Lima - last day

The last day! I signed up for a food and bike tour. This is the same tour company that I signed up with two days ago for a tour of the city center. This time we're going south of Lima, to a suburb called Barranco.

One of the same guides took us to a seaport, in the district of Chorillos, where freshly caught seafood is sold. The view was amazing and all the seafood could not look any fresher. The guide picked up some fish and took me to a nearby "mom & pop" seafood shop.

There, the fish was made into fresh cebiche!! Again, because the fish is so fresh, it didn't need much time to marinate. It came out within 10 minutes. It was as good as the one I made at the cooking class yesterday. The guide told me that locals eat cebiche between breakfast and lunch as a snack because many local restaurants don't have refrigerators, so they have to finish serving by early afternoon. Of course, big restaurants with good refrigeration can keep the seafood fresh and serve it at dinner.

The next stop was the oldest bar in Barranco, called Juanito Bar. Yes, it's a bar and we were supposed to have alcoholic drinks there, but not today.... Tomorrow is the presidential election day in Peru and any alcohol consumption the day before the election is prohibited.. But the causa trio below was excellent. These causa isn't the typical layered shape; instead, different toppings are served on top of balls of causa potato. This one had scallop, octopus and tuna (left to right). Still the best one is octopus. It was well seasoned and tender!

For dinner, I did some research because this is going to be the last meal in Peru. I found this restaurant, Panchita Sazon Criolla. It seems this is Gaston's restaurant. Some guidebooks and online comments mention Gaston's name but not the restaurant's website. So, I'm not totally sure... Gaston is probably the most famous chef in Peru and his restaurant, Astrid & Gaston, is ranked No. 14 of the world's 50 best restaurant in 2015. I had tried to book his restaurant in Cuzco, called Chicha, but couldn't make the reservation.

This restaurant specializes in grilled and stewed dishes. The first dish is anticucho. Compared to the anticucho I had the other day, this is definitely more sophisticated. The beef heart was cooked medium rare and the corn accompaniment was separated from the cob and lightly sauteed. The seasoning was as good as the other anticucho.

This is a pork stew, called adobo. Adobo can be totally different things depending on the culture. In the Philippines, adobo is normally a chicken stew involving vinegar. In Mexico, it refers to a chili-based pasty sauce. In Peru, adobo is stewed pork, which originated from the Arequipa region. I don't think that traditionally this is such a big chunk of pork but this restaurant offered a very generous portion, in a very complex flavored sauce. So yummy!

I don't know if this is a traditional or a fusion dish but it's so good! Stewed beef tongue that melts in your mouth. The sauce tasted a bit like Beef Bourguignon. I was expecting the puree underneath to be grits (corn), but it was a very creamy mashed potato.

In this trip, I would say the two most noteworthy dishes/foods were cebiche and fruits. I've had quite a few cebiche. But nothing can beat cebiche made with fish that was caught in the same day!! When marinated the minimal amount of time with fresh lime juice and fresh chilis, it cannot be any fresher. Also, the amazing fruits. My most favorite is granadilla, which is one of the sweeter passion fruits. It has a floral aroma that reminds me of some Pinot Noirs. It resembles lychee in flavor, which is also my favorite. In fact, the very last food I had in Peru was granadilla at the airport. I bought some at the supermarket and took it to the airport. I was enjoying it until I was ready to board the plane.

Another amazing trip!

Lima - 3rd day

My day starts with a market tour. This is a part of the cooking class I signed up for. I already see quite a few fruits from the other tours, but I still find interesting veggies/fruits that I haven't seen before.

This is a small seedless avocado. It still needs to be peeled like a regular avocado.

I've heard of camu camu but I had never seen one until now. Camu camu is cultivated in the Amazon region and is known for its amazing amount of vitamin c.

The other day, I talked to a guide about Sriracha and he didn't know about it. However, I found it here at the market. I think Sriracha will be the universal hot sauce soon....

This is aji amarillo. Literally yellow chili. This is nothing new to me because most popular salsa in Peru is made with aji amarillo. But I didn't know aji "Yellow" is actually aji "Orange."

This is totally brand new to me. It looks like some sort of beans pod but this is in fact a fruit. The name is pacay. It's amazing that Peru can still introduce me to something I've never seen....


Once I finished the market tour, I was transferred to the cooking school and we had a fruit tasting session. Peru has this many fruits to offer!

After the fruit tasting, the first dish we worked on is causa. Causa is a layered mashed potato dish with different ingredients between the layers. I had found that almost all the cooking classes offer causa, yet I'd hardly seen this at the Peruvian restaurants in the US. After taking the class, I found out why. The basic recipe is quite simple but the problem is obtaining the right potato. The particular potato I used to make this causa is yellow, less moist and glutenous. I don't think I can find the same potato in the US. The instructor chef said I can compensate by using dried mashed potato powder. Even if that's a last resort, I'm going to mix different potatoes to get the right texture in order to avoid using potato powder....

Fillings and toppings can be anything, and the choices and combinations are infinite. I'd like to nail the basic potato recipe and create my own version of causa! The photo below is the causa with chicken salad and avocado.

[Added in Jun 2020 - Causa cooking video with mg own personal twists]

This is definitely the highlight of the cooking class. It's a basic cebiche. By the way, cebiche can be spelled either cebiche or ceviche. I've made cebiche myselft but the class teaches me a couple of twists that I didn't know. One is fish stock and the other is evaporated milk. Diluting the marinade with fish stock and adding more flavor completely makes sense. Just lime juice by itself could be too edgy but adding fish stock will make it more rounded while providing additional umami from the stock. However, the addition of evaporated milk was a total surprise. I knew the liquid for the cebiche is called leche de tigre (tiger's milk) but I didn't expect actual dairy milk. I don't know if this is an original idea of the instructor or whether it's traditional. But it did make it tasty! Also, another surprise was the marinating time. I thought that fish needs to be marinated 30-60 minutes to be cured and absorb the flavors. However, it doesn't have to be marinated for long if the fish is fresh. In fact, the marinating time was barely 10 min. It was just superb!

The entree was lomo saltado. I've tried a few different versions of lomo saltado since I came to Peru. Since everything I tasted was different, I really don't know what lomo saltado is supposed to taste like. One ingredient I didn't expect in this recipe was red wine - I feel like it wasn't seasoned well. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best lomo saltado I've ever had.

The dessert is picarones, deep fried donuts with dark syrup. I had this yesterday at the street food tasting in the city center. We made it from scratch with sweet potato folded yeast dough. The ring shape is made with one hand. And every single student in the class tried it. That was very tough. Nonetheless, it was tasty.

The two dishes I learned about the most from the class are absolutely causa and cebiche. I have to try them as soon as I get home!



Because of the cooking, class, I wasn't that hungry for dinner. So, I decided to go to a seafood restaurant, called Pescados Capitales, to have a few appetizers. Since the first tiradito I had when I arrived in Lima wasn't what I was expecting, I wanted to check out another tiradito. When the server brought this tiradito, I was a bit disappointed. It totally looks like the fish is covered with thousand island dressing. It didn't look good at all. However, the creamy sauce was made with cashew nuts and the yellow sauce on top was aji amarillo salsa. It was freaking good!! I thought it'd look better if the cashew sauce was between the plate and fish and the aji amarillo sauce was on top of the fish. Anyway, it tasted so good! I'm glad that my initial thoughts were wrong.

This dish was also amazing. Grilled octopus on top of causa base (seasoned mashed potato). Topped with arugula-like greens tossed with vinaigrette. The balance was perfect. I don't know how they seasoned the octopus but it was unbelievably well flavored!

I didn't want to order any dessert because I wanted to check out an ice cream shop after dinner. But when I saw cherimoya mousse on the menu, I had to try it.... Also, based on the previous amazing dish, I couldn't resist. They didn't disappoint me at all. It was very "cherimoya." Cherimoya is naturally rich and creamy. I don't know how much additional cream is added, but it was so good!

I had to have lucuma ice cream before I left Peru. I found a shop called "Amorelado" near the hotel. Ripe lucuma taste like baked sweet potato. This ice cream tasted like 70% lucuma. It was great!! I'm glad I pushed myself to go for ice cream.

Tomorrow is the last day in Peru. Another food tasting tour and nice dinner to follow!

Lima - 2nd day

Today's schedule is exploring the city center of Lima on my own first, then joining a food and walking tour in the same area. One of the places I wanted to visit was the Gastronomic Museum. According to the guide book, it's a pretty small museum but the admission fee is only US$1.00. So, why not? It shows regional dishes using photos. Probably because my expectations were lowered, I kind of enjoyed visiting the museum.

The organized tour is conducted by Food Walking Tour Peru. They have different programs but I chose "Lima's Downtown Street Food." I was told by the tour company that I should be hungry so I had a very light lunch. The tour takes us to various food stands in the Lima city center. I didn't know exactly how many stops and how many dishes we were going to have. Let's see.

The first dish was the soup called Caldo de Mote. It's only US$1.00. It's a soup with corn and beef organ meats. It's probably cooked for a long time with the bones, based on the creamy color.Very comforting and tasty. The stand had optional toppings, such as cilantro, lime and salsa. I love spicy food and have tried many hot sauces/salsas. But I found Peru's salsa is quite hot!

Then, we move onto the fruit stand. The picture below is dragon fruits, which looks quite different from what I can find in California. Normally dragon fruits have super bright pink skin. Peruvian dragon fruit has the same flavor and texture. But this is sweeter. Dragon fruits are originally from Peru and transplanted in southeast Asia.

The next fruit is Cherimoya. I've seen and tried cherimoya at a Mexican market in California. But they are not as nearly sweet as this one. Also, the flavor is a lot more intense. Cherimoya is considered as one of the most expensive fruits in Peru.

The next savory dish is stuffed and deep fried potatoes topped with lightly pickled onion. The stuffing is chicken and some veggies. And the whole potato is fried in oil so that the inside is moist and the outside crisp. This stand also had a red salsa and that was very spicy. This dish was very good but a bit too salty. I started to realize the foods in Lima in general are saltier than those in Cuzco or Puno.

This is fish escabeche from the same stand. The fish was deep fried and cooked with tomato-based sauce. This dish was even saltier than the potato I had previously. Many foods from food stands tend to be salty for safety in many countries. But I thought this was very salty.....

After something salty, it's time for something sweet. The dish is called picarones, which are ring-shaped fried donuts. The donuts are coated with black molasses-like syrup. The Peruvians call it "honey" (miel) but this is a syrup. The dough was made with pumpkin and some spices.

The next dish is a very unique dish in many ways. In Peru, Chinese restaurants are called Chifa. The dish below is kam lu wantan. On the bed of fried wonton skin, stir fried mixed protein and vegetables, such chicken, duck, pork, beef, shrimp, squid, pineapple, snowpea, red bell pepper, etc. are placed in a mound. The sauce looks like sweet & sour. But this is just sweet.... Unlike the other foods I tasted, it's not salty at all. Just sweet.... I don't know whether the color comes from ketchup or some sort of red coloring. But there are no flavors. Just sweet.... Each country has their own version of Chinese food, normally sweeter than the original version. The guide said the sauce includes tamarind, but it's not really tangy. I tasted just sweetness.

Then, we walk around the market. Since I arrived in Lima, I found olives as a garnish on many dishes. I didn't associate olives with Peruvian cuisine. Not only are olives popular, but they're also grown in Peru. It seems Peru can grow anything..

This drink is called chicha morada. It's made by boiling purple corn, pineapple skin, spices (cinnamon & clove), and sugar. This is a very popular drink in Peru.

Then, I found this in McDonald's. It's a Chicha Morada Sundae!

The tour was ended with Peru's national cocktail, the pisco sour. The guide took us to the Gran Hotel Bolivar in the city center. I tasted the pisco and it wasn't too sour nor too sweet. Very good balance. I had a small portion of the basic pisco sour but I would have loved to try other variations.

They were right, I was really full. I think they could have introduced us to more dishes but they stopped because I said I was really stuffed. I'm planning to take another tour in another region of the Lima two days later again. I can't wait!!

Puno to Lima

I was picked up at 4:00 am in order to avoid the protesters' road blockage. As we left the quiet city center, I started to see some rocks on the street. Initially, I thought the rocks came from the nearby cliff but soon I realized these obstructions were created by the protesters because it got worse and worse as we progressed. I saw a very big (the size of small refrigerator) rock that I don't know how the protesters could have moved. The driver was driving in a zig zag to manner to avoid these rocks, although the smaller rocks made the ride very bumpy. At one point, a bunch of guys were blocking the street completely with huge concrete column and started to throw stones towards us as warning, a couple of which hit the underside of the car. The driver was trying to persuade them by explaining that he was just taking tourists to the airport but they didn't listen. So, the driver took a detour, which was unpaved. I saw more rocks on the road to the airport, which is about 30 miles away, including one large and unexpected pile that the driver ran over and we thought for sure would cause some damage to the transmission (but fortunately it didn't).

We somehow arrived at the airport thanks to the driver. That was the scariest drive in my life... Inside the super cold airport, I saw a few other people who left the hotel very early like me. Also, I saw other travelers arriving in the next hour. But around 6:00 am, the flow stopped. I guess all the possible streets were blocked by the protesters by then, so that the travelers who didn't leave early enough couldn't get to the airport.

A good thing (for me) was that since so many seats were empty because of the many travelers who couldn't make it to the airport, I could get on the earlier 9:45 am flight (my original flight was 1:43 pm). I arrived at Lima around 11:00 am - early enough that I can have a lunch here. After checking in at the hotel, I headed to the local cevicheria, called Costazul Seafood.

It seems the restaurant is listed on every single guidebook because the inside wall was filled with the messages from all the visitors in different languages. Like other Peruvian restaurants, the service was slow. I believe they make all the ceviche when they receive the order.

The cold platter below consists from 4 dishes. Marinated octopus, marinated mixed seafood (such as shrimp, squid and crab), ceviche and tiradito. The first two seemed pre-prepared. The octopus was a bit too salty and the mixed seafood was a bit too bland. However, the ceviche was excellent. I'm sure that was freshly prepared and had a good balance of salt and acid, as well as a good level of spice. Not too cured but not also not too raw. The tiradito was as fresh but it was different from what I was expecting. Tiradito is a Japanese version of ceviche and it's a hybrid of sashimi and cheviche. What I was expecting is thinly sliced raw fish (like sashimi) with various salsa on top. But their tiradito looks almost identical to ceviche. Obviously it''s less cured than ceviche so that the fish was simply tossed in the sauce. Maybe that makes this tiradito. I thought the fish was cut too big and the sauce wasn't strong enough to season the big chunks of fish. Nonetheless, very fresh fish.

Tonight's dinner was something special. I booked the restaurant way before I left for the trip. The restaurant is Maido, a well known Nikkei Peruvian restaurant. Nikkei means Japanese oriented and the chef is a part Japanese. The restaurant was chosen as one of the 50 world's best restaurants. Peru has 3 restaurants in the list but I wanted to go to Maido because I was interested in upscale Nikkei Peruvian foods.


The dinner is 15 course meal along with a drinks pairing. Unfortunately, the service wasn't up to the level of Michelin starred restaurants. However, the foods were very good. Here are some of the unique dishes / my favorites.

River snails with dale dale foam - the size of this snail is about that of a golf ball. Because the flesh is braised for long enough, there is no funky smell.

Paiche sandwich - Paiche is a fresh water fish from Amazon. It's prepared well so that there's no muddiness. Good balance of sweetness and acidity.

Seafood sushi (squid and scallop with chia) - The sauces on top were very good. I'm not sure if the chia did anything to the sushi, though.

Amazonic cebiche - cebiche with a fish from Amazon along with julienned peach palm. Peach palm is like bamboo shoot, somehow.

Sweetbreads sushi (one on the left) - This is the best dish of the meal! I'm not usually crazy about sweetbreads because of the texture. But this sweetbread was perfectly seared and seasoned! It totally worked as the sushi topping.  

Miso glazed Black cod - I do make something like this a lot. But it was very good balance between sweetness and saltiness.

Wagyu short rib, egg yolk, wrapped fried rice - the beef was cooked for 50 hours. Fried rice is inside the wrap but I'm not sure what the wrap is made with. It tasted like rice or tapioca flour. The dish was eaten after mixing all the components. Very yummy!



It seemed like no one in Lima knew about the protest in Puno. I know Puno is not a big city in Peru. After I got back to the hotel, I turned on the TV to see if the news is talking about the protest in Puno. Nothing.... I wonder if the current president even knows about the protest. Their current president didn't keep the his promises, so the residents in Puno have every right to be angry about this issue. But whatever they are doing is not reaching the president, I guess. I feel sorry for them.....

Puno

Today is a whole day tour in Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is located between Peru & Bolivia and is 3890m above sea level. Normally, I'm picked up at the hotel by a car but I was told that we need to walk to the ferry dock because driving a car today is not safe. What does that mean??

Peru's current president promised to establish facilities to clean the water quality of the Lake Titicaca when he was elected. However, he hasn't accomplished anything despite the end of his term, which is coming soon. Therefore, the residents of Puno decided to protest in order to insist that the current president keep his promise before he completes his term.

Anyway, I walked about 30 min to the ferry dock, which I didn't mind at all. But that was much longer than what the guide mentioned initially...

The first ferry stop was at one of the Uros islands. In fact, the Uros islands are man-made floating islands made with reeds that grow in the lake. The picture below is of the reeds and the inside white part can be eaten. It was very spongy and had no flavor. I guess it's just fibers... A boy on the island was eating reeds like a snack, though.

After visiting the Uros islands, the tour group moved to Taquile island. The lunch was served by the residents. Quinoa soup and trucha (trout) that was caught in Lake Titicaca. Unfortunately, the trout had the muddiness that fresh water fish usually brings. But it seemed very fresh and nicely cooked.

When I finished the tour, the guide told me that the protests will continue to tomorrow. The plan for tomorrow had originally been a short tour in the morning on the way to the nearby airport in Juliaca. However, because of the protest, the streets will be blocked and we can't get out of Puno. So, we need to leave Puno very early before the protesters wake up, like 3:00 am. Well, it's better than being stuck in Puno because I already made plans for tomorrow in Lima...

Because the protesters were blocking the street around the city, the city center was pretty quiet. I was worried that there wouldn't be any restaurants open tonight. Luckily, that wasn't the case. I didn't expect any non-pizza-related restaurants in Puno, but found one French-Peruvian restaurant, which is La Table del'Inka. The restaurant was located in very shady area. Because the city center is much quieter and it was getting darker, I wasn't sure if I should even try to go there... But I'm so glad I did!

One of the two starter is Trucha (Trout) cebiche. I've tried trucha cebiche a couple of times since I came to the mountain area (because they don't have access to salt water fishes). But I decided to give another try because this is French-Peruvian restaurant. It was more like trout tartar and a bit sweet side but the it was full of flavor. I can totally see this dish as French-Peruvian fusion dish.

Another appetizer is quinoa tabouleh with anticucho (skewed beef heart). This was very well seasoned with nice acidity. The anticucho was a bit too sweet by itself but balanced out with the tabouleh.

This is the French interpretation of the lomo saltado. Beef fillet with bourguoignon sauce along with potato gratin. It's more French than Peruvian. In fact, this is totally French. Nonetheless, it was a decent dish.

Another entree is Quinoto, which is a quinoa risotto. The risotto was shaped into a burger. I believe this is a vegetarian dish but it was full of flavors. Very nice presentation also.

Once I get back to the hotel, the tour agent called me to say that we are leaving 4:00am (instead of 3:00am). That's great but hope I can get to the airport safely...

Cuzco to Puno

Today was a travel day - moving from Cuzco to Puno by bus. This bus stops at several spots on the way including La Raya, which is the highest point on the route between Cuzco and Puno (4335m above sea level - slightly higher than Pike's Peak). As I got closer, I could feel a shortness of breath. Every time I dozed off, I suddenly woke up feeling like I couldn’t breathe. Then, I had to take a very deep breaths for a while to get enough oxygen.

Once I arrived at Puno, I started to look for a restaurant. Fortunately, the hotel was in the city center and there were so many restaurants nearby. However, it seems all the restaurants are either pizzerias or Peruvian with pizza and pasta. Possibly because these restaurants are trying to accommodate tourists from different cultures? Anyway, I chose Mojsa. Inside, there are many tourists...

I started from two appetizers, which were pretty good. Then, the entrees are Kankacho (grilled lamb) and Lomo de Alpaca. The Kankacho was too dry and wasn't very well seasoned. It seems the dish was bulked up with a bunch of potatoes. However, Lomo de Alpaca (Alpaca steak) was something to remember. It was very lean yet tender and flavorful. I was expecting some sort of gaminess but it tasted very clean. The accompanied sauce is made with coffee and elderberry, which created an excellent balance of tanginess and bitterness.    

One unique dessert is Coca creme brulee. Unfortunately, it wasn't really creme brulee but more like a soft flan because it's obviously thickened by starch. Creme brulee is supposed to be thickened by egg yolk only. Nonetheless, the flavor is really good. I did taste coca, which is close to green tea. 

I'm not sure if I can find any non-pizza-related restaurants in Puno. I hope that I can find something less touristy tomorrow.

Machu Picchu

It’s Machu Picchu Tour Day! This is the highlight of the trip (other than eating…). I woke up at 5:00am and got on the train at 6:40am. The train is called vista dome, designed for visitors. A while after I got on the train, they provided us a snack: prickly pear (which the Spanish call "tuna roja"), a small banana, nut mix and cake. The prickly pear was sweeter than any that I have tasted in the US. Some of the prickly pear I’ve had before had no flavor, but this was really nice. The small banana had slightly more yellow flesh and a bit more starchy texture. The cake is called choclo and is very well known sweet for locals. A very simple and not so sweet cake.

After 3.5 hours of train ride, 30 minutes of winding shuttle ride on super dusty narrow road, and 5 minutes of walking, I arrived at Machu Picchu. The subject of this blog is limited to food-related events, however, I’m going to make an exception this time because the view of Machu Picchu was unbelievable. I’ve seen several amazing mountain/cliff views. But I had never seen such steep mountains covered by deep green plants.

After I came back to the Machu Picchu train station, I had a late lunch at a French Peruvian restaurant, called Indio Feliz with unique decor. It may be an attempt at Incan style but it seemed more Bohemian / Mexican in taste. I wasn’t particularly looking for a fusion restaurant but thought it would be a better choice than going to a touristy “kind of” Peruvian restaurant with pizza and pasta. I did make a right decision!. It’s a three course meal where I can choose from their selections (5-10 different dishes for each course). 2 appetizer courses are Trujillo melon with elderberry liqueur and Creole soup.

The melon dish is more like a fruit cocktail, not a savory appetizer. Trujillo is a city by the coast, north of Lima. It was very refreshing but didn’t expect anything like this.

The Creole soup had lots of flavors and a nice kick from the accompanying green chili sauce.

One of the two entrees is trucha (trout) with a spicy tomato sauce, The fish was filleted very cleanly and there were no small bones left. The dish was accompanied by homemade garlicky potato chips and veggies, including roasted tomatoes.

The other entree is chicken with ginger red wine sauce. They were both very good.
On the return, the Vista dome (train) offered another unique snack. Nothing fancy to the locals but very "local." Gooseberries, Roasted corn, traditional mixed vegetable salad and a savory pie. The gooseberries had a distinctive tanginess but were the sweetest of those I've had. The corn is different from the kind used for pop corn. Also, it's not "popped", but still light and nicely crunchy. The mixed veggie salad includes carrot, fava beans and cheese. The cheese seemed to me like cheesy tofu (mostly for the texture). The savory pie seemed to have the same salad and probably onion inside. 

The meal ended with orange pie with lemon sorbet and apple pie with passion fruit sorbet. They were both good, I did really enjoy the orange zestiness from the orange pie.

I was lucky that I found this restaurant. I didn't expect any good restaurant in Machu Picchu since this is such a touristy place. In fact I would say this is the best restaurant in this trip so far. 

Since lunch was so late (around 3:00pm), I wasn’t hungry when I came back to Cuzco so I decided to check out the pisco bar which I had noticed the first day. It's called Museo del Pisco. This bar is also a tapas bar, which was perfect for my appetite then. Pisco is a distilled drink made from grapes. The well known cocktail, the pisco sour, is Peru’s national drink. This pisco bar is not just about pisco sours, as they also make their own flavored pisco infusions. By mixing the infusions along with other liqueurs and juices, they create amazing cocktails. The first drink was pisco passion. It was very tasty. The tapas I ordered included Anticucho (skewed beef hearts), grilled veggie pizza,

avocado & shrimp, and housemade prosciutto and cheese paste in pintxos style.

These are all flavorful and well-presented. But what was crazy good was the second cocktail made with prickly pair, called Amelia. It really blew my mind!! This is definitely the best mixed drink I’ve ever had!

Not only did the bartender do an amazing job in making such a fantastic drink, he also created a stunning presentation! I hope the picture above does it justice. He created a very cute character using a gooseberry that appeared to be smoking a rolled up coca leaf. He even lit the end of the leaf to add to the appearance.

This bartender is a soft spoken guy but very attentive and super detailed. I gave him the biggest tip I’ve ever given. He was that good!!

I was angry at myself that I didn’t try this bar when I noticed it the first day in Cuzco; then I could have tried more drinks. Unfortunately, today is the last day in Cuzco : (I had 3 drinks in total, though…)