Caraguay Market, Ecuadorian chocolate, and lulo ice cream

Saturday was our last full day in Ecuador and in South America for this trip. It was a bit bittersweet to have the trip come to an end. On our last day, we visited a Caraguay Market, a very local market for fresh food, produce, and food stalls. There, we got a real taste of local blackberries that were a very interesting mix of sweet and tart. They definitely tasted like the un-sugared version of the mora (blackberry) ice cream we enjoyed at La Dulceria La Palma the other day! We also had a really deeply flavored sopa de mariscos from a prepared food vendor stall for just $2. It definitely felt like we could have been the only tourists at that market. The interesting thing about this market versus other markets we’ve visited in South America and around the world is that here, we saw endless vendors selling bags and bags of freshly picked beans. They ranged from fava to what looked like borlotti beans and white beans. I knew they were fresh because I actually saw some vendors freshly picking the beans out of pods! In addition to that, for the very first time I saw hibiscus flowers being sold fresh. Usually when I see them, they are already dried, but here, it was as thought they were freshly plucked! Hibiscus juice or “jamaica” is also very popular down here, though we never had any since we favored coffee or freshly blended juices like maracuya or tomate de arbol.

The last stop we had was at San Fernando Chocolateria in Guayaquil. It was quite touristy since it was right next door to the national chocolate museum, but here, we had a cookie brownie, a hot chocolate, and a scoop of lulo (fruit) ice cream — likely our last taste of lulo this trip. Kaia asked for chocolate, but well, we had to veto her and get lulo. She didn’t seem to mind and kept on wanting more and more bites of the lulo ice cream.

Every time we’ve had chocolate either here or in Peru, I’ve noticed that the chocolate just tastes fruitier. One of our guides told us that the chocolate here tends to be cacao plus sugar, and little else. Occasionally, they will add milk, but there are no other additives. While a lot of other chocolate manufacturers around the world will add “fat” to chocolate from things like various vegetable or palm oils, in Ecuador and Peru, the fat comes purely from the cacao butter, so the actual cacao bean itself.

After doing some further reading about Ecuadorian chocolate specifically, I learned that two different types of Ecuadorian cocoa plants are grown — National (arriba) and the CCN51 hybrid. The National/Arriba beans (“fine aroma”) beans are recognized for their fine floral flavor and fruity aromas. Ecuador produces about 63 percent of all fine Arriba chocolate in the world today. Unfortunately for us, though, Arriba beans only account for less than five percent of the entire world’s cocoa crop. So less people will be able to experience the complex flavors of Arriba cacao beans. CCN51 hybrid is a stronger plant in that it’s more resistant to disease and thus easier to grow. It also produces larger beans. Sadly, though, these beans are supposed to have a less nuanced taste. But they’re cheaper, so they make it easier for more people around the world to taste chocolate.

I should have known that there were a variety of different cacao plants in existence in the same way there are dozens and dozens of different mango, apple, and any other fruit out there. But having learned this and hearing more about chocolate from our guides, I realized that the higher level of fruitiness of the chocolate we were tasting was not just in my head. The flavor of chocolate actually is richer, deeper, and more layered here than I am used to. While I still enjoy milk chocolate I think my tastes are definitely preferring darker chocolates now in search of more flavors and nuance.

Six crabs for $18, iguanas, and my beloved alfajores in Guayaquil, Ecuador

Guayaquil is an interesting city. It’s the largest city in Ecuador, both by population and size, and is considered the country’s main port and economic capital. From a tourist’s standpoint, it’s also seen as the main access point to get to the Galapagos Islands. While I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived in Quito to see that the traffic was really predictable and orderly, I was shocked how different Quito traffic was to Guayaquil’s. In Guayaquil’s, it seemed as erratic and crazy as in Lima. Cars didn’t always stop at stop signs or red lights. They rarely give way for pedestrians here. It almost felt like we were once again in a different country!

Chris described Guayaquil as feeling “gritty.” He doesn’t mean it as though it’s dirty, but he says it has a different feel to it than Quito. It’s definitely far less manicured and picturesque here. In my own mind, Guayaquil is most definitely not as clean or orderly as Quito. On a lot of the streets, it smelled like an unpleasant mix of excessive bird poop and mildew. But I suppose that adds to the “character” of Guayaquil for those who choose to stop here for a few days.

The biggest highlights to our first full day in Guayaquil yesterday were 1) the cheap crabs (six for $18!) at Mercado del Rio, 2) the iguanas at a park in the middle of the city, and 3) Dulceria La Palma.

After the very expensive crab experience I’d had in Hong Kong earlier this year, I really wasn’t ready to pay much money at all for any crabs again. Plus, I dislike cracking crabs by myself and think it should really be a group activity. But when we saw cheap crabs on the menu at Mercado del Rio along the water, Chris insisted that I get them. So it was supposed to be five crabs for $18, and somehow, I got a sixth bonus one! These weren’t as fresh as the Dungeness crab I had in Hong Kong, but it’s okay since it didn’t feel like robbery like that meal was. I mostly focused on the claws and larger legs and left the rest. Chris and Kaia also had their seafood fix via some freshly grilled fish and seafood stew.

When we got to the Parque Seminario, known for iguanas just hanging out, I was wondering when we’d come across one… and then, suddenly, there were many! And once again, my child never fails to surprise me. Kaia shocked me when she exhibited no fear of the Andean condors outside of Quito just days ago. Then, while at a park in the middle of Guayaquil known for having lots of iguanas today, she was once again unfazed seeing these scaly looking reptiles. She tried to feed and even throw leaves on them and didn’t even look the least bit scared.

Another place we visited that we all loved was Dulceria La Palma. It’s a local institution for coffee, breakfast, snacks, and sweets that originally opened in 1908, but now has several locations. We went to the original location and had coffees, a tomate de arbol (local fruit) juice, two (yes, TWO!) mora (blackberry) ice creams, and sampled a few bite sized pastries. People were constantly streaming in and out for coffee, ice cream, ham and cheese sandwiches, and massive takeout boxes of pastries and cookies.

For me, the highlight here was finally, finally having alfajores on this South America trip. I originally ordered just two to try, but we ended up ordering two more (and our kind, friendly waiter threw in a third one on the house for us!). The alfajores were small, bite sized, and topped generously with a big sprinkling of powdered sugar. The biscuits shattered on contact as they should given their buttery quality. And the insides were so funny: the bakers who prepared them simply piped on a small dollop of caramel without spreading them. They were probably thinking, “yeah… we don’t have to spread them in this sandwich cookie for you; you get the idea, so go eat it!” These little bites of alfajores really topped off this trip for me.

“Can you calm down me?” and other toddler fun while in South America

In the last three-ish years since we’ve been traveling with Kaia, whenever we have a big trip, whether it’s been to India, Germany, Argentina, or Ecuador and Peru, one of the first questions I get asked from colleagues is, “Is your kid coming, too?” What my colleagues aren’t aware of is the fact that we don’t have grandparents on either side who live close by to just swoop in and take care of Kaia for a week or two. We can’t just drive an hour, drop her off, and then head to the airport. We also cannot easily have the grandparents fly from their homes in San Francisco or Australia to take care of her just because we want to fly off to some fun, exotic destination sans child. On Chris’s side, there’s the obvious issue of distance. On my side, it’s an issue of distance… plus the fact that I categorically do not trust my parents, mentally or physically, to care for my child.

Traveling with a baby, or now toddler, has its challenges. It makes even the slightest things, like going through airport security, more annoying and taxing. Packing is a lot more onerous because of all the other things we have to remember to bring for her (like her potty seat or overnight pull-ups, plus all emergency supplies). Our trip is also compromised because we cannot do everything we’d like to do. The biggest case in point is that we didn’t choose a Macchu Picchu outing on this trip because of her. We’re also not going to the Galapagos Islands… since how are we going to go snorkeling with a three-year-old? But I think all that is evened out by seeing her discover and explore new things, places, tastes, and also seeing her understanding of the world increase. Her love of trains, cars, airports, and planes is clear. She is usually open to trying new foods, thus increasing the diversity of her gut biome. And she always wants to know when she’s going on a train or plane next. She’s been able to see and interact with people from literally all over the world. When we arrived in Guayaquil yesterday, she yelled that we were going to Guayaquil, “not Ecuador!” and Chris had to explain to her that Guayaquil was in Ecuador, just as Quito was. Guayaquil is a part of Ecuador!

Last night, while putting her to bed, we finished reading and she looked up at me with a sleepy smile and said, “Can you calm down me?” I giggled a little when I heard this. While the grammar was definitely wrong, I just smiled so hard at the fact that she said this and knew what she was saying. I wondered if her teachers at school ever give her a back rub or something to “calm her down” before a nap (if she actually naps, that is). Chris and I never say to her that we’re going to calm her down before bed, so it must have been her school teachers who she picked this up from. As I rubbed her back and head while she closed her eyes, I wondered when the day would come when she’d get the grammar of this sentence correct. And I knew that when that day would, in fact, come, I’d likely be sad because once again, another teeny tiny part of her toddlerhood would slip away from her… and from me.

Museo Guayasamin and the “value” of art from the White person’s perspective

I learned about Oswaldo Guayasamin, the famous Ecuadorian artist of Quechua and Mestizo heritage, just a few months ago while researching interesting places to visit in Quito. He grew up poor but had a knack for painting and sculpture. He made his art debut quite young, just in his late 20s, which propelled him into an exciting life in the global art world. He used his fame and art to highlight painful truths of society, such as racism, social and cultural injustices (particularly to indigenous peoples given his own background), and inequality and oppression amongst people of lower social classes. His most famous paintings depict human suffering in multiple forms. It’s clear from looking at his work that he was heavily influenced by Pablo Picasso, as there are cubist elements to a lot of his stroke work that resemble Picasso’s art. In addition to recognition for his artwork, he was also given a prize for “an entire life of work for peace” by UNESCO. He’s also likened to the Michelangelo of Latin America by a number of art historians. In 2022, three years after his passing, La Capilla del Hombre (“the chapel of man”), housing his art, opened to the public, next to the house he spent the last twenty years of his life in. Both are located in the high hills overlooking Quito (which also meant it was a trek and a lot of sweat for us to get up there!). The chapel was made to document man’s cruelty to man and also the potential of greatness within humanity. La Capilla del Hombre and Guayasamin’s house were our last stops yesterday late afternoon before ending the day and packing up to head down to Guayaquil this morning.

While in La Capilla, I wandered around and looked at his depictions of human suffering and misery. The “Mural of Misery” painted in 1969 with shades of grey and white, was particularly sobering; you could almost feel the pain of the people he was painting given their facial expressions and contortions. I also noticed that he had a number of original paintings (acrylic) and sketches that were for sale. Just for fun, I took a peek at how much they cost, and I was completely shocked: the sketches went for $25-30 USD, while the original unframed paintings cost only around $2,500-2,700 USD. It made me realize that given Guayasamin is Ecuadorian, he is ultimately seen as Latin American, or brown, in an art world that mostly values White men and their work. An original Picasso, so a similar style of painting, would likely go for hundreds of thousands, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, today. Picasso original sketches themselves sell for $15-30K+. This whole thing just seemed ridiculous to me. Guayasamin doesn’t have the same name recognition as Picasso (obviously), but I’d say that a lot of their painting style is pretty much the same and is of similar quality. But at the end of the day, that’s the difference between how the white gaze values white men’s work versus brown men’s work.

When I visit art museums during our travels, I oftentimes think back to my sophomore year of high school when I studied Advanced Placement Art History. I always remember how overwhelmed I was by the size of the art history book. Despite the fact that over half the book covered Asian, Latin American, and African art, we had to skip over those sections because as my teacher told us, “those regions won’t be covered on the A.P. exam. But you can feel free to study them on your own time.” Early on, we were taught that people of color, their histories, their stories, their art, do not matter. And it was the beginning of my “what the fuck kind of world do we live in” perspective.

Despite all that and the state of our White-valuing world, I loved visiting Guayasamin’s house and museum, and I loved learning about his life and art and how he tried to depict people who were frankly being erased from society. I’m happy that I’ve been able to discover artists like him during our travels around the world. It reminded me of when we visited Bogota, Colombia, in May 2019, and how during that trip, we stumbled upon Fernando Botero’s museum, Museo Botero. I hadn’t known about him prior to our Colombia trip, but I was so happy we found out about him and perused his museum. His style, known as Boterismo, depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated form. Some pieces are kitschy or humorous. Others are political and instigating. But I think work like Botero’s could appeal to people who don’t even think they like or care about art.

While I enjoyed seeing Guayasamin’s home and art, Kaia was a bit less interested. Chris had to do some toddler finagling while I was walking through the house, attempting to listen to our guide, and also take a closer look at his artwork. Eventually, she had to “go to jail” in her stroller, which she was not the least bit happy about. All she wanted to do was run around try to touch everything (which… would not have been good for anyone). But I suppose art museums and historical homes were not necessarily made for toddlers to roam around in. Kaia’s a bit young to understand art, history, or art history, but I hope that when she’s older that she’ll be able to develop an appreciation for all the above.

Visiting the equator line at Intinan Museum in Quito, and a sumptious modern Ecuadorian meal at Somos

Today was our last full day in Quito before heading southwest to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, and our last stop on this trip before heading home. We got to have a bit of science education at the Museo de Sitio Intinan, which is actually situated almost exactly where the equator line is. Our admission included an interactive tour led in English by a guide. He discussed local indigenous cultures and old traditions (that are definitely not continuing on given how brutal they are…), explained the Coriolis Effect and how it influences everything that moves on the face of the earth, and also challenged us to a few activities, including balancing an egg (only a few people succeeded), keeping our feet straight on a single line with our eyes closed (here, we all failed. I tried to be as steady as I could, but alas, the earth’s rotation of course got to me, and I was even MORE off than I thought I’d be when I opened my eyes…), and tests of force on our arms. These all served as reminders to us that even when we think we are still, we are never, ever still: we live on a planet where we are constantly rotating.

We continued on after the visit to the equator line and enjoyed some local coffee, followed by a sumptuous lunch at the modern Ecuadorian restaurant Somos. It was so fancy that it even had a kids’ menu with very local touches, such as pasta with manaba cheese, a pizza option containing yucca sourdough, and a fruity, herby lemonade infused with local indigenous herbs. Kaia had the pasta deconstructed, and she ate all of the pasta, chicken, and sauce. She refused the cheese, though; she really does not seem interested in any cheese unless it’s stuck on a relatively plain pizza…

We started our meal with a complimentary tasting of canelazo, a panela (unrefined local cane sugar) drink that had multiple layers of flavor, including sweet, floral, and a bit of tart. I had the Amazonica beer, made with cassava, passion fruit, chonta fruit, and guayusa, while Chris had the Somos beer, a bitter style beer based on cacao husks. We had the lunch special options, which started with the corviche (green plantain and sal prietra patties filled with smoked Amazonian fish, served with slaw), and the ceviche tropical mestizo (local taxo fruit sauce with fish, cucumber, avocado, melon, served with green plantains. Our main courses were the raices del Amazonas, which was cassava puree, fried cassava, paiche fish battered in cassava flakes, chonta sango sauce, chili compote, and oregano oil; plus the chorizo ambateno — bean puree, pork belly, chistorra, avocado, tomato sauce, encurtido, potato, and egg. We ended with a banana cake served with a panela and coffee syrup, coffee butter, caramelized coffee, and banana and cacao nibs ice cream. They also gave us a last complimentary taste: three little freshly made brownie-style chocolates, which tasted particularly floraly like a lot of chocolate we’ve had in Peru and Ecuador thus far. Both starters were very fresh with lots of new flavors we were unfamiliar with. The paiche fish was definitely the highlight of the mains. And the banana cake was so unique — I doubt we’d ever have banana cake or bread served like that anywhere in the U.S. It tasted truly special and seemed very much a “modern Ecuadorian” fusion of flavors.

Somos itself was a beautiful restaurant with lots of natural light, plants, and murals inside, but what really tickled me were the bathroom signs. The women’s bathroom has a papaya hand painted on the door; the men’s bathroom door has a half-peeled banana. The papaya made me chuckle out loud.

The biodiversity of Ecuador is extremely high, and it was definitely on display here at Somos. This meal was definitely a highlight of our trip so far and how many other delicious plants (and animals!) we can eat in the world that we are not normally exposed to in the U.S. (or really, anywhere in the west).

Day trip to Quilotoa crater lagoon, one of my favorites

There are dozens of beautiful mountains, volcanoes, forests, farms, villages, and other natural wonders to explore in Ecuador. I knew we had to get out of the city and explore something, but I wasn’t sure where to start when researching. So I did a few searches for single day trips from Quito, and one of the first results was the Quilotoa crater lagoon/lake. Laguna Quilotoa is a collapsed volcano in the western Ecuadorian Andes, located about 178km southwest of Quito, in the Cotopaxi province; it sits at high altitude – 3,900 meters/12,800 feet above sea level. It takes about three hours by car to get there from Quito. The crater lagoon formed as a result of the Quilotoa Volcano erupting back in 1280 in what is supposed to be one of the most explosive eruptions of the past thousand years. This eruption caused the collapse of the volcanic dome to form the wide crater we can now see today. While Quilotoa Volcano has remained dormant since, occasionally, you can see volcanic activity via the electric blue-green waters bubbling at the edges of the lagoon. Even after all the gorgeous places in the world we’ve been privileged to visit, I must say that Quilotoa is likely one of the most spectacular places we’ve seen.

Volcanic minerals in the crater give the lake water its stunning emerald green, almost electric blue tint. The water color definitely changes depending on the time of the day, the weather, and the amount of sunlight hitting its surface. When we first arrived in the morning when it was drizzling and grey skied, the surface of the lake was more of a deep bluish green color. When we decided to go on horseback to get back to the top (partly because we were tired from the altitude, but mostly because Kaia really hated the hiking and whined endlessly), as we rode up, the light rain completely cleared. The sky was really dark and cloudy with light shining through, which then led to the water turning into this bright, vibrant, almost electric turquoise color with bright green at the water’s edges. I also loved seeing the beautiful purple lupine flowers along our hike down. They were really beautiful against the bright blue waters of the lake (they almost asked to have their photos taken…). And if my memory serves me well, these looked very similar to the beautiful purple flowers we saw when hiking in the South Island of New Zealand about 12 years ago, so that also brings back happy memories of brilliant purple flowers against electric blue waters.

Our driver/guide Cristian took us to the lake, and he hiked with us down and hiked up with our horses as we rode back up. He was a real trooper with us. Despite Kaia’s constant whining and protests, he managed to get us through the steep, sandy, and uneven hike down. And finally when we got towards the end, he even carried her down for quite a while since he said he was worried that if Chris tried to carry her given he was just wearing regular sneakers, they could both fall and get hurt. He humored her and carried her to the point up where the horses were, and we spent the best $20 ever for two horses to take the three of us back to the top (I’m just going to say — these were the cheapest horseback riding sessions we’ll likely ever have in our entire lives). Kaia was definitely Ms. Manipulator with poor Cristian. She would whine and whinge until he picked her up and carried her… just so she didn’t have to hike up herself. When she realized she wouldn’t have to go up all the way and would get taken on a horse, she got a little excited and kept on saying “Nay, nay, nay!” over and over again. After getting on the horse with me, Kaia was so calm and steady that somehow, she managed to even fall asleep on the horse with her head up!

Looking out at the lake, it was strange to think that a place this gorgeous and literally breathtaking (I mean, we were at high altitude, and I could even feel myself getting a slight headache on the horseback ride back up) had so few tourists. When we hiked down, we passed maybe just a small handful of tourists. As we reached the lake, there were just a couple more, but that was really it. As we got back to the top and headed out for lunch, we did see a few additional vans parked with people coming out to hike down, but this seemed so tiny in comparison with other famous scenic spots in the world. I really loved the peace and quiet. I reveled in the fact that there were no crowds or hoards of people. It feels really gratifying to see places in the world that “everyone else” isn’t constantly going to, the beauties that exist out there that are less seen and less traveled to.

Being honest with myself, though, places like Quilotoa will only grow in popularity. Who knows – Quilotoa may become one of the next Macchu Picchu type sites in terms of popularity (and over crowding). It’s already seeing an increase in tourists coming from internationally. Our guide told us that about twenty years ago, the entire area around the entrance to Quilotoa was all traditional mud and clay domed houses. Now, they have been replaced with more modern structures going up, with local families opening restaurants and hostels that cater to tourists (including the restaurant where we ate lunch, which had a number of hostel rooms in the back of the building for visitors to rent for short or long-term stays).

When we come back to the U.S. and people ask us what we saw, this will likely be on the top of my list. They will unlikely know what I am referring to, but I DGAF because I am totally obsessed with this place and think more people should visit (I just hope they don’t spoil the beauty of it).

Flying from Peru to La Mitad del Mundo (the middle of the world), Ecuador, aka the Rose Capital of the World

We woke up at an ungodly hour very early this morning to take a flight from Cusco to Quito, Ecuador, via Lima. I felt a little sad to be leaving Cusco, as I knew there were over a dozen other beautiful and historic places we just didn’t have time to visit. And while I knew we’d still be at high altitude in Quito, I knew I’d also miss having my daily dose of coca tea provided by our historic hotel in Cusco. Coca tea is supposed to help with adjusting to altitude, as locals have known for centuries. For me, it tasted like an interesting mix of almost savory mint and herbs. While Quito is still quite above sea level at about 9,350 feet (or 2,850 meters), Cusco is significantly higher at 11,152 feet (or 3,399 meters) above sea level. Quito would be our last destination we’d hit on this trip before eventually returning to sea level in Guayaquil about an hour’s flight southwest of Quito. So it was time for us to say “adios” to Peru and “buenos dias” to Ecuador, otherwise known as La Mitad del Mundo, or the “middle of the world,” given that the equator runs right through the country; Ecuador’s name actually comes directly from the Spanish word for the equator, “ecuador,” because of this.

I have to say that on the two flights we’ve done on LATAM Airlines (first from Lima to Cusco, and this second one from Cusco to Quito) that I truly love their service. The flight attendants are always so cheerful, friendly, and eager to please. They always introduce themselves by name (after asking which language you’d prefer, Spanish or English). They always say they will do anything they can to best serve you — and it never seems like they are bullshitting you; the words are spoken with sincerity. And it never feels like you are bothering them when you ask them for something or have a question. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for any U.S. airline counterpart. The last flight, I told them I’d prefer English. This flight, to humor myself (and to get myself to listen to Spanish better), I told the flight attendant I’d prefer Spanish. And so she continued to speak to me in Spanish and listen to my choppy, nonexistent Spanish words. She never once made me feel embarrassed or like I was an idiot.

And here’s another really kind, out-of-the-way act of service that a flight attendant did: during our flight, she could see that Kaia was being a bit fussy with us. So she randomly whipped out a little sheet of stickers along with a LATAM postcard and asked if Kaia wanted to decorate the postcard. Of course, it was stickers, so Kaia eagerly took them and started sticking away. Chris noted that while it was a LATAM postcard the flight attendant gave Kaia, the stickers were not LATAM branded. We later learned that the flight attendant just bought the stickers on her own and would take them out to appease young children having their fussy flight moments. We thanked her for her kindness and generosity and eventually got off the plane. Kaia gave back the sticker sheet but happily got to keep the LATAM postcard with all the stickers she stuck on it. It ended up being her little prized possession the rest of the trip.

We arrived in the afternoon in Quito. As we went through immigration, we were greeted with an entire wall of fresh Ecuadorian roses. Each immigration kiosk had an individual fresh rose in water. And when we walked into our hotel to check in, we were greeted with three massive vases of at least five dozen roses, all over 2.5 feet in height! I was completely floored. I do not think I’ve ever been this close to this quantity of roses, or this height of roses, in my entire life. I love fresh flowers. I adore fresh roses. But roses this tall with blooms this fat and big — I was just not accustomed to seeing. I always knew that Colombia and Ecuador were renowned for fresh flowers (I actually learned this years ago when Chris first set me a flower bouquet from The Bouqs, which tracks flowers from when they are cut at their place of origin and then go straight to your home), but today, I realized that Ecuador was likely considered the best in the world. I later learned that Ecuador is the second largest global exporter of roses in the world (after The Netherlands). The U.S. is the number one importer of Ecuadorian roses. Given Ecuador’s location with the equator line running through it, locals say that it’s the best place in the world to grow the highest quality, longest lasting roses. Someone at the hotel told us that while the average roses from elsewhere may be lucky to last six to seven days in a vase with changed water, Ecuadorian roses are so high in quality that when properly cared for, they can last over two weeks!

I don’t know what it is about “long stemmed” roses that get me. But these were most definitely extra, extra long-stemmed, and this made them even more breath taking and regal. It’s amazing what the world has to offer when you keep your eyes open for them.

Last day in Peru before heading north; little acts of kindness for Pookie

After a lot of bumpy and frustrating roads yesterday, we decided to stay local in Cusco and not do another day trip. We got around by foot (or stroller) and even explored more local areas outside of the main cobbly tourist side of Cusco.

Traveling with a toddler always gives you experiences you would not otherwise have, and it also exposes you to service that you may not otherwise get. This morning while at a local coffee shop called Paqarin Specialty Coffee, Kaia accidentally pushed the unstable table where my hot coffee had just been placed, so a bit of the coffee spilled into the saucer. A cafe employee immediately noticed this, and instead of giving us a sympathetic grin, she actually took the cup and saucer away, cleaned it up, and topped off my coffee with more coffee and hot foamy milk! This level of empathy and service never would have happened in the U.S.

We also visited the more local side of downtown Cusco, where we stumbled upon a small kids amusement park. You pay one sol each for entry, and then an additional 1-2 soles per ride. Kaia got to go on the trampoline, the carousel, and a free “plane” ride, in addition to using the play structures in the park. This was definitely excellent value for us, and Kaia was happy because she got all the rides she wanted and was surrounded by littles.

I noticed that a lot of places across Lima and Cusco sell flat chocolate circles for consumption. From what I have gathered, it seems like dark chocolate is more popular across Peru and Ecuador. When you get chocolate options here, it’s very common for the chocolate to be 60-80 percent chocolate, with the remaining percentage consisting of panela, or raw, unrefined cane sugar; milk is not a given. If you want milk chocolate, you have to explicitly ask for it. Days before, we visited a coffee shop in Lima that had an upstairs chocolate store, where they had an illustration showing all the different varieties of cacao plant/flower that exist in Peru. It should not have surprised me to learn that over 20 varieties of cacao plant are in existence, with about three main ones cultivated today for coffee consumption. In Peru and Ecuador, if you go to super local markets, you can even buy fresh cacao the fruit and eat it. We visited the Three Monkeys coffee shop in Cusco, where they had one specialty coffee drink that used cacao fruit juice (and well, I tried to ask for it, but they said that it was so late in the day that they’d already run out of the cacao juice…). Here, the baristas noticed we came in with our toddler, so he was so kind and thoughtful to heat and froth up a fresh mini hot chocolate just for Kaia. She only had a few sips, so I ended up finishing it to find tiny pieces of delicious dark chocolate that hadn’t melted on the bottom of the cup.

Coffee and chocolate culture in Peru is strong. While Peru produces only about 1.7 percent of the world’s cacao beans, the quality is most definitely very high here. I definitely felt like I got more complex fruity flavors out of the high percentage chocolate we tasted here. I feel like this was the beginning of my (very late) realization that chocolate, like coffee, tea, or wine, can also be very complex on its own, that it doesn’t really need much sugar or even any milk to be delicious all on its own. And well, there’s more chocolate eating and coffee drinking to come in Ecuador tomorrow!

Exploring the Sacred Valley, Peru

Today, we went on a private day trip by car to the Sacred Valley and visited the Inca archaeological sites Pisaq, Moray, and Ollantaytambo, along with the Maras salt mines. Before we reached the Sacred Valley, though, the guide had us stop at a local alpaca and llama farm. While he said that the stop was for Kaia, I was actually also happy to see more local animals a bit more up close and personal. In addition to alpacas and llamas, we also saw alpaca and llama mixes, vicunas, huanacos, and Andean condors (who were rescued). I didn’t realize that alpacas and llamas actually mated, but I suppose this makes sense given that they are all from the camelid family and are mostly just of different sizes.

The four-legged animals were free to roam as they wished, but the Andean condors were in massive, tall cages; I was not expecting to see any birds of prey on this visit, but it is actually the part of this farm visit that surprised me the most. I’d never seen a bird with this large of a wing span in real life before. I’ve seen plenty of ostriches at zoos and even ostrich farms (I suppose ostriches are considered the largest living birds?), but there was really nothing like the experience of seeing an Andean condor up close in real life; I felt a bit spooked and backed up a little as it got close to me, even behind its cage. I could feel myself holding my breath as they moved around and seemed completely fine with us watching them. Andean condors are large birds of prey and feed on large, dead carcasses — the bigger, the better for them. With a wing span that be as wide as 3.3 meters / over 10.5 feet, to say they are massive feels like a bit of an understatement. There were three condors at the farm in the same large cage, and every time they spread their wings (many times!), I could feel myself shiver a little. I would not want to mess with a condor. And while I was freaked out a little by the sheer size of these birds of prey, Pookster was not fazed in the slightest. While she seemed bored of the alpacas and huanacos after a while, she was deeply interested in these large, graceful condors; Pookster wouldn’t take her eyes off them. She kept on trying to get closer and closer to them (as our guide advised that we have her back up because the condors could easily bite her fingers if we weren’t careful). She waved and smiled at them multiple times as though they were her friends. And to make it even cuter, Kaia kept repeating, “Hola!” in a soft, sweet voice to them.

I loved all the Inca sites we visited today, but if I had to pick a favorite (yeah, I know… it’s almost like picking a favorite child when you have multiple…), I’d definitely say it was Pisac. I am not completely sure why. It could be the bias because it was the very first site we visited in the Sacred Valley. But I think it’s mostly because I was so shocked at all well preserved and maintained it was. The complex was estimated to have been built around 1450. Our guide explained that when the Spanish came and conquered the Incas, the Incas had already preemptively abandoned Pisac, and so there was no real reason for the Spanish to obliterate the terraces, residences, guard posts, or religious rooms. Because you know… if people are still living there that you are conquering, you must not only kill them, but also destroy everything they have and reside in!

We asked our guide why there was no one walking around the terraced areas (which were originally built to help with irrigation and prevent flooding). He told us that originally when the sites opened, they allowed tourists to walk around them, but then they quickly realized that visitors were getting mad about other tourists being in their photos, so they ended up blocking off foot access to those areas completely!

In general, if I had to sum up themes across ancient civilizations/societies and the sites that we’ve visited across the world, I’d say they all have these in common:

  1. The killing and annihilation of people who are different than them – the affirmation of human hierarchy and racism/prejudice.
  2. Tax evasion – no one ever wants to pay taxes, and when they do, they want to pay as little as possible.
  3. Support structures for women and children – This is repeated throughout civilizations since the beginning of humankind. Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case for the United States of America, already seeing its decline in my lifetime.

History simply repeats itself when we either don’t take the time to learn it properly, or when we just choose not to understand it.

While at Ollantaytambo, we saw Macchu Picchu in the distance about 40 minutes driving time away. Our guide pointed it out to us. Of course, it would have taken far more than 40 minutes from that site to get there, plus the road conditions were so bumpy and tiring. I took a photo of the view in that direction as the sun started setting. Today as we looked out towards Macchu Picchu, that moment just kind of confirmed that I didn’t really feel like we missed out by not going to see it. Macchu Picchu will always be there if we want to return in the future when Kaia is older… and when we’re older. I love what we had the opportunity to see today in the Sacred Valley. While at Sacsayhuaman yesterday, we ran into a Canadian family of four with two kids, ages 5 and 9. They told us that they weren’t going to Macchu Picchu because they didn’t think their kids could handle it. Instead, they were spending three weeks across Peru — one week in Arequipa, one week in Cusco, and a week on the Peruvian coast. In Cusco, they would do a day trip to hike a different single site each day, and they felt very fulfilled and happy with this decision given their kids’ ages and their overall combined stamina. I think more people should see these other great Inca sites that are lesser hyped up because the beauty and culture behind them are just as rich.

We also got to try guinea pig today at the Peruvian/Inca buffet lunch during our day trip. In Andean cultures, guinea pig is considered a sacred animal, a symbol of good luck and prosperity. It’s considered an everyday food for many people in Ecuador and Peru. But alas, given Cusco gets many tourists, if you want to eat guinea pig, you have to commit to a whole guinea pig, which while it is not a large animal, the price tag is quite high even by Western standards, so it felt like a lot to spend on what would be so little food (guinea pigs are a lot of bone, not much meat). So while the buffet lunch was not an ideal or memorable meal on this trip for us, it was the perfect way to have a few bites of guinea pig to see what it was like. And well, it tasted like what I expected: chicken, or chicken breast to be more accurate given it was quite dry. There was a lot of bone and not much meat. It kind of reminded me of quail, rabbit, or frog: too many bones, cartilage, and work for the reward of itty bitty bits of meat.

Circuito Magico del Agua in Lima and entertaining a toddler

Yesterday late afternoon, as our last stop before heading back to the hotel to pack for the second leg of our trip to Cusco, we spent 5 soles per adult (that’s less than $2 USD each) to go into Circuito Magico del Agua, a water fountain park in Lima. I wasn’t exactly sure what a “water fountain” park would be, but it became very clear once we entered that this was meant to be like a water park (without pools) for kids and a clean, fun, water-infused park that is publicly subsidized for locals. It’s basically a place where you pay a small fee to have access to clean and safe outdoor space… and where young couples feel they can safely get away from the watchful eyes of their parents and make out with no end.

Funnily enough for us, while Chris originally planned for Kaia to run amok here in the water fountains and sprays, she ended up passing out on our way to Circuito. So for the first part of our time here, it was mostly just us walking around and taking in the scenery, and running under water fountains and seeing how wet (or not wet) we got. When Kaia finally did wake up, we gave her some time in the kids play area, where you pay a small additional fee to enter and your child gets 20 timed minutes to go crazy. We let her go into an up and down maze of a ball pit area, which necessitated shoes off, plus the purchase of socks for both of us (kids under age 4 need to be accompanied by a paying adult). And alas, I finally realized with this experience exactly how dirty ball pits are — with very visible evidence. In just 20 minutes of jumping, running, crawling, and sliding through an endless rainbow pit, the bottoms of both our socks were almost completely black colored. It’s no wonder some parents keep their kids away from ball pits like they are the plague.

And this morning, Kaia woke up with some boogers and a stuffy nose, and Chris credits the nastiness of the ball pit for her tiny illness.

At the airport today in Lima, Chris and I discovered first hand what “free public babysitting” can look like. We were sitting near our gate, and a girl maybe a year or two older than Kaia is jumping around. Kaia sees her and they immediately “become friends” and start playing and jumping together. They start mimicking each others’ sounds, hand motions, and jumps. They giggle and run around (in our area) together. They need very little supervision other than when they try to get too far away from us (and the girl’s dad/younger baby sibling). My concept of time is poor, but it felt like a good 45 minutes of them playing together and us not needing to shoo her away from some store, from touching something she shouldn’t be touching, or us telling her to use her “indoor voice.” It really was like free babysitting even for that short time, and it felt a bit liberating!