Lima was our last stop in Peru. The capital is a short flight away from the mystical city of Cusco, but worlds removed from the high mountain cultures. Wealthy and modern, Lima unfortunately has a reputation for bad weather and incredible poverty. Depressing grey clouds hang overhead most of the year and as the largest city for thousands of kilometers, masses of people move here in search of a better life. But mist and poverty aside, we loved Lima. It’s got the sea, which we had both missed dearly, and there is a charm in the street culture, beautifully manicured city gardens and laid-back atmosphere.

We stayed a few days in the arty neighbourhood of Barranco, spending our days walking around and eating. That’s about it. We walked from one famous seafood restaurant to the next. Lima is probably the most renowned food destinations in South/Central America and we were in seventh heaven.

Having already written about the food of Peru, and having experienced little else in Lima, we don’t have many stories left to tell. We were sad to leave South America after two and a half months on a continent of breathtaking natural beauty, vast open spaces and incredibly interesting culture but it was time to fly onwards to meet my family in Central America.

We had forgotten to bring water with us. The bright midday sun was beating down and dehydration was a real concern, especially at 3200m above sea level. To make matters worse there were no taxis back down from the ruins to the main road which was a 6 kilometer walk according to the taxi driver that took us up. There was no other alternative but to suck it up and start hiking down the tiny, steep path back to the main road. We were visiting the ruins of Tipon outside of Cusco in Peru. Sharing the taxi with us were friends we had made at our hostel – Gary and Renée from Canada. Aside from visiting these fantastic ruins, the area is famous for a small, cute and tasty rodent – the guinea pig or cuy (pronounced koo-ee) as it is called in Peru. Now I know what you might be thinking and yes, a lot of us had them as pets and yes, it is basically a rat without a tail. But if you don’t try it, how will you ever know if you are missing out on a tasty bite-size pet?

So on our march down the hill from Tipon to the main road we remained on the lookout for the telltale broomstick and plastic bag denoting an enterprising housewife’s cuyeria. Suffice it to say and much to my disappointment we had missed the cut off time for lunch and had to march parched and sunburnt almost all the way to the road. The walk was not in vain however, as we struck gold just a short way before the bus stop. Part cuyeria, part baptist church we wondered into the restaurant and enquired about the status of their freshly roasted furry little friends. We were in luck, the woman had both grande and piqueña (big and small) cuys – oven roasted in their wood fired oven. We ordered two grandes and two large cusqueña beers for the four of us. After all, we didn’t know if we would like them and be forced out of courtesy to finish our meal.

It looked like this restaurant was a popular tourist spot as just before the cuys were ready, the chef came out and asked us if we wanted them whole or chopped into pieces. I like to not be able to recognise the animal my food comes from once it’s on my plate, so chopped up was the order for the day.

The cuy came to the table on a platter and was accompanied by rocoto rellena (stuffed peppers), some sort of pasta bake and roast potatoes. The head and feet had been discarded and we were left with the rest. Most people are probably wondering how it tasted. The short answer: like oily, herby roast chicken with a crunchy skin. I can’t say it was the most delicious thing I’ve eaten but it was tasty. The meat was a little too overspiced with the herb – Munya – the closest flavour would be a mix between origanum and mint – which was a little overpowering.

If you ever think of throwing a cuy barbecue, be warned, you are going to need a lot of critters. I would say the “grande” cuy that we received was just enough to feed one person. I am glad we tried it but the way it was prepared and the fact that it costs more than double any other kind of protein in Peru makes it a delicacy which I would not rush back for. Give me the ceviche any day and rather keep the cuys as pets.

Peruvian food is experiencing a renaissance. With such a diverse landscape, Peruvians are spoilt for choice for variety and ubiquity of ingredients. Ancient cooking practices handed down by the Incas combined with influences from Spain make it something different and yet not all too unfamiliar for the traveler. Here is a list of some of our favourites:

Soups

If you ever visit Peru, the first thing you will notice when you peek into a traditional Peruvian restaurant are the diners slurping away at a gigantic bowl of soup. Peruvian soups are varied and delicious. Most are a combination of flavours that can include mint, whole peppercorns, potatoes, yuca, sweet potatoes, rice, maize, fresh coriander and beans served in a rich stock. My favourites are Chupe de Camarones (freshwater shrimp soup), Sopa de Mariscos (seafood soup) and Caldo Blanco – chicken soup a Jewish mama would be proud of. Most Peruvian soups are broths and are generally very light but packed full of flavour. A local restaurant typically serves a two course meal consisting of a soup and a main dish. We loved these meals as they were cheap, tasty and filling.

Ceviche & Tiradito

Although it isn’t unique to Peru and is found widely along the coast of the Americas, ceviche most likely originated here. Made from raw, cubed white fish fillets, fresh coriander leaves, lime juice and sliced onions, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a dish that originated in Japan. Tiradito differs from ceviche in that there are no onions and the fish is cut differently and reflects the influence Japanese immigrants have had on Peru.

The raw fish is cooked by the acids in the lime juice and the best ceviche melts in your mouth. This was a dish I really wanted to try and I was not disappointed. The best ceviche we ate was at Sonia in Lima – a restaurant famous for it’s fresh fish. It was made from a fish called Lenguado which is a type of Sole. Boasting really fresh fish caught in the morning by the owner – who might I add, sits at the entrance to the restaurant mending his nets.

Common ceviche side dishes are sweet potatoes, toasted corn kernels, boiled corn on the cob and our favourite drink Chicha Morada.

A favourite by-product of ceviche is a drink called Leche de Tigre (Milk of the Tiger), made from leftover lime juice, herbs, chillis and onions of the ceviche. It is considered a potent hangover cure and is delicious.

Lomo Saltado & Chifa Food

Peru is crazy about Chinese food or colloquially known as Chifa. Walk the streets of any Peruvian city and you are bound to stumble upon a local restaurant serving up heaps of wok-fried noodles mixed with vegetables, salted beef, shrimps and soy sauce. The best Chifa meal we had was in Lima and consisted of a mountain of noodles, shrimp, salted pork, vegetables and thick soft noodles. Much like everything else in Peru, the portions are often so huge two people can share one.

Lomo Saltado is a Peruvian staple. Strips of meat marinated in soy sauce and vinegar, fresh tomatoes, onions and potato wedges are wok fried and served with fluffy white rice.

Chicharron

Chicharron or deep fried pork is a delicacy enjoyed by all Peruvians. Good chicharron is fatty and soft, bad chicharron is dry and chewy. The best places for chicharron are usually restaurants so full of people that the chef has to stand outside on the street with her boiling cauldrons of oil and mountain of fried pork alongside her. Chicharron is usually served with a red onion and lime salad which cuts through the flavour of the fat. It’s delicious but this kind of food on a daily basis will kill you.

While chicharron usually refers to fried pork, the Peruvians fry just about anything and and seafood is no exception. One of our most memorable meals was in Lima at an outdoor restaurant down an alley. We discovered the restaurant when we got lost on the way to the main city square. It was absolutely packed and in the middle of just about every table was a mountain of deep fried fish, squid, yuca chips and lemon wedges. “We want that”, I motioned to the waitress the moment we sat down. 30 minutes later and we had our own little mountain of fried fish and squid. It was so good I am contemplating my next visit to Lima just to eat it again!

Pollo Asado or Pollo a la Brasa

Although not typically Peruvian, pollo asado or spit roasted chicken is cheap, juicy and probably the most ubiquitous restaurant in any town or city. Our first run in with pollo asado was not in Peru but in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, and every town and city after had at least one “chicken joint”. The servings of chicken range from generous to simply huge, the largest of which was at a restaurant in Urubamba in the Sacred Valley. We ordered a quarter chicken each and were given a plateful of french fries, a glass each of Leche de Tigre and then a gigantic piece of chicken and more fries. Suffice it to say we took half of the meal home as leftovers and it only cost us US$4 each.

Rocoto Rellena

Another Peruvian speciality, Rocoto Rellena are rocoto peppers (super spicy, large chillis) stuffed with meat, rice and covered in cheese. They are normally served as a side dish.

Secco de Cordero & other stews

Our first Peruvian meal we had was not in Peru, but on our first night in Buenos Aires. We ordered a plate of ceviche and a plate of Secco de Cordero – lamb slow cooked in a fresh coriander and lemon sauce. The ceviche was okay, but the Secco de Cordero was tender and delicious. The flavours reminded me a lot of Lebanese food – the lamb, the coriander and the lemon juice are all used abundantly in Levantine cooking.

Roast Meats

Roasted Guinea Pig and roast chicken are but a few of the many types of meat roasted by Peruvians. At a quinta in Cusco, we received huge hunks of roast suckling pig and roast spare ribs. This was a meal that left me full for nearly two days! Food is roasted in an oven resembling a clay pizza oven and they are definitely not shy with their portions.

Peru is definitely one of the most pleasantly surprising food destinations I have visited. It doesn’t stack up to South East Asia (Malaysia & Thailand are very hard to beat), but the variety and flavour of the food is very good. Compared to the parts of South America we visited, it is definitely a fantastic place to experience new things and stands out as a highlight food-wise. From the very first moment we set foot in the country we had realised this. Visiting the markets makes it even more clear. If you go to Peru and you don’t experience a Peruvian market first hand, then you have definitely missed out. We tried to visit a market in just about every city we visited and the most impressive of the lot was the central market in Arequipa. It was clean and had a huge variety of food available that you could sit and eat at the counter. Cusco’s San Pedro Mercado wasn’t too far behind, with Lima’s being the least impressive of the lot.

Most people would shy away from the local restaurants and eat in tourist places but we found the only times we got sick from the food were when we ate in tourist restaurants. Peru has a bad reputation when it comes to health standards and I would say from what we saw, it probably fits somewhere between India and South East Asia. We ate breakfast and lunch in the markets on a regular basis, as well as locals-only restaurants and street food stalls. Something which we were told was asking for a tummy bug, but we were fine. Some food for thought indeed.

Apart from the spectacular cathedrals, churches and palaces in Cusco there are some very interesting and beautiful Inca and pre-hispanic ruins in the areas surrounding the city and in the neighboring Sacred Valley. Here are a few of the ruins we visited while in the area.

Tipon

About a 45 minute drive out of Cusco and perched on a hill, are the well manicured ruins of Tipon. Tipon was a place for Incan royalty to kick back and relax. The ruins are characterised by a set of beautifully manicured terraces fed by an intricate system of water canals – some of the most impressive yet discovered – which are still in perfect functioning order. The ruins are situated about 30 minutes from Cusco and were a huge walled settlement for Inca nobility. Tipon is an example of how the Incas married water, soil, agriculture and topography to create functional yet beautiful settlements.

Tambomachay

Popularly known as El Baño del Inca or the Bath of the Inca, Archaeologists are undecided on what Tambomachay’s purpose was. It may have been used as a ceremonial cleansing site for Inca royalty and water still flows through the site today.

Ritual bathing was used as a way to cleanse sins by the Incas. Examples of sins were lawbreaking, failure of religious observances and disobeying the chief. If a man had many sins he would be risking all sorts bad things happening to him. If an Inca ruler had any sins hard times would fall on his subjects hence the importance of this site.

The most impressive part of Tambomachay is that each end of the water fountain has an identical flow rate. In other words, if you put a bucket under each of the two main fountains simultaneously you would fill them up at exactly the same rate.

Puka Pukara

Puka Pukara or “Red Fort” in the Quechua language was possibly used as a checkpoint for travelers and traders on their way to Cusco during the times of the Inca. There are some magnificent views from the top of the site of the surrounding hills and valleys. The name “Red Fort” comes from the red hue the walls give off in the evenings. Puka Pukara is situated a short distance from Tambomachay and the Inca ruler probably housed his vast staff at the fort while bathing at the royal baths.

The site consists of a set of large, roughly built stone buildings, high walls and the remains of what seemed to have been watchtowers. This is probably why archeologists think it was primarily used for military purposes. Other reasons for their thinking are its proximity to Cusco and location on the main road from the Sacred Valley.

Qenko

Qenko is thought to have been place of worship for the Inca. Weird shapes have been carved out of the rock and there is a ceremonial chamber carved out of the rock underground. The Inca were known to worship rocks and this may have been the sites primary purpose.

Sacsayhuaman

Sacsayhuaman is Inca architecture on the grandest of scales. Often incorrectly referred to as solely a fortress, it had a dual purpose for the Incas. First and foremost it was a place of worship and a site for festivals honouring the sun god – Inti. It also served as a fortress and a vast storage complex. It is undeniably spectacular. After the Spanish conquered Cusco they tore what they could of the complex down and used the stones to build their own buildings in the city below. There are very few colonial buildings in Cusco that haven’t been built out of stone from Sacsayhuaman. What was left are the parts the Spanish were simply unable to destroy nor use. 4-metre high stones make up parts of the construction, some so expertly and closely slotted between their neighbours that you can’t help wondering how it was done. Sadly, a lot has been left up to the imagination as most of the fortress was destroyed. Today the ruins are the site of the Inti-Raimi festival marking the Winter Solstice which was started in the 1940s in an attempt to resurrect a part of the Inca culture.

Pumamarca

If you get to spend some time in Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley, then I would highly recommend the hike up to the ruins of Pumamarca. Largely untouched and hardly visited by tourists the trail offers some spectacular scenery of the surrounding Andes. Along the route you pass through ancient farmlands where the the farming methods haven’t changed since the Incas. Little is known of what the ruins were used for – some speculate it was a checkpoint for traffic into Ollantaytambo. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful place to visit, especially on foot. Along the way you pass through tiny villages that are only reachable on foot as well as some beautiful Inca terraces and ruins.

Ollantaytambo

Perched on the side of a mountain with a beautiful, living Inca-village of the same name below, Ollantaytambo is probably the most impressive Inca ruin we visited, save for Machu Picchu. The ruin was the royal palace for Emperor Pachacuti. During the Spanish conquest, the palace served as a stronghold where Manco Inca successfully drove off a raiding Spanish party in a bloody battle. Due to its location they were able to flood the planes below the fortress and drive the Spanish out of the valley. After the battle Manco Inca fled deeper into the mountains where he was pursued by the Spanish. An unsuccessful attempt to capture him at Uiticos led him to escape to Vilcabamba – the lost city Hiram Bingham was searching for when he discovered Machu Picchu.

The ruins consist of a rather large temple housing some impressive cut stones, extensive terraces, granaries, quarries and a ritual cleansing area. We stayed the night in Ollantaytambo and were lucky enough to be the first visitors to the site the next morning which meant we could enjoy the ruins with very few other visitors. The view from the top of the ruins across the valley is spectacular. On one side you have a bird’s eye view of the town and farmlands and on the other side of the ruins you can see the tail of the snowy peaks Veronica and Salkantay with the Urubamba river snaking its way toward them.

Walking among the ruins and imagining what it looked like during the height of the Inca Empire is a fantastic experience but after one-too-many we started to suffer from the dreaded ruin-fatigue. So after visiting Ollantaytambo we decided to call it a day and not visit Pisaq, Moray and Chinchero. I think we will leave these for our next visit to Peru which is definitely going to be in the near future.

Standing on the top of Wayna Picchu all we could see were clouds. We had raced to the top to get a good lookout spot of the scenery below. It was a lung busting climb up the narrow, slippery and steep, rock-cut pathway. Slowly out of the gloom, shadows of Inca-built buildings loomed above us. Everything was either green foliage or black rock and covered in a layer of moisture. The path abruptly ended at a rock ladder sticking out of the cliff face at the top of which was a dark, wet cave. Over the steps we squeezed through the cave and onto the other side of the peak. The very top was covered in a collection of very large boulders. We staked out our spot and waited for more people to arrive and the clouds to clear. One by one more tourists came up, preceded by their heavy breathing and curses at the tiny cave they had just had to squeeze through. Still no view. A woman called up to a few people sitting on the rock and asked which way she had to go to get to the top. She had obviously not thought of going through the cave. One of the guys on top yelled something back which obviously annoyed her as she started flipping the bird at us. The group on top laughed.

Slowly but surely the sun began to thin the thick cloud and we started to see momentary glimpses of the ruins below. The rocks on top were now covered in people. The scene resembled a troupe of baboons sitting around looking for fleas in each other’s coats. For a moment Machu Picchu came into the clear only to disappear in a white haze and a flutter of camera shutter releases from the crowd behind me.

Welcome to Machu Picchu. Few words come to mind when I think about this very special place. Mystical and inspirational it is hard not to be spellbound by the sheer beauty of it’s location. Not to mention its size and ingenuity. There are a number of theories as to what it was used for by the Incas but the most widely accepted one is that it was a grand estate built by the Emperor Pachacuti in 1450 and a place of significant religious importance to the Incas. It was abandoned 100 years later as a result of the Spanish conquest but it was never plundered or destroyed by the Spanish and is one of the most intact Inca ruins ever discovered.

Talk about Machu Picchu and the name Hiram Bingham is usually mentioned somewhere in the same discussion. Famous for being the “re-discoverer” of the site in 1911, the archeologist and explorer happened upon the ruins while searching for the lost city of Vilcabamba – the last stronghold of the Inca. The story goes that his support group set up camp on a farm along the Urubamba river. Too tired to immediately start exploring the surrounding area, Bingham’s party stayed behind in their tents while he was led up a mountain by the farmer’s young son. Little did he know what was awaiting him. Up to his dying day, Bingham believed that he had discovered the lost city of Vilcabamba. It was later discovered that the real Vilcabamba was in an entirely different location. This year, Peru celebrates the centenary of Hiram Bingham’s discovery.

Getting to Machu Picchu is more a journey of patience than anything else. Our trip started in Ollantaytambo. A living Inca-village roughly 75 kilometers away from Machu Picchu Pueblo. There are only two realistic ways of reaching Machu Picchu. You can hike the Inca Trail or take the train. Both are very expensive. The Inca Trail can be done for roughly $600 per person, the 2 hour train journey can be done for US$70 roundtrip. We opted for the lazier and cheaper option and took the train. The train journey is no short of spectacular scenery though. Machu Picchu is situated above thick cloud forest and as the train winds its way along the Urubamba river, the landscape changes from high altitude grasses to thick jungle. Dramatic snow-capped peaks can be seen from either side of the steep valley along the way.

If Machu Picchu can be described as heaven, then Machu Picchu Pueblo can be described as hell. Immediately after disembarking the train you are plunged into a world of tourist shops, restaurants and hotels. The entire existence of this little town depends on the thousands of tourists that visit the site every day. At one stage Machu Picchu was enjoying 8000 visitors per day. Pressure from UNESCO to control the numbers and ensure Machu Picchu’s World Heritage status has forced authorities to limit it to 2500. This consequently, has had a negative effect on the businesses below resulting in more desperate tactics to get you to eat in their restaurant or stay in their hotel. Our hostel for instance, was rated as the best hostel in the area on Trip Advisor. It turned out to be a tiny room, with paper-thin walls. Suffice it to say, the hostel staff kept us up all night chatting in the foyer.

We sprung out of bed bleary-eyed and disorientated at 4:45am and headed for the bus stop. The bus system that takes people up to the ruins is very well organised. Busses run continuously along the 6 km route that switchbacks up the side of the mountain. Even at 5am there is a rather long line of people waiting for a bus. The ticket costs a hefty US$8 one-way. The busses however, are new and air-conditioned.

Our entrance ticket to the ruins included the optional hike to Wayna Picchu – the mountain in the background of all the classic photos of Machu Picchu. Only 200 people a day are allowed to climb to the peak. As if building Machu Picchu wasn’t enough, the Incas even built structures at the top of the mountain in fantastically perilous positions overlooking the valley below. Once the clouds at the top had cleared entirely we could see the miniature Urubamba river below. Particularly tricky sections on the way up to the summit are made easier by stairs cut out of the solid rock – courtesy of the Incas – and chains and railings courtesy of the Peruvians.

After climbing the peak we decided to do the hike down through the cloud forest to the Temple of the Moon and the Great Cavern. This is a great spot to get away from the crowds on the rest of the site and the forest is very beautiful and unspoiled. Along the way, you get to experience some pristine cloud forest. The path is hot and sweaty work and takes roughly 40 minutes before you emerge from the forest into a clearing with a few terraces and a set of caves. This is the Caverna Grande, or Grand Cavern. When we arrived here there were a few people looking around and taking pics but after a while they went back up the path. We were then able to view the Temple of the Moon, down a pathway to the side, completely on our own. For anyone who has been to Machu Picchu, you will understand the significance of this, as the main site is packed with people in every direction.

On our way back to the main site, the rain clouds started to close in and we made it to the entrance of the Wayna Picchu trek just in time to find shelter in one of the restored buildings alongside the famous sacred rock before it started to come down. It was roughly midday by this time and the site was jam packed with tourists, so before long our shelter was crammed full of people. It rained for about an hour and a half. The rain was a blessing in disguise as once it had cleared, most of the tourists had decided to leave. This meant that we were able to walk through the ruins at our leisure and get plenty of photos without people in them.

The Temple of the Sun

This temple was used to honour and celebrate the sun god – Inti. We weren’t allowed inside the temple to take a look at the giant stone set in the middle but on a specific day, the sun shines through the central window onto the stone. This was probably used to mark the day of a ceremony.

Underneath the temple is the Royal tomb where hundreds of skeletons were discovered, most of which were women. It is thought that a royal mummy could have been kept here.

The Intihuatana – The Sun Stone

The Incas used the Intihuatana as a sun dial to measure time for various reasons including agriculture. The Spanish on the other hand thought the Incas worshipped the stone and therefore destroyed every single one they could find. At other sites, in place of where the Intihuatana may have stood is a pile of rocks or a just an empty space. The Sun Stone at Machu Picchu is the only intact stone ever discovered. The name Intihuatana means “Hitching Post of the Sun” and was believed by the Incas to be the point where the sun was tethered to the earth to keep the sun god connected to the people.

The Intihuatana is situated in the centre of the main temple complex indicating its importance in the Inca religion. Unfortunately, it was damaged a few years ago when a film company smuggled equipment into the site to shoot a beer commercial and a 900kg crane chipped a piece off the corner. Had they been around today, I wonder what the Incas would have done to the crane operators.

The Funerary Rock

The Incas believed in sacrificing animals and people to appease the gods and this strangely shaped stone is believed to have been used for that exact purpose. Hiram Bingham thought the stone could also have been used as a slab for preparing mummies. Behind the stone he discovered a number of skeletons in what is believed to have been the cemetery of Machu Picchu. The Incas believed that the dead and living existed together. They were known to keep mummies of royalty in temples where they were brought out for public display during ceremonies and festivals. Sacrificial mummies were normally buried on the top of mountains and in holy places to appease the gods that lived there. Sadly, the Spanish were greatly disturbed by the way the Incas worshipped these mummies and ended up destroying all of them.

The funerary rock is also the point from which all the famous photos of the view of Machu Picchu with Wayna Picchu in the background are taken as it overlooks the entire complex.

The Temple of the Condor

The Incas were incredible craftsmen and the Temple of the Condor is a spectacular example of this. The structure has been fashioned to resemble a Condor in flight. On the floor of the temple is a rock fashioned after the head of the Condor where it is believed to have been used as a sacrificial altar. Above the temple are three stone niches where royal mummies may have been placed for worship.

The Prison

Behind the Temple of the Condor is a structure thought to have been used as a prison. Holes have been carved into stones where chains could be passed through and then shackled onto prisoners. The Incas punished people for such sins as laziness, lust or theft and depending on the degree could have been put to death.

The Quarry

The white granite used to build many of the buildings in Machu Picchu was quarried and cut on site and a section of the complex was devoted to stone masonry. Walking around the quarry you can see exactly how the Incas worked with the rock. Using primitive techniques they were able to cut, carve and polish the stone with such accuracy that they needed very little mortar to build their buildings. One of the rocks looks as though it was in the process of being cut when the site was abandoned. Here you can see how the stone masons chiseled holes into the rock, then placed wooden stakes in and poured water on the stakes to make them expand thereby forcing the rock to crack along the line of holes. This was a very effective means of separating the stones before they were carved and polished.

The Main Gate

Machu Picchu is not only spectacular in the place it was built, it also boggles the mind when you realise that each doorway and each temple is positioned to either align with a celestial body such as the sun or moon, or a significant mountain. The main gate is a fantastic example of this. It frames Wayna Picchu in the background and as you walk from this gate through the ruins you find that the positioning of each gate had some sort of significance in the way it was aligned. This may have marked a ceremonial route the Incas would have walked through the buildings. Another example is how the Intihuatana mimics a peak behind it. Not only were the Incas precision builders, they planned each building meticulously in accordance with their belief system.

The main gate is an impressive example of Inca ingenuity. A system of slots and holes carved into the rock was used to affix a giant door. To put things into perspective the lintel above the main gate weighs approximately 3-4 tons – or 2-3 family-sized cars!

Agricultural Zone & Terraces

Machu Picchu was not only used as a residence it was also a living and working town and may have been completely self sufficient. At the entrance to the ruins, on the sides and halfway down the mountain are magnificent, precision-built terraces. The terraces served two purposes. The first was to increase the surface area for planting crops such as, potatoes, coca and maize. The second reason was to control water flow and reduce soil erosion. We saw terraces all over the Sacred Valley and ruins around Cusco but the terraces at Machu Picchu seemed to be on a grander scale.

After spending a full day at the ruins we eventually had to make our way back down to Machu Picchu Pueblo to catch our train out. As if we hadn’t done enough walking already, we decided to walk back to the town rather than catch the bus. Surprisingly, the walk isn’t as tough as everybody makes it out to be. Neither is it made unpleasant by the busses that zigzag their way down, as the well kept path heads straight down and only crosses the road every now and again. It is also a lot easier to go down than up.

Machu Picchu is a spectacular place. I have really struggled to write this post about it because there are few words that can really bring the place to life on a computer screen. Even the photos we took do little justice to it. I can whole-heartedly understand why so many people year after year visit it. It is so much more than just a set of ruins on top of a mountain, it is a place that vividly tells the story of a long lost people, their culture, their religion, their achievements and their downfall. We visited many ruins while in Peru and I have to admit I did get tired after seeing so many but my energy and zeal was enlivened the moment I walked through the gates into the site. Even if you try to avoid tourist attractions to get away from it all, I still can’t recommend visiting this mystical place enough to everyone I meet.

From the very first moment you arrive in this city you feel a sense of adventure. It is different – very different from anywhere else, yet somewhat familiar. The street food vendors hawk bits of meat on a stick, others sell slices of juicy giant pineapple. One has a bag full of freshly roasted cuy’s (guinea pigs), their smiling faces mirroring the smiling face of the traditionally dressed woman negotiating a price with a customer. The smell of the offal section in the market hits you like a wall. Cow’s heads, pigs testicles – it’s all here. Waitresses yell the day’s specialty to passers-by as hungry patrons slurp their sheep’s head soup. In the centre of the market is a religious shrine surrounded by flowers and candles. Switch the statue of St. Mary with a Buddha and you could be in Bangkok. Switch the statue of the Buddha with one of Ganesha and you could be in Delhi (minus the meat of course).

The streets outside the Mercado San Pedro hum and buzz with activity. The constant stream of beat-up, old taxis fly by, rattling over the cobblestone streets. In the corner, stands a baroque-style, Spanish church. Built from Incan-cut stone. It’s red colour helps it blend in with the other buildings. It’s like walking through a 16th century European city. Beautifully preserved and wearing the scars of its history on the outside with pride for all to see.

We came here to see this. To learn about the last throes of the Incas and to see their legacy which is going through somewhat of a reawakening among Peruvians.

Cusco was once the seat of their empire – the navel of the world. At its height, the Inca ruled the largest empire on the South American continent and one of the largest on earth. And yet, our knowledge of them is very limited. Much of their history was destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors and the little that we do know is sparsely recorded in Spanish chronicles. The Incas started out as a small tribe in the city-kingdom of Cusco. In 1438, they began a rapid expansion into surrounding clans conquering and assimilating them until most of the Andes in Peru and Ecuador were under their control. After further expansions, the Inca empire covered all of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, a large portion of Chile and small parts of Colombia and Argentina. This is an area roughly the size of Western Europe, brought under their control in less than 100 years.

The Incas were more assimilators than conquerors. Many of their skills and knowledge was adapted from the cultures that they incorporated. And yet, they had no formal scheme of writing nor did they use the wheel. Their language, Quechua is still spoken today and in some parts of Peru is the only language.

So why are the Incas so fascinating? So alluring? I think it’s more to do with their downfall than anything else. In 1526, a man by the name of Francisco Pizarro, sailed his way down from Panama to Peru. Seeing such a prosperous kingdom and hearing stories and legends of the treasures the Inca emperor possessed, Pizarro sought royal approval from the Spanish king to conquer the region. Upon his return, the empire was in civil war and severely weakened by smallpox brought over by the Spanish in the first place. And so with just 168 men, 1 canon and 27 horses, Pizarro systematically brought the empire under Spanish control. Before long, they had almost wiped the Inca culture out entirely. Tearing down their buildings, only to build their own on top of the foundations. Today, all that is left of this once mighty civilization is the Quechua language, some traditions, the ruins of their buildings outside of Cusco and their foundations within the city.

Our nine-hour, overnight bus trip from Arequipa arrived at 6:30 in the morning. Cusco is very different from Arequipa. The most immediate difference was the state of the roads. Arequipa felt like a well looked-after, mid-90s apartment. Cusco on the other hand felt more like a rustic old farmhouse in the country. The air is thin here, 3400m above sea level. The first thing you notice is that walking around is an effort, climbing the steps to San Blas and up to some of the ruins above the city is quite the workout. Something I wouldn’t suggest doing unless you have acclimatised properly.

The streets of central Cusco are fascinating. I would rate it as my number one city for people watching and taking photographs. You do however, need to be mindful that the people aren’t your private models, and some may get annoyed if you stick a camera in their faces. On the other hand, they are quick to smile, warm and friendly. Many are descendants of the Incas or a mix thereof and are very proud of their country.

Getting lost in the central part of Cusco is a real adventure. The tiny alleyways are lined with the foundations of once mighty Inca buildings. The precision with which they built their solid stone buildings is astounding. Each stone was cut using bronze-age techniques. A hole was bored into the rock, a wooden wedge was driven into the hole and then water was poured onto the wood allowing it to expand and crack the stone free. Each stone is unique and slots in with its siblings perfectly. In some cases, it is impossible to even wedge a piece of paper between them. To increase the strength of some buildings, the stones were interlocking using a system of male and female stones. Instead of using mortar, stones were glued in place using bitumen. Walls tapered outwards as they approached the ground to increase rigidity further. This masterful style of engineering meant Inca structures could withstand the most powerful of earthquakes. And all of this was done without iron tools, nor the use of the wheel. It is with little surprise that people from all over the world come to Peru to see the Inca architecture.

One of the best sites to visit is the temple of Qorikancha. This structure was considered the very centre of the Incan empire and the name translated means Sun Temple or Temple of the Sun. The building is thought to have been a place of worship for the Incas. Judging by the precision with which it was built, it most certainly was a very important structure. The stone-masonry is incredible and there are many examples of how each stone was slotted into place to fit precisely with its siblings. Before the Spanish destroyed the building and built a church and monastery on top of the foundations, the inside walls of the temple were covered in huge plates of gold which channeled the light of the sun through the building. You can still see the points upon which the gold plates were attached. In fact, a lot of the gold used in the many cathedrals in Cusco came from Inca temples and palaces. Today, Qorikancha is a weird hybrid of Spanish and Inca architecture. The church of Santo Domingo and the Santo Domingo Convent sits on top of part of the foundations of the Inca temple. Around the sides of the old monastery courtyard, some of the Inca structure has been restored and is on display to visitors. There is also a great collection of 16th-century artwork from the Cusco school of art. To me, I find some of the artwork a bit grotesque and macabre but it does have an important place in Peruvian culture as it was used by the first converted Incas to tell stories of the saints in the Catholic church as well as the battles the Spanish had with the Incas.

Apart from visiting Cusco for its magnificent buildings, the food is also a big draw-card. The areas around the city are some of Peru’s most fertile. This is probably one of the reasons why the Incas settled and flourished here. Like the Colca Valley near Arequipa, the staple crops are maize, potatoes, onions, wheat and barley. It is also situated roughly 100km from the jungle which gives the market an incredible variety of different vegetables and fruits. The most famous delicacy of the area is what many people would regard a pet – the Cuy or Guinea Pig. If you ever visit Cusco, you need to at least try Cuy. It tastes a lot like the brown meat on a chicken, flavoured with Munya (a type of aromatic herb, not too dissimilar from oregano) and roasted in a clay oven. Another fantastic experience we had was eating in a traditional Peruvian Quinta for Sunday lunch. Quintas are large family run restaurants which are usually situated outdoors in a courtyard. The food is basic, tasty and comes heaped upon your plate. They are very popular with middle-class Peruvian families, who visit them in their Sunday best after the mid-morning church service. The menu in a quinta has about 5-6 dishes on it. It is also reasonably priced and good value – just make sure to skip breakfast if you decide to eat in one.

Cusco’s main square, the Plaza de Armas, is an electrifying sight. Due to strict building regulations and as a testament to the pride the people have in their city, it is perfectly preserved. On two sides of the square sits the imposing Church La Compaña de Jesus and Cusco Cathedral. The other two sides of the square are lined with curio shops, travel agencies and restaurants – albeit disguised to fit in with the rest of the architecture in the square. In the centre of the square is a dramatic water fountain with a statue of Tupac Amaru – the last of the Inca emperors. The centre of the square is also lined with magnificent gardens of flowers. The Plaza de Armas is not the only square in Cusco, there are several in the centre as well as a number of churches and cathedrals (we counted 10 from the San Blas hill).

The San Pedro market is one of the great experiences of Cusco. It is an assault on all the senses and we were drawn to it like a magnet. If not for glimpses of the “just plain weird” then for the fresh fruit juice and strong café pasado. Some of the aisles are dedicated solely to potatoes or avocados. There is even a rather smelly section for offal with oddities such as beef snout or sheep’s brains on display. The most popular section is the Caldo de Gallina or chicken soup section where 3 or 4 rows of people sit and gulp down huge bowls of soup throughout the day. Many just stop off for a quick snack on their way to work or on their lunch break. The Peruvians, like their Inca forebears, don’t do things in half measures. As you walk the aisles, the ladies with their tall, white top-hats yell out their wears. Some leaning over the counter in front of them handing out samples of cheese and olives.

We stayed in Cusco for quite some time at El Tuco guesthouse run by Coco and his family. A comfortable good value spot with generous and friendly hosts. Cusco is a bustling, vibrant city, full of culture, history and colour. The diesel fumes, aggressive taxi drivers and uneven sidewalks do wear the nerves thin, but the sights, sounds and smells definitely make it worth it. To recuperate from the chaos we headed out of the city into the Sacred Valley.

Right from the very first moment we stepped off the bus in Arequipa, Peru felt like home. The bus terminal was jam packed. Colours and smells assaulted the senses. Chaos in every direction as people hustled through the door past hawkers and taxi touts. Disoriented we headed for the exit and took a taxi straight to our guesthouse. Peru is a much poorer country in comparison with Chile or Argentina and this was most evident when we hit the urban sprawl of Peru’s second largest city – Arequipa, which is famous for it’s white volcanic stone buildings and monolithic volcanoes – which can be seen from just about any angle in the city. The most notable difference between Peru and Argentina and Chile is that Peru has a much richer, more visible culture. It’s food is superb and the people are more open and friendly to tourists. Arequipa was also a great place to kick off our visit to the country. As large as it is, the main attractions are situated within a 10 block radius from the central square – the Plaza de Armas. Founded in 1540 on a pre-Incan settlement, the city has some fantastic examples of Spanish-colonial architecture, beautiful churches and a generally laid back atmosphere.

The country is made up of three distinct regions. The dry, desert-like coastal region in the west. The high Andean plains running up the centre that eventually give way to the Amazon jungle in the east. Arequipa is situated in the dry zone halfway between the sea and the Altiplano. On one side of the city is the desert and on the other, is the dramatic backdrop of volcanoes, El Misti, Chachani and Picchu Picchu. The location of Arequipa lends itself to some devastating natural disasters – some of which have virtually leveled the entire city. In fact, an earthquake as recent as 2001 caused great damage, leaving many of the beautiful churches in a state of disrepair. Thankfully, Arequipeñans take a lot of pride in their city and you would be hard-pressed to find any evidence of the catastrophic event in the buildings today.

When we arrived in Arequipa, we immediately noticed the amount of food being sold on the streets. This was a good sign and reminded me a lot of South East Asia. This is in stark contrast with Chile and Argentina. Where Chile has very plain, bland food and Argentina has little variation, Peru has just about anything one can imagine. A visit to the central market in Arequipa was a revelation. Fruit and vegetables are stacked to the ceiling. There is a section solely for potatoes – of which Peru has some 4000 varieties. A section for meat, chicken and fish. Even a section for offal. One side of the market is dedicated to lunch and breakfast. On our forays into the market we ate some of Peru’s most famous foods. Ceviche: raw fish cooked in lime juice, served with copious amounts of coriander, roasted corn kernels and red onions. Rocoto Relleno: chilli peppers stuffed with a meat and cheese filling. Chicharron: crispy deep fried pork served with a salad of red onions and peppers and a spicy chilli sauce. Even the ubiquitous roast chicken was succulent and delicious. A favourite, and a meal we went back for over and over, was the Ceviche Combinado at Cevicheria El Oriental. It was a mixed ceviche containing tiny fish fillets, squid and mussels accompanied by a thick potato and bean gravy, fried rice and a sweet potato on the side. The meal also included a free cup of Chicha Morada, a drink made from purple maize which is boiled in pineapple rind, cinnamon and cloves. Lime juice and sugar is then added to finish it off. The whole meal cost us S7 each or around $2 and the ladies behind the counter refilled our plates a few times too, without our even asking, mid-spoonful!

Arequipa is known to Peruvians as the Ciudad del Blanco – the White City. The buildings are built from a particularly porous, white volcanic stone mined nearby. The dramatic cathedral on the Plaza de Armas being the most spectacular of these buildings. With two huge towers, stretching nearly 40m into the air the cathedral is probably the most photographed building in the city. Inside, the cathedral is no less beautiful with colonial era paintings and marble statues of the 12 apostles. It is one of the few cathedrals in the world that is allowed to fly the Vatican flag.

The streets around the central plaza are lined with beautiful, old stone buildings. Built from the same volcanic rock as the cathedral, today they house banks, museums, hotels and restaurants. During the Spanish colonial rule they were ornately decorated, stately homes for rich Spanish businessmen. One of the most famous of Arequipa’s sights is the Santa Catalina Convent. Taking up a whole city block, it was once the home to 120 Dominican nuns and is a city within a city. The nunnery was built in 1580 by a rich widow, Maria de Guzman, and was for nuns who came from very wealthy homes. In the myriad of rooms and chambers, this is evidenced by the rather large living quarters for each nun which included a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, sitting room, servants quarters and separate entrances for servants and nuns. The nuns lived in absolute solitude and were not allowed to even speak to visitors face-to-face. Their lives however, were rather lavish and to become a nun in the monastery families would need to pay a dowry of approximately 2400 silver coins or in today’s terms US$150 000. Everything they needed was to be found within the walls of the nunnery, including a vegetable garden and guinea pig farm.

In 1871, the pope sent Sister Josefa Cadena to reform the monastery. She sent all the riches of the monastery back to Europe and freed all the slaves and servants. The nuns were then forced to become more humble and give up their riches.

Today a small portion of the convent is still used by a group of 40 nuns. They are under a less strict set of rules and are allowed to even leave the convent into the city outside. The rest of the building is now a very well looked after museum and one of Arequipa’s main tourist attractions.

Another attraction Arequipa is famous for is the Ice Princess – an Incan mummy affectionately known as Juanita. In 1995 an American archeologist called Johan Reinhard was studying Incan ruins at the top of Peru’s many gigantic volcanoes. At the time, a volcano near Arequipa, Sabancaya, was erupting and this gave him the opportunity to study the top of neighboring Ampato volcano as the settling ash had melted it’s snow cap. When Reinhard arrived in Arequipa, he was told by a local guide that he had spotted something that looked like a mummy lying on the side of the volcano’s crater on his last expedition to the summit. Reinhard jumped at the news and put together a team to scale the 6300m mountain. When he reached the summit he was astonished at what he found. A bundle of cloth, no bigger than a large dog had rolled 60m down the side of the crater after it had been dislodged by earth tremors in the eruption. It was the frozen remains of a 12-year old girl. The only part of her not in pristine condition was her face, which had been desiccated by the sun after her shroud had been damaged from her plunge into the crater. She had been frozen in her tomb for nearly 600 years, ironically the last time Sabancaya had erupted, so she is in fact not a mummy as she was not strictly mummified. As a human sacrifice it is incredible that she was taken to the peak of a six thousand metre volcano, where the temperature is between -20 and -30 degrees celcius.

Juanita wasn’t the only sacrifice found on Ampato. Lower down the slopes the archeological team discovered 3 more mummies over the next 2 years. Due to how well the mummies are preserved, we are able to get a glimpse into the lives of the Incas, especially the sacrificial ceremonies that were held at the top of these volcanoes. The children that were sacrificed were chosen by the Incan priests for their purity. They were also fed a high protein diet, in some cases for up to a year before their deaths. In the case of Juanita, she was virtually perfect. Her teeth, bones and skin showed no signs of disease, lending more weight to the fact that these children were considered worthy of the gods. The families of the children were given high esteem and rewards and in the case of Juanita, may even have been royal themselves. The sacrificial party would start their journey from Cusco – the Incan capital and trek vast distances to get to the base of the volcanoes. Ampato is roughly 240km from Cusco and the route possibly crossed the 2 deepest canyons in the world, running along the Andes. Once at the base of Ampato they would have had to climb from an altitude of 3500m to 6300m. Depending on the time of year, the last 1500m would have been covered in thick ice and snow, where the temperature would have been around -25 degrees celcius.

At the top of the volcano the Incan priests prepared the area for sacrifice. The child would have had great difficulty staying awake due to the high altitude and freezing conditions. Bags of coca leaves were found on her body as well as in the vicinity. Analysis of her stomach contents shows that she ate a meal of vegetables 6-8 hours before her death. She was also partially drugged with coca and other herbs. CT scans of her skull show that she died from a heavy blow to the head caused by a blunt object. This was generally the method used to kill the other sacrificial mummies too.

Juanita is important to archaeology because the Incas had no form of writing, which leaves most of what we know about them to Spanish chronicles and interpretations of their ruins and artifacts. As she was frozen and not freeze dried like many other mummies on these volcanos, her body is virtually perfectly preserved. DNA studies have shown that she can be associated with a tribe that lived in present-day Panama.

The visit to the Catholic University’s Museum in Arequipa to see the ice maiden in her frozen glass case was both fascinating and bone chilling. It was also a pertinent reminder of how advanced the Incas had been as they were able to travel to and survive at such high altitudes. Every time I looked up at the volcanoes surrounding the city I was reminded of how important these landmarks were to the people that lived near to them and still are today. The rivers are fed by their glaciers. The rock is used to build cities. The soil is incredibly fertile due to their eruptions and their anger is personified in earthquakes and gigantic ash clouds. The Incas were willing to do anything to appease the gods that lived there.

Arequipa is a great place to visit. The food is good. The museums and churches are very beautiful. There are fantastic activities in the area, such as volcano trekking, mountain biking or river rafting. Most people come to Arequipa as part of the route from Cusco through to Lake Titicaca and onto Bolivia, but I could see many wanting to spend extra days just enjoying the sunshine and soaking up the atmosphere of an ancient Peruvian city.

The steaks arrived at our table. Criss cross patterns of charring on them, the fat round the edge glistening in places, clear juices oozing out from under. Perfectly rested. It was quite a shock to see such large pieces of animal flesh get dropped down in front of us. The waiter left us with a glint in his eye. He knew we hadn’t eaten there before and what a treat it was going to be. I cut one of the steaks in half and lifted a piece onto Margarét’s plate, then took my own piece and carefully cut a corner off – placing it in my mouth. The salty, fatty flavour hit my taste-buds. It was perfectly cooked and tender. Now to those that don’t know me, I don’t eat red meat. I had been psyching myself up for this weeks before we left for Argentina. Worrying about whether there will be fish and chicken for me to eat and whether I would be able to enjoy a juicy, medium rare steak. I can now honestly say, the steak was amazing. With a touch of the accompanying and ubiquitous chimichurri sauce and a fresh salad – I forgot about chicken, about fish, about vegetables. It was that good.

It’s taken us about 5 days to adjust to Buenos Aires. It is busy. Noisy. And dirty. The once beautiful, ornately decorated buildings in the downtown city centre – microcentro – hint at an era where the city sat up there with the likes of London, New York and Paris. The ornate statues and monuments wear their graffiti with shame while homeless people construct their shabby shelters at their bases. The incessant drone of traffic outside our apartment window and the near endless stream of people flowing past on the sidewalk gives the sensation when you leave the building that you are caught in a river in full flood. I had a feeling of disappointment in some ways, in other ways I wasn’t really expecting anything else for my first Latin American city. Maybe it was the jet-lag, maybe it was just the shock and awe of a big city that get’s imparted on you when you arrive from your own sleepy home town but we immediately felt like escaping to the almost mythical beauty that Argentina is so famous for. But we couldn’t. We had booked our apartment near Congreso for 1 week and we had to either deal with the pollution, the hooting and the almost endless hum of buses and cars outside or forfeit our stay and catch the next bus out.

While waiting for our landlord to arrive with the keys to our apartment, we didn’t feel safe standing on the street with all our bags so we ducked into the cafe on the corner. We sat down at a table and looked at the menu. In this moment, it hit me fairly quickly that I had no knowledge of Spanish, whatsoever and the people around me had about the same experience with English. Our waiter – who looked like a waiter out of a Dickens novel – impeccably dressed, hair slicked back, tall, deep-set eyes and thin as a rake approached us and rattled something off in Spanish. Margarét and I both looked at each other in alarm, then looked back at the waiter who was looking at us in dismay. We pointed at the menu, signalling that we wanted a “Jamon e Quesa Medialuna”. The waiter looked at us again and rattled something off in Spanish, pointing at something else on the menu. “No”, we both said. The other patrons in the cafe began to take notice of us. “We want this”, pointing at the medialuna again. He shook his head but we held firm and insisted. Off he went muttering to himself in Spanish – I heard the word Gringo get repeated a few times. We weren’t sure what we had done to annoy him but within 5 minutes a rather tasteless flatbread arrived stuffed with a few slices of ham and some cheese. We ate it quickly in case Douglas, our landlord, arrived sooner than anticipated. Later that evening I discovered what a “Medialuna” is – it’s a croissant. Something you don’t really order at 6pm in the evening. No wonder the waiter got annoyed with us and brought us something completely different. Lesson 1 learnt: Research words related to food and don’t annoy the waiter. Lesson 2 learnt at the same time: You don’t always get what you order and it would probably take 6 months of Spanish lessons to explain the situation to the waiter. Just eat what you get and enjoy it.

Argentina is a gigantic country. The second largest in South America and roughly the same size as India. But in comparison it’s population is 3% the size – a third of which lives in the greater Buenos Aires area. It is home to the tallest mountain in the Andes and the Americas – Aconcagua. Spectacular glaciers. Awesome wine and even better steak.

Buenos Aires is a city that takes a few days to wrap your head around. The scare stories about the crime really freaked me out at first even though we are from a country that is probably a lot less safe. Walking the heaving streets, not having an inkling of Spanish, feels a lot like being in a bubble – nobody can understand you but everybody is white, so you just fit in if you keep your mouth shut. The city also has some surprising sights. One minute you are in an ugly, run-down, filthy street. The next you are staring up at a spectacular building, such as the Congreso building or the Teatro Colón. I have never been to Europe but I would say this is arguably the closest you can get to a European city without actually putting a foot in Paris, London, Madrid or Rome.

We’ve been getting around the city to check all the boxes of some of the classic experiences. First and foremost is the subway or subte as the Porteños call it and if you ever visit the city it is hard to avoid using it as it takes you to within walking distance of most attractions. It is also incredibly cheap and costs a fixed US25c to any other station in the network. The nearest subway station to our apartment is on the A-line and it turns out that this is the oldest line with subway cars that are nearly 100 years old. I kid you not, they were built between 1913 and 1919, mostly of wood and are still in use today!

Arguably one of the most famous sights in Buenos Aires is the Recoleta Cemetery. This mini-city of crypts and tombs is something I was definitely not expecting to be so spectacular. It was once a public cemetery but it has quickly become one of the most sought after places to get buried or stored (none of the coffins are put in a grave, rather they are stored in a crypt behind iron gates or glass windows where visitors can look in). Many famous generals and presidents of Argentina’s past are buried in their family tombs here with elaborate – some would say “over-the-top” – edifices and statues adorning the tomb. The cemetery and adjoining convent and church dates back to 1732 and undoubtedly its most famous “celebrity-at-rest” is Eva Peron. As wife of the president Juan Peron and in a time when Argentina’s bourgeoisie controlled the country both financially and politically, her championing of the poor and middle classes and lobbying of their causes to her husband made her an incredibly popular figure among the people. Her popularity led her to campaign for the vice presidency in 1951 but fell out due to her declining health caused by aggressive cervical cancer. She died at the age of 33 and shock-waves were sent through the country resulting in 2 days of mourning, people flooded the streets of Buenos Aires, covering them in flowers. She was given a presidential funeral even though she had never held an official political position.

Her family tomb in Recoleta cemetary is a non-descript affair. It was rather difficult to find and eventually after Margarét asked one of the caretakers where it was – in her best (broken) Spanish – we managed to find it. It seemed the other tourists in the cemetery also had difficulty finding it as normally there is a throng of people crowding the narrow walkway. While we’ve been in Buenos Aires we haven’t bumped into a single English speaking person, but at the tomb we met the South African ambassador Tony Leon, who, only a few years back, was the leader of the opposition party to the ANC – the Democratic Alliance in South Africa.

Some of the other things we recommend doing in Buenos Aires are to visit the neighbourhoods of San Telmo and Palermo. The former being a charming, relaxed window on the “Old Buenos Aires” and the latter nestled within beautiful parks and littered with some of the best restaurants in the city. The microcentro is also very interesting, especially around the Plaza De Mayo. This is where the Casa Rosada (the Rose House) is situated as well as the Metropolitan Cathedral and just a few blocks away is Florida Street, a pedestrian street, packed with cafes, shops, malls and the odd reggae band.

So after a fairly harrowing first few days in the hustle and bustle, Buenos Aires has grown on me. The people are friendly, the food is great, the pizza is cheesy and the city has an old world charm that I haven’t experienced before. There is a lot to do and the steak (even if you don’t eat steak) is incredible. I highly recommend it if you like cities and are interested in architecture. Just don’t forget your Spanish phrase book.

Our next stop, Salta. A 22-hour bus trip from Buenos Aires.
Wish us luck!

Hi. Margarét here. Usually my boyfriend, Michael, is the one who describes our adventures, but in December 2010 I took a journey by myself, leaving Michael behind to guard the fort back home. I was on a mission to explore the Big Apple and afterwards, to go visit my brother and his family in sunny Florida.

Going solo isn’t always easy, especially if you hate airplanes and then your flight gets delayed by a day. After (hardly) surviving my first day in New York, down and out from sheer tiredness, things started to look better. In fact, they started to look wonderful.

Once you understand the main directions – uptown, downtown, Brooklyn and Queens – getting around on the subway in Manhattan is not all that hard. Tons of commuters use it every day and although it once had a reputation of being dangerous, I felt safe enough using it after dark. You have to use it after dark if you want to get anything done, since, in December, the sun goes down before the workers of the financial district even get to clap their high heels on the pavement on the way back home. The trains suddenly get very small inside during rush hour, not only because everyone is in the same place at the same time, but because every person sports a giant jacket, scarf, head gear and gloves. I was told that I would see a lot of fat people in America, but I couldn’t really tell. Everybody looked like the Michelin Man, all huge and round. Myself included.

This may sound clichéd, but while in NY I ate a sandwich, a hot-dog and a pizza. And cheesecake. That’s it, besides the Frosties and bagels I got at the hostel for breakfast. Oh, did I mention I had Starbucks coffee? We don’t have Starbucks in South Africa.

Seriously though, if I could afford it I would much rather have eaten Michelin starred food at Le Bernardin or Per Se. Trust me. We also don’t have Michelin stars in South Africa.

I also would have maintained a more balanced and exotic diet if it wasn’t for the fact that a single portion in NY seems to be big enough to feed 2 hungry men. The cheesecake I had mentioned was my breakfast, lunch and dinner for Tuesday. It was too big to finish in fewer than 3 sittings, yet too good to discard in some urban dustbin. I just took a deep breath and (reluctantly?) kept on eating. On Wednesday it was the sandwich. I actually did end up ditching the few remaining bites that I couldn’t finish before midnight. This was a real shame, since it truly was a special sandwich.

I had decided to go eat at Katz Delicatessen even before I got to America. This place has been around through the Wars and the Depression, in fact, it has been around for the last 113 years. I had seen it on Anthony Bourdain, but you may also know it from movies such as When Harry met Sally (“I’ll have what she’s having…”) Donnie Brasco, Across the Universe, Enchanted, etc. It’s famous. ‘Some say’ they serve the best sandwiches in the city. ‘Some’ might be right. Not that I would know, I didn’t exactly sample many. All I know is that my super-expensive pastrami sandwich was yummy-delicious and that the entire experience inside the deli was from another world – from the bizarre ticket system for ordering food to the elderly Argentinian pastrami station attendant who struck up a lengthy conversation with me about his hometown, to the owner who personally came to chat to me while I ate.

I loved New York. It was bitterly cold and mostly dark, but in the 4 days I was there, I managed to go for a walk in Central Park twice. To me, that felt like quintessential Manhattan. I mostly wandered the streets just looking at buildings and people; caught lots of trains to different view points; walked the Brooklyn bridge; walked along the banks of the Hudson; walked on Columbia campus; sat around Times Square; walked around the highly caged-in building site which is Ground Zero. Yes, I walked and walked. It was the cheapest and most rewarding thing to do.

I did do a few typical tourist things like visiting museums and watching West Side Story on Broadway. The one thing I didn’t really do, was shop. Unusual, you might think. But I just didn’t have time. There were two exceptions. I had to go check out the famous B&H Photo and the glass-roofed Apple Store on 5th Avenue. Besides, I managed to do a good bit of shopping in Florida afterwards.

Would I go back to New York in winter?
No, probably not.

Would I stay in a hostel again, constantly locking my every possession away, with 5 other girls sharing my room?
Uhm, unlikely.

Do I want to return to New York and spend some more time soaking up the friendly/busy, no-nonsense culture?
Definitely yes. I couldn’t get enough.