We spent two months in Peru, deciding that if we dreamed about this country for so long, we should enjoy everything it has to offer to the fullest. And look into every corner of interest to us in order to form our own opinion about everything and not rely on the reviews of others. Some places impressed us, some left us completely indifferent, and some even disappointed. I talked about all this in the Peru article. Things not to miss.
Today I will show you Peru from a slightly different angle and in an unusual way, but in the form of facts that I wrote down everywhere – in noisy markets, on night buses, sitting with a cup of coffee on another “The best terrace of my life”, exploring the sacred valley and admiring the mysterious pre-dawn Machu Picchu.
1. Llosa is the best thing that happened to me in Peru.
Peruvian writer, Nobel Prize for Literature. It all started with his “The Adventures of a Mean Girl”, then there was “Aunt Julia and the Scribbler”, “Lituma in the Andes.” After reading one book, you immediately think about which one to start reading the next.
2.Inca Cola is like lemonade duchess and childhood gum.
3. Peru has the coolest buses I’ve ever tried.
Bed buses with seats that fold out 160 degrees (and even 180 degrees in first class). Almost always they will give you a blanket and a pillow, play lotto, feed you dinner and breakfast. It costs about $ 15-35 on average, depending on the distance.
First class is more expensive. (Argentina is also on the level, but the $ 100 cost is stressful when buying a ticket). The best ones for me are Cruz del Sur. Although Oltursa, Movil Tours and Tepsa are good too.
4. The tastiest desserts in Peru for me were at Tanta in Arequipa, although there are still many cities that have this place.
Creme brulee de manzana still bothers the soul. In general, Chef Gaston and his restaurants, as I understand it, are the most respected here.
5. Want the platitude – Machu Picchu is the most impressive place in Peru.
I never thought that I would say this, and when we went there, I had a very preconceived opinion about him. But this feeling, when you take the bus up the serpentine higher and higher, the mountains around are mystically shrouded in fog. Then you enter the city itself – and, lo and behold, the fog dissipates for a minute, and your mouth just opens with amazement and beauty.
6. Corn in Peru is black.
And they prepare a delicious drink from it – chichu morada. There is also a normal color, but with very large grains, they sell it on the market, boiled and give cheese to it.
7. Stewardesses on buses !!!
Attention !!! wear heels and short skirts. If you knew what kind of serpentine is almost everywhere in Peru … Even the task of walking from your seat to the toilet sometimes seems mission impossible, let alone serving food on 12-centimeter high heels.
8. The most impressive in Lima is the malecon promenade, which stretches for kilometers along the cliffs of Miraflores.
9. Sublime is the best chocolate we’ve tasted in Peru.
Its cost is about $ 0.5-0.7 and you can buy it in any hole in the most simple shop. But not a single bar of chocolate in Latin America (stylish, in craft packages for 5-8 bucks !!!) has been able to outshine it.
10. Do you know what I hate the most about serving coffee?
When they bring me cappuccino in huge glass glasses. I don’t know why, but it just pisses me off. So, in Peru, almost everywhere, ordering a cappuccino, you get a huge glass glass. Brrrr. Towards the end of our trip, I started ordering coffee cortado con leche (something like Americano with milk), and gave up on cappuccino.
11. The Peruvian White Cordillera is one of the most impressive mountain ranges (after the Himalayas, of course).
And the five-thousandth passes, which the buses briskly climb, gaining a couple of thousand meters in half an hour, simply drive you crazy with their cosmic landscapes.
12. Peruvians adore Kuya, the sight of which makes vegetarians almost hysterical.
This is especially felt at Sunday markets in city squares – there is simply no end of buyers at the counters selling this dish. Well, strike – he’s like a rabbit, if we abstract from the unaesthetic and inhuman (for our mentality) view of this dish.
13. Movies are shown on all buses (almost always in Spanish)
until about 12 at night with such a deafening sound that you cannot do anything, or rather, simply cannot hear anything.
14. Peruvian chain Topitop (local mass market brand)
will not let you die from unrealized shopaholism. Personally, after a whole month of searching for normal jeans in Bolivia, I was finally able to buy them in this store. It is represented in almost every city. Topitop is called the local H&M and was the main delight of fashionistas in Peru until H&M finally arrived in Lima on May 9, 2015.
15. The most delicious Egg Benedict in Peru is served for breakfast at the Ciccolina in Cusco.
And there is also such a table near the window, mmmm. So I would sit all day, thinking about eternal over a cup of cappuccino.