Friday 30 October 2015

Questions Asked by my Class in Calgary

Cooper. On October 29, I Skyped with my class at school in Calgary, Canada.  It was nice to see my school friends and teachers from last year.  Here are the questions they asked me, as well as my answers to them:

List of Questions Asked by My Grade 7 Class in Calgary

-  Question: Do they celebrate Halloween where you are?
Answer: A little bit of Halloween is happening, but it’s not as big a deal for kids here as it is in Canada. (Update: see my separate blog entry about Halloween)

-  Q: Where are you now?
A: I am in Peru, in a city called Arequipa.  It's about the same size as Calgary (a little more than 1 million people)


- Q: It's 9:30am in Calgary, what time is it there?
A: It's 10:30am in Peru (Update: Calgary has now turned clocks back an hour for Daylight Savings Time, but Peru doesn't do this, so it's now 2 hours difference not just 1 hour different)

-  Q: What were your favourite experiences so far?
A: Machu Picchu and hiking the Inca Trail, also the Galapagos Islands.

- Q: What is the weirdest or most different thing that you have seen so far?
A: You have to throw all of the toilet paper in garbage cans beside the toilet, it can't be put into the toilet because if you flushed the paper, it would clog the plumbing.  Yes, this means the little garbage cans in every bathroom everywhere stink.

-  Q: What’s your favourite food so far?
A: The things that I also like in Calgary. :)  I don't like finding chicken feet in my soup, and I don't like eating guinea pig (common in Peru)

-  Q: Where are you going next?
A: We are going to the Amazon Jungle, still in Peru, on the Amazon River near to a town called Iquitos and we are going to see pink river dolphins.

-  Q: Are you excited to see the pink river dolphins in Iquitos?
A: Yes, I am!

-  Q: How was it swimming in the Arctic Ocean?
A: Surprisingly, it actually wasn’t that cold, because there is a warmer river (the Mackenzie River) that is flowing into it where we went in. 

-  Q: Can you say some things in Spanish?
A: "Mi nombre es Cooper" or another way to say it is "Me llamo Cooper".

-  Q: Did you know that Justin Trudeau is Canada’s new Prime Minister?
A: Yes I did.

-  Q: Have you been following the current events in Calgary and Canada?
A: Yes, we try see what's going on in Calgary and Canada.

-  Q: When are you coming back to Calgary next?
A: Next summer (in 2016)

-  Q: Do you have any questions for us?
A: Yes:
My question: Does Calgary like that the new Prime Minister is Justin Trudeau?
Class answer: YES!
(editorial note from Mom:  teacher Ms. P clarified that this answer from the class might be different than the answer from the majority of Calgarians)

My question: Are there any new people in the class?
Class answer: Yes, 3 people (quick video introductions – nice to meet you!)

-  Q: Can we Skype with you again sometime?
A:  Yes, when we are in Buenos Aires in about a month, we will hopefully have a good enough internet connection that I can Skype again!

Thanks for the questions!


Saturday 24 October 2015

Our Digestive Health

Carolyn.  Shhh!  Can't talk about this out loud, in case it jinxes us.  But so far, after 3+ months of travelling and living in Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru, we have not had any stomach issues or diarrhea - maybe a little constipation now and then - but really, we are all in good shape, digestively speaking.

The reality of eating and drinking in Central and South America is that foreign travelers have to be careful.  It is not possible for us to safely drink the tap water (actually, we did every day in Costa Rica - but not wise in Ecuador or Peru).

The caution about tap water also extends to anything it might have been used to wash or mix with.  For example the fruit juice on a menu may be mixed with tap water, and the crushed ice in the yummy-looking slushie drink that Cooper desperately wants is almost certainly made from tap water.  It's also not recommended to eat a tossed green salad or any other raw fruits or vegetables that have been washed with tap water and not cooked or peeled.

On the restaurant scene, there are generally two options:  tourist restaurants and local restaurants.  The general thinking is that tourist restaurants will use purified water to wash their salad veggies, etc...while the local restaurants will not.  (Because the kiss of death for a tourist restaurant would be for a customer to get sick from eating or drinking there, and then report it on Trip Advisor).

So one could argue that the safe bet to protect delicate tourist stomachs is to eat at the safer tourist restaurants.  But you miss a lot of local culture and yummy different food that way.  And the cost?  Eating at a tourist restaurant is expensive, no surprise.  In Peru, a full dinner at the little place around the corner filled with local folks will cost 4 soles, or $1.60 CDN per person.  Whereas dinner in a tourist spot will cost 40-50 soles or more per person...over ten times as much.  

We try to balance both.  After all, we like to think we are travelers, not tourists.  So we don't want to stick with the standard tourist fare, we want to be more adventurous.  And for our year-long travelling budget, it's certainly more affordable to eat at the small local places.  We really like working on our Spanish language skills in the local places too.  But to eat here means we knowingly restrict what we will order, avoiding any food or drink that might be connected with bad water.  After a while, Vern and I get really desperate for a crisp green salad (Cooper not so much, though he's thrilled at the prospect of chicken fingers and fries on a tourist menu), so off we go to a touristy place where we feel we can trust their water practices.

Which brings us to Arequipa where we are renting an apartment for a month.  Because we want to "live like a local".  Except that we still can't drink our own tap water like the locals do. (We chatted with an American ex-pat who has lived in Peru for 8 years - and he said it took him 6 months of being sick, drinking the local tap water, before his stomach got used to it and now it's OK for him).

So our kitchen routines here have an extra step:  I boil big pots of water daily, for about 10-15 minutes.  Then let them cool.  We've got room temp pitchers, refrigerated pitchers, and ice-cube trays all with 'good' water.  When we wash lettuce for salads, we pour water from the pitcher on the counter into a bowl, instead of running the tap from the sink.  It's great - still no digestive issues!

It's been SO NICE to prepare our own food, in our own kitchen.  Great to explore the local grocery stores and markets;  we've tried some new fruits and veggies that we've never seen or heard of before, and we always wash them carefully in our purified water!  We've also enjoyed trying to re-create some of our favourites from home (eg: How to make tacos when there are no Old El Paso taco kits on the shelf?  Where is the bacon...plenty of other pork cuts, but no bacon?  There are no salad dressings in the grocery store, so oil & vinegar should be fine - but the 'veggie' oil is made from cotton?  All the milk is on the shelves - not refrigerated - with expiry dates in 6 months?).

We leave our Arequipa apartment in 10 days to resume our travels in Peru and beyond.  It will be good.  It will be a return to the restaurant scene.  We'll continue to make good food and water choices, and fingers crossed, our stomachs will remain healthy!



Thursday 22 October 2015

Foodie Corner: Unusual Eats - Guinea Pig

Vern.  Cusco, Peru

You know guinea pigs:  those cuddly little balls of fur that make such cute pets in North America. 

Well, it turns out that guinea pigs have been gracing the tables of Peru for centuries.  Easy and cheap to raise as livestock, ‘cuy’ (pronounced ‘kwee’) is a popular regional dish served either roasted or grilled or even deep fried at many restaurants in Peru.   Staying true to my philosophy of “if it moves, it can be eaten”, I needed to try it. 

In spite of the plethora of restaurants serving guinea pig in Cusco, only a few came recommended.  We opted for Kusikuy, an establishment specializing in the traditional cooking of the dish.  

Cuy takes about an hour to prepare; calling ahead greatly reduces the in-restaurant wait time.  I sat in great anticipation, willing my dinner to appear, and I was not disappointed.  The cuy is brought out fresh from the oven, head to tail, though it was explained that this is strictly for a Kodak moment.   Serving staff then whisk the dish back to the kitchen where it is cut up for eating.

The cuy meat itself has a delicate, slightly gamey flavour.  I found that the dish didn’t loan itself very easily to consumption with fork and knife and the proprietor actually come over to our table, all smiles, in praise of my ‘traditional’ pick-it-up-and-eat it approach.

I enjoyed the novel culinary experience.  I would recommend Kusikuy for the dish itself; however, the restaurant was lacking ambiance.  Though nicely decorated, the temperature within the restaurant was cold enough to warrant a scarf and sweater, and there was only one other table of diners.   Our drinks – maracuya (passion fruit) sours, normally excellent concoctions - tasted primarily of alcohol with little other flavour.  I hope to get the chance to try cuy at other locales throughout Peru and will compare the experience.


Friday 2 October 2015

Inca Trail & Machu Picchu (Peru)

Cooper.


Inca Trail Day 1 – Starting the Hike!

Hiking the Inca Trail and going to Machu Picchu is very exciting, even when you have to get up at 4:00 am to get there. On September 27, we got up, took a 2-hr bus ride to pick up the rest of our hiking group (already in a nearby town), and went on our way to the start of our 4 day, 3 night hike. On the first day, we were supposed to walk 11.3 km to get to our first camp site. However, the road was under construction, and our bus had to drop us off earlier. So we ended up hiking an additional 3.7 km. Our group started out with a total of 16 members but we lost 2 members to altitude sickness.  The first one turned back early because he wasn't fit enough to do the hike (he was breathing so quick and hard we all thought he was going to have a heart attack), and the second guy was throwing up all the way for 3 hours and then turned back. We got to see them again at Machu Picchu on Day 4. The first day was very flat compared to the rest of the days. We start at the elevation of 2400 meters above sea level and ended at 2950 meters above sea level. Here is a picture of me hiking. 



When we reached our tent site, one of the houses in the town of 24 people below was BLASTING music until really late.  And dogs barking all night.  None of us had a good sleep that night.  We were happy to learn there would be no more towns along the rest of the trail.


Inca Trail Day 2 – Climbing a Vertical Kilometre

All the people we know who have done the trail said that the hardest day was the second one, and they were definitely right. Starting at 2950 meters, hiking to 4215 meters and ending at 3600 meters. That means climbing up 1200+ meters, more than a whole entire vertical km! At least the climbing was worth it for the wonderful views. 



We woke at 5:00 am on day 2 and 3, and had breakfast at about 5:45 am. You may think that hiking up is a lot harder than down, well… you are wrong. With the uneven stones laid out by the Incas and the steep steps they made, it’s just as hard going down. My legs are still aching a bit. When we arrived at our camp site, it was also our 1:30 pm lunch. You would assume that the meals they provide are simple and small, like bread, ham and cheese, but the meals were just the same that you would buy at a restaurant. They even took it a step further on day 3!


Inca Trail Day 3 – The Longest Day

Waking up at the usual 5:00 am, today we arrived at our camp site 12 hours later. That means 10 hours of hiking, with a 1:30 pm lunch. Fortunately, it’s pretty much all down. About one and a half hours before lunch, there was a neat cave we went through! Our guide is fun and he uses a small dark corner in the cave to scare people in the group. I got them all on video. :) For lunch, we had a feast, including a surprise for dessert! A big cake! As a group, we had picked a name for ourselves: the Hungry Hikers! And the cake had that written on it. What a treat! 



Also during lunch, it started to rain a lot. So I got on my rain jacket, rain pants, gloves and pack cover and we set out in the rain. It lasted for about an hour and then it became sunny. Right before our campsite for that night, there was a huge Inca ruin that went up the mountain. Here is a picture of me sitting at the edge of the ruins. 



Inca Trail Day 4 – Machu Picchu!

We had to get up at 3:00 am, but it’s all worth it for the final destination: Machu Picchu! The trail was going down a bit at the start, but then became flat the whole way until right before  “The Sungate”, where you first see Machu Picchu. There we had to climb a very steep staircase called the monkey stairs. I’m already a very good monkey, so I got up in less than 10 seconds, but everyone else took a minute.



After The Sungate, it’s about another half hour to Machu Picchu (depends how many times you stop to take pictures!)  When we got to Machu Picchu, we were at the place where all of the postcard pictures are taken. Here’s a picture of us finally at Machu Picchu. Maybe our photo is also worth a post card! ;)




When we got a chance to explore Machu Picchu, we went to some of the places sacred to the Incas, like the Sun Temple, the Three Windows, the Three Doors, and a few other popular sites.

After our time was finished in Machu Picchu, we took a bus to a small town nearby called “Aguas Calientes” (Hot Waters in English) and ate lunch there.  Then we took the train back to Cusco.


Thank you Inca Trail and Machu Picchu, you were awesome!


Vern.

While there is no doubt that Machu Picchu is a spectacular finale, the Inca Trail truly lends credence to the quote “it is about the journey, not the destination”. 

The Trail was a rite of passage for the Inca elite, the road to the seasonal retreat of Machu Picchu.  Over the forty kilometre section of Trail from the town of Ollantaytambo to the “Lost City of the Incas”, the stone path undulates through mountain peaks and valleys.  Rising from 2,400 m above sea level to 4,215 m and back to 2,430 m, the Trail leads past ancient ruins on green mountainsides, affords hikers with vistas of snow-capped peaks and waterfalls and descends into lush jungle: it is a journey through quintessential Peruvian Andes.  

The final hours of the 4-day trek are consumed by the descent down to the city and the awe-inspiring tour of Machu Picchu itself.  I found myself lost in thought walking between and through the almost-intact homes and temples and picturing lives lived 500 years ago. For most, and possibly all of our group, the pinnacle of the ancient Incas was a major bucket-list item, and there were no disappointments.   

Our entire group -- guides, porters and fellow hikers -- were very impressed by Cooper’s enthusiasm, positive attitude and physical stamina throughout the trek.  (And his parents are equally proud of him.)   The question now is:  what do you do next when you’ve successfully tackled one of the world’s most sough-after destinations at the ripe old age of twelve?  



(Also, our Finca Bellavista "Living in a Treehouse" blog entry is finally up from Costa Rica. Galapagos posts also coming soon!)