Final week in Buenos Aires

Last week of travel, and I am back in Buenos Aires.

How do I feel about this? After 7 1/2 months on the road...

Well, awesome really. :) I am actually looking forward to going home. This trip have been different to previous trips because I have something to come home for! For a start, my beautiful girlfriend is waiting for me, that I have a career to look forward to going back into, and finally... The next 2 years could be an interesting time in my life! ;)

But enough about that...

Right now, to end my travels in Buenos Aires is the best thing that can happen. This city of 12 million has SO MUCH to offer.

For a start, there are good food to be had everywhere. In fact, I have been stuffing myself so much that last night I decided to stay in and cook. The meat here are of extremely high quality and just simply mouth watering. Two nights ago, I went for dinner with Ziv, an Israeli. We ate at this legendary restaurant by the waterfront, which is famous for it´s "Tenedor Libre". Which is buffet to you and me folks. And guess what, it was H-U-G-E. We got to try every part of a cow, from tender baby steaks, blood sausage (non unlike black pudding), T-bone steak, chorizo (spicy sausage), roast pork and more. And I love this, for 15 USD we also got free bottle of wine, a big salad bar and desert to choose from.

My only advice is, DO NOT EAT DINNER AT 11pm like the locals! Otherwise you will spend all night digesting your meal like me! hahahaha it was sad, but I had to walk 12 blocks to try and digest all of it.

Then there are the culture stuff like world class museums and art galleries to check out.

And finally there are the shopping. Enough said!

Yesterday, with 4 days left in my travel. I left sleeping in a "domitorio" for the last time, and decided to have some luxury by checking into a single room. Woo-hooooooo! No more rustling plastic bags, no more bag zipping sounds, no more alarm clock ringing, no more door slams and best of all, no more lights being turned on in the middle of the night!

Wh00p!

Wh00p!

Vitaliza!

Vitalise!

I almost cried when I saw our little green can halfway around the world.

I went looking as soon as I reached Argentina. And guess what? I am happy to tell you that they are EVERYWHERE! As I am only at a small border town called Posada and they were sold in most corner stores I visited!

Hooray for V!!! Hooray for Frucor!!!

And for your info, they are sold at 3 Argentine Pesos, approx 1USD. :)

Drinking "mate"

It is nothing quite like seeing a hot chick walking on the streets in the middle of the night carrying a mug with it's metal straw similar to the one I am holding and a flask of "mate" on the streets of Paraguay.

How could one not laugh when they are not used to the culture? :D

For those who are wondering... Mate is basically a tea brewed in hot water filled with other goodness like herbs and roots, before serving in a social setting with mates refilling and passing that mug around. It is also the national drink of Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.

I must say, after getting my first taste of "mate" from friendly locals, I found it to taste similar to Chinese tea! They fill the flask up with cold or hot water depending on the climate. In my case I drank it cold and it was very refreshing in the 38 degree heat.

So I guess this culture and custom is not dissimilar to Chinese in China, carrying a bottle of thermal flask and a glass to ferry their precious tea back and forth from social to business gatherings!

For more info on mate check wiki.

Brazilian`s answer to V

Yes, they call this drink Kuat, and it taste almost better then the green V that I have come to know and love. Well... actually, I think it taste better as I have been drinking this all throughout Brazil. It has less of a sugery and fizzy taste then the green V.

BUT... in saying that, the red V is still my favorite drink in the world and I am expecting my ex-boss Al to have a couple of boxes ready for me to collect when I return! ;)

KFC Brazil Style

You know how much I love KFC! Everywhere I have traveled I have seen the local´s take on it. And here we have the Brazilian version.

For 9.95 Reals (5.50USD) you get 2 pieces of chicken, chips, rice, black beans and *maniac* flour... LOL actually it is called manioc flour, used by Brazilians in almost every kind of cooking. In case you are wondering, the manioc flour is the yellow flaky stuff you see on the bottom left hand corner of my plate.

Also notice how the portion are served in a proper plate with proper cutleries? Why don´t we do this back home??? It all adds up to a tasty dish.

Cuy

Looks good innit? This is a "Cuy" slow roasting under charcoal fire. It´s skin popping and crackling with a layer of hot oil brushed upon.

I tell you what, the "cuy", or guinea pig is one dish I have been looking forward to tasting, as I have seen it all over Peru, and have heard about it from other traveller´s experience.

Though most of my fellow travellers whom have tried it found it disgusting. But I was willing to give it a go to find out for myself what it taste like.

To be fair, most travellers found it disgusting because of the way the cuy was served. Everything is intact, including the head, it´s little feet with bits of hair stuck to it (as you can see on this photo - how cute!!!!), and all it´s intestine.

It was fascinating to watch the cooking process. I could smell the suckling crackling aroma (which reminded me very much of Chinese style roast pork), and choke on the smoke which fires out when the cook applied more oil.

The cuy was served after 30 minutes of slow roasting. The cook cut mine into half as I could only afford to eat half a cuy. Plus, the whole thing looks too big to consume for lunch! It was served on a plate of roast potatoes and half an egg. The sides were salsa sauce and boiled corn.

And what about the taste? Well the skin was beautiful! It tasted almost like roast pork, but less fatty, thinner and crispier. The meat was interesting. I can´t say I have tasted anything quite like it. It is white meat, taste sort of sweet and doesn´t taste fatty at all. A lady in Huaraz once boast to me that cuy has zero cholesterol so maybe that´s the reason. I must say though there were less meat in my cuy then I expected. I wanted to try it´s little feet but there was hair on it. Yuck! I also tried a little bit of the black stuff inside - either the kidney or the heart, I wasn´t sure, but that was very GROSS! Did manage to mouth it down with a bit of Fanta though!

Now that I have tried cuy I don´t know if I want to experience it again. I mean, it wasn´t disgusting, but the meat really is an aquired taste. I also think seeing those cute guinee pig throughout my trip so far has effected my taste bud. And today, having seen it prepared and served with everything intake has made it slightly harder to eat, like I had to turn the head over before starting to eat.

Maybe they should start looking at packaging cuy fillet? ;)

The one and only - Inca Kola!

This is Inca Kola, the biggest selling soft drink in Peru. Bigger then, believe it or not - Coca-Cola! Yes it´s true, every local you speak to will tell you so.

The colour is yellow (nice urine colour), and the taste is very bubble gummy. A bit of an acquired taste I say, but it does go down well with a meal. And it is a nice refreshing alternative to the Coke monster. To find out more visit their website (in Spanish)!

Incidentally, did you know Coca-Cola still purchase 115 tons of coca leaf from Peru and 105 tons of coca leaf from Bolivia yearly. However it is only used for the flavouring ingredient as part of the Coke formula. I found this interesting information out from the Coca Museum back in La Paz, Bolivia. :)

Lima´s China Town

I am in Lima now, the capital of Peru. I spent yesterday walking the central, and covered only a little bit of it. Lima is one big spread out city. You need a bus or taxi just to get anywhere.

It is also constantly covered under a thick sea fog between May and November, therefore giving it a real grey and drab look. However Lima is also one happening place, with a population of 7 million there are people everywhere, young and old, shouting their warez, shopping, hanging out, enjoying their weekend...

The highlight for me (as in most cities) was the central market. I love wondering through looking at the shoppers and seeing the warez for sale, especially fresh produce like fruits, veges, meat and seafood. And the lovely seafood!!! Lima is a coastal city like Auckland, so the seafood are very fresh and very cheap. My mouth was watering as I walked outta there...

And guess what was next to the central market? Lima´s massive China town! Yes they call it Bario China here. And the entrance comes complete with a big arch. Donated by the Chinese government back in 1997. According to my guide book back in the 1800´s around 200,000 Chinese from Canton and Fujian province migrated to Lima, and currently there are around 1 million Chinese decedents living in Lima. Incredible aye? So walking through China town I can hear Cantonese being spoken everywhere, and see yummy Chinese food on the windows of the restaurants, such as roast duck, BBQ pork, pastries of every kind and dim sums!

Yes hot yummy dim sum! Within minutes I found myself seated inside "Salon Capon", the biggest and fanciest looking Chinese restaurant in town. Inside they had more waiters then lunchers. And I sat down to order my dim sum. I ate Siew Mai, Har Kao and Chechong-fun. The Har Kao was a real delight, the prawn inside was both huge and super fresh!

Wow! I haven´t had yum char since... KK in Elleslie over 10 weeks ago! So this was pure bliss... I ended up in the restaurant for 2 hours, reading my book, drinking endless cups of tea and eating my 3 dishes. hahahahahah!

Peruvian Seafood

This is a serve at a restaurant with the sign "Mariscos" outside, pretty much meaning seafood. Any kind of seafood! I have been dying for decent seafood after being in high altitude for so long.

For this dish I was served prawn, fish, octopus, squid and shellfish. It was massive, delicious and cost all of 5USD!!! Yummy!

Only complain I have is the bland salad side and why does everything comes with fries?

Roast Cuy anyone?

Guinea pig (aka "cuy" in Spanish), roasted and found on the streets of Urubamba.

I visited the main Cathedral in Cuzco today, and saw a painting of the last supper, with the main dish being the "cuy"!

Pique a lo Macho

My favorite meal in Bolivia. The Pique a lo Macho is basically chopped up sausage (even better when it is spicy), chopped up beef steak, onions, tomatos and capsicum serve up on a plate of fries.

Muy Rico! (Very delicious!)
amended thanks to my Spanish teacher Nick T... :b

Big Mac Index

Big Mac Combo - 1990 Pesos

No I didn't have one and no I am not an anti-globalisation dickhead. I just weren't desperate for something "western" just yet. Big Mac index is good coz McD exist in most countries around the world and the index tells you something about the country's wealth. :)

Today I ate Paila Marina at the markets in Valparaiso. It is basically seafood chowder cook in a pot. It is serve in a big stone bowl filled with shellfish of every sorts and fish. It was kinda yummy... but to be honest it got too much after awhile. And there were too much sandy residue in the soup and in the meat... eeek! Still, that was my main meal for the day. I ate 2 minute noodles for dinner.

Bloody dinners!

Ah shit, just spent half an hour walking to a el-cheapo restaurant which serve paella. I am dying for rice and found this place in the afternoon advertising a whole meal for 1,300 pesos!

SO... I get there this evening for a bargain to be told that they only serve this during the day! Arghhh! So, I went back to town for a meal. I found another place which advertised paella but when I sat down they told me there weren´t doing it. So I chose pizza with lots of meat on top instead. But guess wot, it sucks ass! The meat was tasteless, reminding me of the left over meat mum used in boiling soup! Grrrrr and to top it off it cost 2,600 pesos! Maybe I need to lug around chili sauce or oyster sauce... ;)

As far as dinner goes the last 3 meals has been more a miss then hit affair. Night one I ate pasta baked in a white sauce. Night two I ate sandwich with ham and cheese bake and tonight there´s pizza with tasteless meat.

I think I need rice soon or I´ll die!

KFC

Yes I know, why go to an Americanize institution when you can try out the local cuisine? :)

Well my last meal with my putriku is KFC, and I wanted to sample the local offering. Over here they do mega size pollo con frits. And guess what, it is all crispy! :) :) :)

But after litrally drooling on my food I found my taste budd is still tune towards kiwi pollo. The meat is simply tastier then the offering here. Still, I enjoyed my meal.

Also notice they do toasted twisters here. I think that would go down well back home!