Peru - 1st stop Lima

We arrived at Lima Airport late at night. Thanks to our always optimistic Lonely Planet guidebook, we were terrified about being robbed and shot by the millions of imposter taxi drivers that frequent Lima airport (apparently), so we arranged a pick up by our hostel. When we walked out of the baggage claim area a guy was standing there with Grey’s name on a piece of paper – Grey felt happy.

People in Lima drive like crazy – even compared to their wild South American counterparts (Portenos, Chileans) – and the drive to our hostel, Inkafrog, in Miraflores (the affluent seaside area where most tourists stay) was a little hair raising. We also drove past about 15 KFC’s, and have subsequently learnt that Peruvian’s LOVE fried chicken.

Memories of Lima:

• After walking around BA for 3 hours, sitting in the airport for 4 hours and being on a plane for 5 hours, we really wanted hot showers upon arrival at the hostel. Unfortunately the gas heater was broken. So angering;
• We explored the central area of the city. The main square, Plazas de Armas, is beautiful, surrounded by government buildings, the city cathedral and miscellaneous colonial buildings. We watched the changing of the guard outside the government building (slightly less formal than the Buckingham Palace version (the guards hold trumpets and drums instead of guns)) and then made an unsuccessful attempt to visit La Cathedral de Lima (it was having electrical problems so the lights were off);

Plaza de Armas, Central Lima

Plaza de Armas, Central Lima

• We also visited the Monasterio de San Francisco to see the underground catacombs containing the bones of around 70,000 people. Unfortunately, we had to go on a 45 minute Spanish tour of the rest of the Monastry before doing so, which was a little underwhelming. In the catacombs, all the different bones (femurs, hips, skulls etc) were separated from each other and the monks had arranged them into patterns (think row of skulls, row of fingers, zigzag line of hip bones etc). Strange!
• We ate cerviche at La Nautica (day 1 - amazing) and Tio Sonia (day 2 - overpriced and not so good). The flavours of cerviche (lemon, onion) are really strong, and since eating it on day 2 of Peru, I can’t see either of us wanting to eat it again;

Amazing cerviche with crab, octopus and fish at La Nautica

Tired in taxi after cerviche at La Nautica

• Explorations of Miraflores – many shops, restaurants, a great central park area, lively nightlife, and a beautiful coastline;

Awesome "Sandwicheria" - La Lucha, Miraflores

Miscellaneous sandwich, Miraflores

• Playing in a games arcade, winning tickets and a tiny prize;
• We bought books by Hiram Bingham and John Hemming in preparation for our arrival in Inca territory and read them overlooking the Pacific in a giant outdoor shopping mall, Lacomar, built into the wall of a cliff;

Looking out over the other side of the Pacific Ocean

• Dinner at Astrid y Gaston, a very famous, expensive and well regarded restaurant. We ate “an assortment of 5 homemade breads”, Black Hen Ravioli with caviar and something, something else, beef cheek with bone marrow and something, conga eel with tomatoes and something else, Morande chardonnay from Casablanca (Chile) and petit fours;

Dinner at Astrid y Gaston, Lima

Black Hen Ravioli ++, Astrid y Gaston

• Sunset over the Pacific;

Sunset over the Pacific

Park with skating/cycling tracks, all along the Pacific Coast

Sunset, Miraflores

• I got stuck in the bathroom of our room! Grey and I fiddled and pushed the door for a few minutes before Grey went to fetch the reception guy. He started pushing his shoulder into the middle of the door and I could see it cracking open from inside. After maybe 15 minutes Grey said “Stand back” and him and bits of the door lock came flying into the bathroom. Hilarious!
• Pisco sours in the centre of Miraflores – a lively area where Peruvians go to drink.

Cool town ~ Valparaiso

Valparaiso is a big town on the Pacific Coast of Chile. I love it. Prior to the construction of the Panama Canal, it was a major port city - many ships travelling from California to New York and beyond would stop there. The town fell into decay with the opening of the canal, however, recently it has undergone (and continues to undergo) a revival of sorts – becoming THE centre of art and culture in Chile.

The town is made up of colourful ramshackle buildings, set on the steep cliffs of the Andes overlooking the Pacific. Throughout the town there are many 19^th century inclinators (called accensors) for getting up and down the hills – they are a scary ride. There is art everywhere – you cannot turn down a street without walking past a bright, beautiful mural. Walking the streets was like walking through an art gallery.

The town was hit hard by the February 2010 earthquake in Concepcion and we could still see signs of the destruction. Most notably, the town’s once famous seafood market was abandoned. We spent a couple of days checking out Valparaiso and it's neighbouring town, Vina del Mar. We also drove north along the Pacific Coast, past beaches and little fishing towns. 

The streets of Valparaiso

Street art

Walking the streets

Dolls are made and burnt on Easter Sunday for good luck

Mural near the market

Sopapilla

Open top cage at a pet shop

Sibaritico - Huge hotdog as seen on Anthony Bourdain

Eating Sibaritico, overlooking the Pacific

A mist cloud moves into Vina del Mar

View from our hotel, Valparaiso

Breakfast at our hotel

The port area

Mirador, Valparaiso

Cute wall in a cafe

Terrace houses

Dinner at Vanilla restaurant

Mending a fishing net

Seabirds, Pacific coast

Chilean Winery Adventures

Valle de Maipo

You know driving around a city is tough when the GPS doesn’t even know where the hell you are! Trying to find the famous Chilean wine region, The Maipo Valley, was an immense pain in the backside, thanks to our GPS which told us we weren’t driving on a road, whilst driving on the biggest road out of Santiago.

South Americans don’t understand the concept of wine tasting as we do (Hunter Valley experience only). First of all, you need to book ahead if you want to organize a tasting, forget about popping into a winery on a whim! Secondly, all tasting come as a package deal with a tour of the vineyard. Honestly, who cares about your big stainless steel tanks, and your medium toast French oak barrels, just give us some free wine and let us go on our MERRY way!! Which brings me to the third point, you need to PAY for the privilege of having a salesman sell you on how good their wines are. Maybe, unlike Australians, South Americans are unlikely to get smashed on a wine tasting and promptly order 3 cases (at inflated prices) to be sent to their house for additional cartage.

And so we headed out to Concha y Torre, the biggest vineyard in Chile, on Easter Sunday, without a booking and having no idea where the hell we were going! We opted to sit in their restaurant as opposed to taking a full tour, and proceeded to “taste” 6 full glasses of wine (between 3, not each – I was driving). The white wines in Chile are better than their Argentine counterparts. Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Torrontes were tasted and very much appreciated! We also tried the Carmenere grape (red) which is indigenous to Chile.

The second vineyard we tried to visit was closed, so we drove around the weird outer suburbs of Santiago, which were a cross between country town and slum. We stumbled upon the Artesenal market and had another great ceviche and a seafood empanada. We met some Aussies from Epping, who were living and working in Sao Paulo with their 3 kids. They were very interesting as they had been all round South America and gave us a few tips.

Gaucho on horse, back streets of Santiago

Casablanca

We also visited the Casablanca wine region, between Santiago and the Pacific Coast, on route to Valparaiso. It was a perfect day – sunny and warm – and we had a BEAUTIFUL lunch on a deck of House of Morande overlooking the vines. 5 courses each and 5 wines to match. We ate squid, fish and clam cerviche on big spoons, squid ink risotto with shellfish, beef carpaccio and crème caramel. Very sure there was another course that I cannot recall.

Afterwards we walked amongst the vines and played on a conveniently placed seesaw. 

5 spoon cerviche

Osso buco

Santiago de Chile – More than just machas ….

On 21^st April we woke up and had our rental car delivered to our hotel in Mendoza. Thanks to advice from Diego, we expected a 4-5 hour drive to Santiago.

Despite a few low gear issues, our little Chevy went well and we were hooning along the mostly one lane highway at break neck speed toward the Argentine-Chilean border.

The drive was awesome. The road traces its way towards the tallest mountain in South America (Aconcagua) through amazing valleys, carved through the amazing cordillera, with the steep jagged peaks protruding atop amazingly carves ranges, sparkling in yellows, purples, reds and greens. The layers of rock are amazingly clear and the colours come from the presence of iron, copper and sulphur. 

After a pitstop for supplies at the cross-road town of Uspallata, we continued down the RN-7 towards the border. After passing what we thought was the border crossing to get into Argentina, we drove for a good 15kms before we started worrying whether it was actually where we had to stop for border control into Chile … just as we contemplated turning around, the border control appeared.

We queued in the car for about 45 minutes, and almost passed through without any fuss. Mine and MIsh’s passports were stamped for entry, however when the immigration official checked Cathy’s it turned out she had not been stamped INTO Argentina at the International Airport. After an hour of back-and-forth, we were eventually allowed to pass and continued onto Santiago.

We arrived in Santiago a little puckish and tucked straight into the famous Lomito, a steaming pork sandwich, topped with Chucrut (Sauerkraut), tomato, lettuce and lots of mayo. Sealed by a great bread bun (a rarity in South America) it really was more than the sum of its part and hit the spot after the long drive.

Coffee, Santiago style

The Lomito Completo

Lomit's, the best Lomitos

Doing the accounting

After, we walked around the Providencia area of the city where our hotel was located.

Sculpture

The city river

  What we really craved, being in Chile, was some seafood, especially after the months in Argentina, where “seafood” is muttered only slightly more frequently than “vegetarian”. After some lengthy investigation-ing, we settled on Liguria Bar and Restaurant, and we weren’t to be disappointed.

We read the menu, but surprisingly (although it as has been the case in most new countries we’ve visited) we couldn’t really understand it.

After receiving a recommendation from our waiter we settled on:

• Pinzas de Jaiba – crab claws;
• Machas a la parmesana – razor clams with parmesan;
• Sopa de Almejas – clam soup;

Needless to say the food was absolutely amazing, and, at no more than 60 bucks (bottle of wine and multiple beers included) a dead set steal!!

Machas!

Our first full day in Santiago, coincided with Good Friday, so what better day to visit the central market of a city of over 7 million people right?! In general we love visiting the markets of cities, it’s a great way to chat to locals (usually they poke fun at you) and really get a feel for a culture through its food. This day we were travelling in the footsteps of Anthony Bourdain and his trip to Santiago. We were in search of the Vega Central, which was shut for repairs, and then for a feed at La Vega Chica.

Fish market, hectic on Good Friday

Flowers, $1AUD for a dozen roses

The central market was chockers, full of people buying fish to celebrate the death of Jesus. It was absolute chaos, but the array of seafood was fantastic. After having a quick look around, we avoided the tourist oriented restaurant and went a couple of blocks to find the Vega Chica, which we would have missed had we not asked a local shopkeeper.

Restaurants lined the interior of this small market, and while we tried our best to find Bourdain’s preferred restaurant here, we settled for one of the many, no-named venues packed full of locals. We had a great Peruvian style ceviche, pastel de choclo (corn meal, pumpkin, meat and chicken pie), Mariscal (seafood soup) and shellfish. All was amazing and most dishes were between 3-5 AUD!

This was only a hour after breakfast

The ceviche had us discussing how good the food in Peru will be, fingers crossed.

Unfortunately, after leaving the market, we crossed a bridge heading back to the main road. Something was awry and Mish - there was lots of dodgy looking people around. We did not realize that Cathy was walking a little bit behind us and by the time we turned around someone had grabbed her camera out of her hands and run off. Bad times.

The weather was terrible so we only had a brief look around the central square and the main pedestrian street, Ahumada, and pretty much everything was closed for Easter. The city was more or less a ghost town outside of the markets.

We returned to Santiago for one more night after driving to the Pacific Coast and back. With the holiday weekend over, the city was buzzing. We had another great night out at Bar Liguria, sampling the best seafood the country had to offer. Amazing!

Dog asleep in box

All the employees at this party shop were dressed as rabbits or eggs...

Football dog