To be blunt, Ecuador is not considered one of the most popular travel destinations in the world. It’s unlikely in your top 20 or top 30. But after just a day and a half here, it kind of feels like by waiting this long to visit Ecuador that the joke is really on me. When most western tourists think of Ecuadorian tourism, they probably think of the Galapagos Islands. They’ll likely fly in and out of Guayaquil, the gateway to the Galapagos, do their swimming with the sea turtles, and then immediately leave. But outside of the Galapagos, Ecuador is renowned for its exceptional biodiversity, with a vast number of ecosystems, microclimates, and a ridiculously high number of endemic species. And it’s all due to its geographical location given that it’s right on the equator line, is on the ocean, and also includes parts of the Andean mountains and the Amazon rainforest. When I did a quick search for day trips outside of Quito ahead of this trip, I was astonished when I saw the number of results that came up for day trips, overnight, multi-day, and trips that would require a flight that spanned national parks, waterfalls, endless volcanos, cloud forests, the Amazon rainforest, and dry forest tours. I was completely mind-boggled and overwhelmed with the options, similar to day trips outside of Cusco. Except here, instead of thinking of which archaeological sites to visit, I was thinking about what natural wonder I wanted to prioritize visiting.

This morning, we headed up to take the teleferiqo cable car ride where surprisingly, it wasn’t just a a single viewing point we were taken to. We actually had multiple points where we could veer off and do our own hiking. I did not come prepared for that, as I wore nine-year-old flats that are near the end of their life. But the terrain was far more rugged than I imagined. Kaia yelped and whined many times when she felt it was too steep for her, and she had to coaxed endlessly to walk up and down rocky areas where she (ugh) slid a bit. The views were absolutely stunning: so many different shades of green surrounded us from so high up. We got to see endless mountains, a number of different volcanoes (for which we knew none of the names!), and lots of poofy marshmallow like clouds across the sky. Quito is technically at the equator line, but because we’re so high above sea level, the weather is quite mild here (mid 60s F). So we definitely had to wear more than our summer clothing in New York here.

When we came down, it was time for lunch. So we headed to the Mercado Central for a bowl of encebellado, or a mixed seafood soup, a bandesa plate of grilled fish, plantains, and rice, plus of course, fresh squeezed juice (maracuya). We made the acquaintance of a sweet fruit lady, who sold us a generous cup of husked goosberries, a cherimoya (maybe a third of the size of the ones in Lima!), and a yellow pitaya for just $3.50 USD. And as we walked towards the historic central district, we stumbled upon a tiny store front manned by one woman with a sign for “agua de cana” or “sugar cane juice.” she was running sugar canes through her machine multiple times to extract every last drop of juice. And she was also making other juices, such as jackfruit and orange. We got two cups — one cup of super ripe jackfruit juice blended with fresh cracked coconut juice, and one cup of sugar cane juice with a touch of fresh sour orange, for just $2.50. The sugar cane juice was very different here versus in the U.S., Australia, or Asia (where we primarily enjoy it). In Asia, it’s usually a deep green, almost golden color. Here, the sugar cane juice is much more on the brown side and almost seems caramelly in flavor. Both were a bargain and super refreshing. These tiny moments where we find little gems like this is always what makes our travel days so fun and interesting.

The Chinese diaspora is massive. It’s almost as though it’s in the Chinese DNA to travel far and wide in search of greater opportunity and the hope for a better life for the next generation. And when they have traveled, they have influenced local cuisines in the places where they’ve immigrated to. When the Chinese immigrated to the United States, many in search of gold and fortune, they modified their food to suit the tastes of Americans, which typically meant that they added more sugar to their dishes, more fried elements, as well as a greater emphasis on meat. This resulted in dishes that cannot be found in mainland China, foods like crab rangoon (which I’d actually never heard of until I moved to the East Coast in 2004) and orange chicken. In Australia, the Chinese created dim sims, which are a steamed or (more popularly) fried dumpling with a thick, crispy skin, filled with meat and sometimes shredded vegetables. And in Peru, Chinese food became so popular that it even got its own category for the fusion Peruvian Chinese cuisine: “chifa,” which derives from “ni chi fan” or “have you eaten yet?” in the Mandarin Chinese language. I was eager to see what the hype was around chifa, and on our first full day in Lima, we popped into a Chinese restaurant in Lima Chinatown to try some of this out.

Dishes that are typically recommended when trying out chifa are arroz chaufa, or Chinese fried rice with a Peruvian twist of aji amarillo paste for subtle heat; lomo saltado, or stir fried beef, onions, and tomatoes, usually served with rice; tallarin saltado, or stir-fried noodles with a mix of protein and vegetables, with a similar chili sauce added. I was warned by several travel blogs that even the smallest sizes for chifa dishes can be massive, so I should order the smallest servings to prevent too much waste. I got two dishes: the house special arroz chaufa, and the pork/vegetable stir fried tallarin. And what ended up being a little funny was that the fried rice was exactly like a really good pork/seafood fried rice would be like in New York or anywhere else in the world. It had a really strong and delicious wok hei flavor, ample pork and shrimp, lots of egg and scallions and minced vegetables. But for us, there was no distinctive Peruvian flair to it. I didn’t detect any subtle heat or aji seasoning. It was tasty, but it didn’t seem like fusion to us. Then, there were the stir fried noodles I ordered, which were tasty, but again, they didn’t have anything that made them distinctively Peruvian Chinese. The pork and vegetables were cut up fatter and larger, but that was about it. Chris said he liked the food (but was sad at the amount we couldn’t finish given the portions could have easily fed a party double or even triple our size!), but he said he felt the meal was “wasted” because we didn’t taste or discover anything particularly new or really defining “chifa” here. I did exactly what I read to do — I looked for specific dish names and ordered accordingly. But alas, I wasn’t able to get the “chifa” flavor I was seeking. At least the slightly westernized Chinese food we did end up having was tasty, though lacking in Peruvian flavors as I’d hoped.

The next fusion food I was hoping to try while in Peru was Nikkei, or Peruvian Japanese food. Unfortunately, I felt a little disappointed once again. We tried a place that was recommended from a few lists I had combed through. I ordered several Japanese rolls from a list of mostly deep fried shrimp rolls. The sauces topping the rolls were like spicy mayo / avocado based sauces. But what I didn’t like was the use of cream cheese in one or two of the rolls. I just felt like that was overpowering the seafood and the overall flavor of the rolls, and it added a heaviness that I do not normally associate with nigiri/Japanese rolls. I get why cream cheese in rolls are popular, but I was over Philadelphia rolls (salmon and cream cheese rolls) back when I was a teen.

All cuisines are evolving. It’s hard to say that one dish is more “authentic” than another because cuisines evolve with time, changing tastes, immigration, and its people. But I’ve discovered that with any Japanese food, too much added fried or “crispy” stuff or cream cheese just detracts from the overall delicateness of the cuisine for me. I’m still open and willing to try any fusion cuisine; to date, my absolute favorite is most definitely Indian-Chinese, a la my favorite restaurant Tangra Masala!), but I guess these are versions that aren’t my favorite here.

I was a teen when I had my first taste of a cherimoya. I was with my parents at a Vietnamese market in San Jose, and my mom found a good deal on some cherimoyas and got a couple. Cherimoyas are usually ridiculously expensive when you are able to find them ($15-25/lb, anyone?); they are really only at ethnic grocery stores during very specific seasons of the year. My mom cut it open for us and instructed us to remove the outer green skin and to eat the white flesh, spitting out the large black seeds inside. I wasn’t sure what exactly I was eating, but I knew I was in heaven at the very first bite. Cherimoya is commonly referred to as a custard apple in English, and the name is very apt, as the texture, when ripe, truly is like a rich, fruity, almost velvety custard. The taste is hard to describe, but it’s a very tropical flavor. It’s very similar to a mix of very sweet pineapple, papaya, kiwi, and strawberry. That’s a lot of different fruit to compare it to, but that’s because the flavor is extremely sweet and very complex!

So I got my ~$2 USD cherimoya that was about 3 pounds yesterday. We ate it this morning at breakfast, and Chris got so overwhelmed by how much fruit there was and felt so full after we ate it; I have no idea what he was referring to, though. I could have eaten the cherimoya all day long and been totally fine! Today, we went to Surquillo No. 1 and 2 Market, where en route, I picked up another large cherimoya for a tiny bit more money, plus a local Edward mango, a fresh lucuma, and some maracuya/passion fruit. I’ll be the fresh fruit lady at our hotel breakfast tomorrow morning, but I have no shame and instead, will proudly carry my market-purchased, freshly washed fruit onto the breakfast floor!

While I shopped for fruit, Chris took a look at the prepared food stalls and what the locals were eating. We were likely the only tourists in the market that morning and got a lot of friendly smiles. He got us a bowl of chupe de pescado for just a couple bucks after watching all these other people come and go, happily slurping their soups from this one teeny tiny little stall. “Chupe de pescado” literally means “fish stew.” It was quite a wonder to watch the little woman behind the counter prepare it, as the stock pots seemed to almost tower over her! She had a huge stock pot with just fish stock, and another large pot with all the actual fish meat, eggs, and other seasonings. For each bowl, she strained the stock of the fish bones, then added all the accompaniments to the chupe.

I am not sure what kind of fish was in that stew. I don’t know what else was in that thick soup other than shredded and cut up fish, eggs, and some herbs. But I do know that that was likely one of the very best and richest fish soups I’ve ever had the privilege of eating. The deep yellow soup looked like it was just full of fish collagen! The stalls that only sell one or two things are always my favorite places to eat at markets when we travel. If they can make a living just serving one or two things, those one or two things must be darn good. And this was!

We’re spending the first few days of our South America trip in Lima. As we wandered through the city and explored the main square, Chinatown (Peru has a large Chinese population that has given birth to “chifa” or Peruvian Chinese food), and Pueblo Libre, I thought about all the people I’ve met over the years, mostly colleagues, customers, and friends of friends, who have explicitly stated that they “avoid cities” when traveling. Some of them have even said they “avoid cities like the plague” and “cannot stand them” when on vacation. All of them live in suburbs or rural areas; none live in major cities. I wonder, though, when this actually became acceptable to say? To me, when I hear someone say something like this, what I actually hear them saying is, “I avoid places where there is culture and diversity. I dislike places where I can discover new things and challenge assumptions I had about the world.” Because if you actually said those last two sentences in any setting, whether it’s at work, amongst friends/family, or even to total strangers on the street, you’d appear to be an ignorant asshole who is scared of anything you are unfamiliar with. But I generally think: meh. It’s their loss that they don’t even realize is a loss, not mine, and not my problem or my bone to pick.

I’ll be honest: Lima, Peru, is not on my list of “beautiful cities.” It has fancy and wealthy neighborhoods, working class neighborhoods, areas with lots of grittiness and grime. The traffic here is absolutely horrendous with cars running red lights here and there and endless close calls with cars almost hitting pedestrians. Lane lines? What for? Just drive where you want! And from everything I’ve read, the public transit system is an inefficient nightmare. But Lima is brimming with culture, with lots of different (and indigenous) languages spoken, historic squares and streets. I was excited when I found out it was cherimoya season in Peru, and I snagged a massive, nearly 3-lb cherimoya for just over $2 USD from a friendly street vendor, whose cart was almost overflowing with heaps of fat green custard apples. He gave us samples and even gave Kaia extra samples when he saw she enjoyed the fruit. At Antigua Taberna Queirolo, one of the oldest bars and restaurants in Lima, having been around since 1880, we got to try our first pisco sours of our Peru trip (classic and maracuya/passion fruit, both excellent), plus a half/half mix of arroz con leche (rice pudding) and mazzamora morada (Peruvian purple corn pudding flavored with warm spices, pineapple, and apple). And in the evening in Pueblo Libre, we stumbled upon a little family-owned cafe/bakery where they made chocolate lucuma cake and introduced us to lucuma blended into a smoothie with milk. Lucuma is a new fruit for us. It’s native to the Andean valleys, specifically around Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and Bolivia, and is known as the “gold of the Incas.” Lucuma is round and green on the outside, and deep orange/golden yellow on the inside with an interesting starchy flesh almost like a sweet potato. The flavor is very interesting: it’s almost like a cross between a papaya, fig, and sweet potato. It goes perfectly blended with milk, and it’s a very popular fruit drink combination in Peru.

When traveling, I love visiting other cities. I love being able to see the countryside and rural areas. I love the mountains and the ocean. I love it all. But what I love most is discovering new things and new flavors (why would I travel to see the same stuff I see every day where I live?!). Lucuma wasn’t on my mental list of things to try here, but I really loved it, especially blended with milk. I will most definitely remember this fruit in the future and how unique it is.