came to us and said "Hey Mom and Dad, we're going to Baghdad for vacation! Maybe if we have time we'll get to Fallujah and Tikrit!"

We haven't done too much war-related tourism while we've been here. From what we've heard, there isn't much to see at many sites -- the DMZ just looks like any other part of the jungle, except that once upon a time it was the DMZ. We did see the Citadel in Hue, which was largely destroyed during a fierce battle for control of the city, but it just seemed like an ancient ruined palace. We also drove through China Beach outside Danang, where the only evidence of an American presence were a few concrete look-out towers. The beach is beatiful though, and is well on its way to being developed into a prime Vietnamese resort area.

But evidence of American casualties of the war still abounds; when we were in Hue, there were lots of street vendors selling old Army-issue paraphernalia like canteens and helmets, and it was sobering to comprehend that those items probably once belonged to soldiers far younger than us, many of whom likely died here.

By the same token, it's hard to avoid evidence of Vietnamese casualties of the war. We've seen lots of people on the street who have lost limbs or suffer other serious disabilities. We saw one man in Hanoi who had no eye sockets. He wasn't just missing his eyes, he was actually missing the holes where his eyes should be, and he just had smooth skin instead. Of course, we have no way of knowing whether this man (or any of the others) was maimed by the actions of the US government, but given how many people we've seen with such disabilities, it seems certain that at least some of them were accidental if not intentional victims of US policies and strategies during the war.

I'm sorry if this is disturbing to read about, and I promise we will soon return to our regularly-scheduled beach reviews, but I think it is crucial to remember that there are a lot of people, Vietnamese and American, who are still gravely affected by the war more than thirty years after the fact. What is remarkable though, is how kind and generous the Vietnamese people have been to us, despite the brutal history we share. We hope that they have a positive impression of us, and that our presence here may help in some way to heal the damage that was done so many years ago.

Drink specials

They don't do mixed drinks in Vietnam. If you want, oh, say a gin and tonic, you have to order gin, which gets you a scant ounce without ice, and then separately order tonic, which gets you a full-on twelve-ounce can of Schweppes. Then you mix 'em yourself.

But if you do the math, a ratio of one ounce of gin to twelve ounces of tonic makes for a very miserly gin and tonic, indeed. So J-P and I have taken to ordering multiple rounds of gin, and sharing a single can of tonic between us. Which led, one night, to a classic J-P non sequitur: "The drink prices here are great! We can get four gin and tonics for the price of four gins, and one tonic!"

Motorbikes are the new minivans

In Vietnam there is one motorbike for every two people. There are far more bikes than cars, and people cram their bikes full of cargo of all sorts -- chickens, blocks of ice, fish traps, and shopping bags are all loaded up on the backs (and fronts) of motorbikes.

The Vietnamese also cram lots of people onto their bikes. It's common to see two or three people on a bike. For many families, the bike serves as their de facto minivan. We've seen women with babies, couples with toddlers, and, with surprising frequency, entire families of four squeezed onto a single bike -- usually bigger kid in front, dad driving, baby crammed between dad and mom, and mom bringing up the rear. (Of course, the people here are tiny by comparison to us ginormous Americans -- many of the men are barely bigger than me, and the women are by far tinier -- so fitting three or four on a bike isn't quite the feat it would be in Peoria.)

Because motorbikes are ubiquitous, they also take the place of taxis. You can't walk a block without being offered a ride on the back of bike. The first time we rode on one was a few days ago when we needed a lift from our hotel down to the town's dock. We knew the hotel had a few motorbikes and could give us a ride, but we weren't sure whether we should both squeeze on the back of single motorbike, or get two bikes (and two drivers). I asked the owner of the hotel "one bike or two?" and he looked from me to J-P and back to me with a smirk that clearly said that two such monstrously tall fat-ass Americans would never BOTH fit on the back of a bike. So we took two separate bikes, and off we went.

The ride was fantastic -- of course there is no such thing as a helmet -- so you zip around with the sun on your face and the breeze in your air. The drivers are actually surprisingly adept, and most of the traffic consists of bicycles and other motorbikes, so we're not contending with Mack trucks or anything like that. We've taken a few more rides since that first ride, always splitting up and grabbing two bikes, one for each of us.

Today we needed a ride from a town we were visiting back into the city of Hoi An, where we are staying. A driver pulled over and gave us a price for the trip. Thinking it was the price for one of us, I was prepared to hop on and meet J-P there once he caught another bike. But the guy gestured at both of us, and indicated that he was willing to take both of us. So the two of us monstruously tall, fat-ass Americans squeezed in behind this tiny little Vietnamese guy on this bike for the ride back into town. I was crammed in the middle trying not to mingle sweat with our driver, and J-P was in the back, all gangly legs trying to avoid burning his calves on the exhaust pipe. I don't know how the guy drove with speedometer jammed into his ribcage.

As we rounded corners and maneuvered our way through traffic toward town, the guy honked madly. Although drivers here are always insanely trigger-happy on the horn, I couldn't help but think that the horn was his way of warning his countrymen and women, "Two monstrously tall fat-ass Americans, coming through!"

It is REALLY hot here

M: I wonder how hot it is right now.

J: Hot as balls.

M: Can I have that in Fahrenheit, please?

Intended to make anyone sitting at a desk jealous

When we were home a week or so ago, we met up with a few friends who work for a Law Firm That Shall Not Be Named, and they told us how jealous it makes them to read Rhino Legs from their desks. I just want to apologize, because it absolutely was not my intention with any of my posts to make anyone jealous; I just wanted to share updates on our travels.

That said, we just spent three days on a boat in Ha Long Bay outside Ha Noi, Vietnam, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to make everyone really jealous ON PURPOSE. Hell, as I sit here at an internet cafe in downtown Ha Noi, I'M jealous of us, and we just got back yesterday.

We spent a day kayaking around the bay, which has literally thousands of little islands, many of them barely bigger than a rock. Here is a shot of some of the islands:


After kayaking, we retired back to the main boat, where we jumped off the boat's upper deck to cool off. Here's the sunset over the cove that the main boat was moored in at night:


And finally, the piece de resistance, a sandbar that we found between two of those rock islands, with clear blue water lapping away at both sides:



Seriously, a two-sided beach? Could there be anything better in the world? I think this really must be the World's Most Perfect Beach. But, I suppose that in the name of science we will have to check out a few more on this trip, and will keep you apprised if we come upon any more perfect than this.

How wonderful!

They just announced the "new" Seven Wonders of the World, and Machu Picchu made the cut! This was the subject of a HUGE campaign throughout Peru while we were there -- there were posters and billboards all over the place urging people to vote for Machu Picchu -- and I'm sure the announcement is really exciting for all of Peru. I wish we were still there to celebrate!

Peru and Bolivia travel recommendations

A few people have asked for our recommendations for traveling in Peru and Bolivia. Keep in mind that we were in Bolivia for less than a week, and barely scratched the surface there. The list is in the order that we did everything, so you can get a feel for our itinerary.

CUSCO

General: You can´t come to Peru without going to Machu Picchu, and thus you can´t come to Peru without going to Cusco. Not a bad place to spend a few days, though I didn´t love it is much as I heard I would, and I got tired with how touristed it is (I know I know -- pot, kettle, yada yada). Also, FYI, the whole Cusco tourist circuit is insanely expensive. To see anything in or around Cusco, you have to buy a Boleto Turistico ($15). To see Machu Picchu (assuming you don´t trek), you have to pay for the train ($80), then for a ticket to MP ($40), and then for the bus up to the site ($12). Definitely blew our budget for a few days.

Accomodation: Definitely try to stay in the San Blas area. It´s much more laid back than the area around Plaza de Armas. We stayed at Hotel Andes San Blas on Carmen Alto just off the square. Very friendly place, pretty affordable, but mattress was kind of lumpy. Rooms were cold at night, although that was also the case in another place we tried our first few nights in Cusco. I think in Cusco you should just expect to have to suffer without certain creature comforts, and to huddle under the blankets for warmth at night.

Food: For a nice meal, check out Granja Heidi on Cuesta San Blas. It´s a little more expensive than your average menu turistico, but worth it when you´ve had all the pollo you can handle. The beef tenderloin and vegetarian pumpkin mash ("loqro") were great, as was the chocolate crepe and dulce de leche we had for dessert. We also had great fried chicken at a place called Antojitos on Marques, but there´s a ton of other fried chicken places around that are probably also good.

MACHU PICCHU

Assuming you´re not trekking, buy tickets for the evening train to Machu Picchu from Ollayantaytambo (try to buy tickets in advance, or you´ll have to go to the train station to buy them day-of). Then, catch a bus to Urubamba. In Urubamba, hop into a collectivo taxi to Ollantaytambo. This whole trip takes about 2-3 hours. Spend the afternoon enjoying Ollantaytambo, which was one of our favorite towns. Wander through the narrow streets and alleys, and hike up the hill to see the ruins and the views of the town below. That evening, catch the train to Aquas Calientes, where you will be able to find a hostel and dinner when you arrive.

The next day, set your alarm early. Buy a ticket to Machu Picchu at the ticket office on the main drag, and a bus ticket at the bus stop, and then catch the 5:30 bus up the mountain. You should be there in time to enjoy the sunrise, and to enjoy the site a bit before the hordes arrive on the daytime trains from Cusco. Finally, if you want to hike Wayna Picchu, do it early.

A few other Machu Picchu pointers that the Lonely Planet omits: you can bring in small daypacks, although you´ll have to leave your main pack behind in Cusco or Aquas Calientes. Also, they don´t check your bags at 6am, so you can sneak in food and plastic bottles. If you´re going to hike Wayna Picchu, I´d recommend not doing it on an empty stomach, or without water. Just please please pack out whatever you pack in.

No particular recommendations on where to stay or eat in Aguas Calientes. It´s all wholly mediocre.

PUNO

General: We actually really enjoyed Puno as a town, even more so than Cusco. In Cusco, the tourist areas of town and the local areas are pretty segregated, and we got tired of being constantly identified as tourists and approached by street touts. Puno is less of a tourist town, and it´s much easier to wander around and feel like you are blending in (even if you´re really not).

Accommodation: We liked Ollanta Inn OK, but I ended up with a rash that may or may not have been caused by the sheets or the towels or something. Ollanta had great hot showers, though, quite a boon after the luke-warm showers in Cusco.

Food: Generally, rather expensive and not particularly special. The Supermercado Central is amazing though if you want to picnic. We bought cheese, avocado, bread, and some oranges and had a great cheap dinner one night. There are also some great juice stands on the second floor. Also, if you go to the floating islands and have the opportunity to grab a snack on one of the islands, have the ceviche. We had absolutely the best, freshest, tastiest trout ceviche ever while we were on the islands.

Floating Islands: DEFINITELY GO to the floating islands ("Los Uros"). We thought they were really neat. And though touristed, they were not nearly as bad as we expected after reading Lonely Planet´s highly critical write-up.

LA PAZ

General: As a city girl at heart, I was happy to be in La Paz for a few days. Definitely felt at home here, with all the trappings of a big city at our fingertips! Had a fantastic shopping spree -- blankets, jewelry, pewter, alpaca and sheeps-wool clothing...

Accommodation: The Hotel Milton is a friendly, nice, reasonably clean place, for about US$15 a night. Hotel Rosario looked gorgeous, but I think is more expensive than Milton.

Food: Loved Tambo Colonial in the Hotel Rosario. Upscale, but worth it. The llama was dee-lish. Yussef , a middle Eastern place not far from the Milton, was a nice change of pace from traditional South American food.

COPACABANA / ISLA DEL SOL

General: We spent two nights on Isla, and then one night in Copa, and were really happy with this. Isla is a kind of idyllic spot, and it´s worth it to be there when it´s quieter in the mornings and late afternoons.

Accommodation: In Copa, La Cupola looked really nice, but we didn´t book early enough to stay there. We stayed at Las Brisas (on the beach), which was OK, but there are probably cheaper places with more hot water elsewhere. In Isla, we stayed in the town of Yumani at Casa de Don Ricardo, and loved the place, although the hot water was somewhat lacking. Beware though, it is a SERIOUS climb from the dock up to the Casa (although this is the case with every place on the island, really.)

Food: In Copa, the restaurant at La Cupola, I think called El Mirador, was good, and we had a nice fresh meal -- lots of veggies and salad, because the greens are cleaned with disinfected water. In Isla, plan to eat dinner where you stay, because even though there appear to be lots of restaurants, many of them didn´t seem to be opened when we were there, and the last thing you want is to have to eat a dinner of Pringles and Fanta because you didn´t plan ahead. (Not that this happened to us, of course.)

Hiking to the North of Isla del Sol from Yumani: If you are staying in Yumani on the southern end of the island and want to hike to the north, walk all the way to the ridge at the top of town, and then turn right. Follow this trail for about 20 or 30 minutes and you will come to a boleteria where you buy a ticket to access the North. Shortly after the boleteria the eastern (harder) trail breaks off to the right, and the western (easier) trail continues straight. Whatever you do, don't waste your time with the Lonely Planet map.

AREQUIPA

General: I love Arequipa. It´s smart, friendly, beautiful, and warm(er). If I were going to do a homestay or study Spanish for a few weeks in Peru, I´d do it here. Screw Cusco.

Accommodation: Our hotel splurge for the trip is La Casa de Melgar. Great location, gorgeous hotel, friendly staff. The hot water leaves a bit to be desired, though.

Food: We liked El Turko I for a great chicken donor kebab and amazing hummus and pita. El Turko II, up the street, is fancier and pricier, but I´d bet it´s pretty good too. Zig Zag Creperie had great savory and sweet crepes.

Tours: We did a downhill mountain-biking tour arranged through Colca Trek, and had a great time. Definitely a recommended company, they also arrange 2-day, 3-day, and longer treks.

COLCA CANYON / CABANACONDE

General: We did the canyon on our own rather than going with a tour. We took a bus from Arequipa to Chivay, and then a taxi from Chivay to Yanque. We spent a night in Yanque and went to the hot springs there, and in the morning we hopped on a bus in the main square in Yanque for the trip to Cabanaconde. (You could easily go all the way to Cabananconde in a day, we just wanted to check out another small town.) Beware though, that the chance of getting a seat for the 2+ hour ride from Yanque to Cabanaconde is slim. To get back to Arequipa, we took an early AM bus from Cabanaconde to Cruz del Condor to see the condors (definitely worth it, the condors were amazing), and then the later AM bus from Cruz to Arequipa.

Accommodation: We loved Tradition Colca Albergue in Yanque. It was pricey, but a super comfy bed and hot shower, and the rate includes an afternoon hike. We also liked Hostal Valley del Fuego in Cabanaconde. Rooms there are spartan, but the showers are HOT, and the bar is great.

Food: Again, plan to eat dinner where you're staying. For lunch, there are a few spots around town, and plenty of groceries if you want to picnic.

Hiking: We hiked down to the pools at the bottom of the canyon and back up in the same day. The guys at the hostel in Cabanaconde showed us the trailhead in the morning and gave us free passes for the pools. The uphill climb took about three hours, and was not fun, although there are plenty of people offering to sell you a ride up on a burro. There are bungalows down by the pools where you can sleep if you want -- they have cots and sheets and blankets, but I imagine it might get a touch nippy at night if you don´t have an extra blanket or a sleeping bag.

IQUITOS

General: I was so happy to get to the jungle after weeks in the cold highlands. The city is kind of hectic and kind of crazy, but we really liked it. It is warm and muggy all the time though, so be prepared.

Accommodation: Book ahead. All the cheap spots were booked when we got there, so we ended up spending more money than we wanted. That said, we enjoyed the air conditioning and the pool at Hotel Marañon, although the hot water was iffy.

Food: Great pollo a la brasa at Kikiriki, otherwise, pretty average.

Activities: By all means, go to the Butterfly Farm. To get there, take a moto-taxi to "el puerto de Bellavista-Nanay." From there, you need to get a boat to a town called Padre Cocha. There are two main docking areas in Bellavista-Nanay -- one with nicer, bigger boats, and one with little wooden canoe-type boats with thatched palm roofs. You want the canoe-type boats, which are the public boats (the bigger boats will also take you there, but for more money). It should cost 1 sol to go to Padre Cocha on a public boat, although the boat may wait around for more people before leaving. Once you´re in Padre Cocha, walk up into town, and then hook a left. Follow the walkway all the way through town, and you should see signs for the farm.

AMAZON JUNGLE

Oh, where to begin. Lots of comments here. First, let me preface my comments by saying that we only stayed in one lodge, so it´s hard to know which parts of our experience I can fairly extrapolate to other lodges, but I will try to be fair.

Generally, you should be prepared for it to be very muggy and very buggy. Take your malaria pills, and wear long pants, long shirt, and socks if you can possibly stand it. Use insect repellant with a high concentration of DEET. Also FYI, our lodge was musty and mildewy, which I think is inevitable given the heat and humidity.

We stayed at Loving Light, and we were a little ambivalent about it. We were the only two tourists there, along with a guide (who spoke English), two women who cook and clean, and two kids (children of one of the cooks). We had the impression from our guide that Loving Light´s heydey was a few years ago when it was often booked, and that now it´s common to have only 2 or 4 tourists at a time. On the one hand, it was kind of lonely to be the only two people in a lodge that would easily accommodate two dozen. We felt a little weird having three people basically waiting on us the whole time. It would have been nice if there were maybe 2 or 4 other tourists there. If this matters to you, ask before you book (with any company) if anyone else has signed up.

On the other hand, it was great that it was only us, because when we went on excursions with our guide, the three of us could fit in a single canoe and explore the Yanayacu River quietly and without a lot of fuss. Another plus was that our guide, Edwin, grew up right near the lodge, and still knows everyone in the area and at the nearby village. Canoeing around with him, and hanging out in the village with him truly was like seeing the area from his perspective. We met his sister, and his nephew and niece, and the friends he grew up with, and his dad. At a bigger place, or if there had been more tourists with us, we would have had a very different experience.

One more thing -- the water pump at the lodge was broken while we were there, so our only shower option was the river, so we were pretty filthy after three days.

LIMA

General: We didn't hate Lima as much as everyone told us we would. That said, our guide book had been stolen by the time we got to Lima, so we were lazy and pretty much just hung out in Miraflores.

Accommodation: Book ahead, otherwise the cheap places will all be booked. We stayed at Olimpus Peru toward the ocean end of the main drag (Larco). It was about a 10-15 minute walk up Larco into the heart of Miraflores, but we liked it because it was a little quieter. We are also close to the snazzy shopping area of Larco Mar, which is home to lots of restaurants and a movie theater showing all sorts of American movies.

Food: We tried Segundo Muelle on the Parque de Amor on the advice of a local we met while in Yanque. Everything we tried was amazing, especially the seafood mixed grill and the ceviche.

MISCELLANEOUS

Lonely Planet Sucks: I´ve used and liked Lonely Planet, but the Peru version is confusing and omits some key information. For example, if you wanted to go to Ollantaytambo from Cusco, you´d look in the Ollantaytambo section to see how to get there, right? Not according to LP. Instead, you have to look in the Cusco section to see how to get from Cusco to other places, rather than in the Ollantaytambo section to see how to get to Ollantaytamblo from other places. Not sure if this makes sense, but as a practical matter is it very counter-intuitive and frustrating.

Specific food recommendations: We thought guinea pig is overrated, loved llama, and liked alpaca. The cream soups are kind of gelatinous so we got tired of them fast, but we LOVED sopa a la criolla (creole soup, which is a spicy creamy soup with noodles, beef, and egg) and are excited to reverse-engineer it when we get home. We also love the rocoto relleno -- a whole pepper stuffed with ground beef -- which you can find in Arequipa. The fruit juices are amazing, but beware that they may be made with unpurified water. Always ask in advance, or order orange juice (almost always natural), or a juice made with milk or yogurt.

How very retro

We're home for a few days enjoying the weather (finally I get some summer!), and we're having a few friends over tomorrow for a July 4 barbecue. (Attention barbecue purists: I am using the term barbecue as a synonym for "cook out." I understand that unless we're cooking meat slowly over indirect heat it's not truly barbecue, but frankly I don't want to hear it.)

So anyway, we decided to go with a "throwback" theme, and are breaking out all sorts of old-school recipes like your (mid-western) grandma used to make -- think ambrosia, casseroles, "Impossible Cheeseburger Pie," and you've got the idea. I myself have a mid-western Grandma, and I was thrilled to find that my mom has Grandma's old recipe box stashed away. While plundering it for recipes for the barbecue, I came across this gem:

Jane's soup

ground beef - best quality - do not brown
lots of onions
carrots
potatoes - in small pieces - they help to thicken
parsley - fresh or dry
can tomatoes
salt
pepper
bouillon cube - optional
water

Boil the "bejesus" out of it. (Jane's instruction). The amount of all the ingredients would depend on how much soup you wanted to have.

I love the simplicity of this recipe, and that it captures so much family history on a little 4x6 index card -- I found it in my Grandma's recipe box, it's written in my great Aunt Murry's unmistakable handwriting, and it sounds exactly like great Aunt Jane, the spitfire of the bunch.

I'm not sure if my Grandma ever made this, and I'm sure I've never had it, but it made me smile so I thought I'd share. If anyone gives the recipe a whirl, let me know how it turns out.