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Stuffed Peppers, Lamb’s Head Soup, Canyons and Condors in Arequipa, Peru
To a person with a sweet tooth versed in Latin American desserts – by which I mean, me – Arequipa, Peru, sounds like a delicious place. From its name comes the word arequipe, which is what Colombians and Venezuelans (though not Peruvians, oddly enough) call their versions of dulce de leche. But the culinary fame of Peru’s second city, where I traveled by bus from Bolivia last Friday night, goes way beyond sweets. The city is more known for dishes like spicy stuffed rocoto peppers, the pork stew they call adobo and a shrimp soup known as chupe de camarones. At Chicha, a chic Arequipa restaurant, the Peruvian star chef Gastón Acurio even relegated his beloved ceviche to a corner of the menu so that Arequipan cuisine could take center stage. But more relevant to frugal travelers: the classic dishes can be sampled for less than 15 nuevos soles per entrée (or $5.55 at 2.7 nuevos soles to the dollar) at traditional restaurants called picanterías. They sometimes even appear on the daily menus of holes in the wall around town for around 3 nuevos soles ($1.10) for a full meal. Arequipa is not just a metropolian-sized restaurant. Churches and other colonial-era buildings built from pearly white, porous volcanic rock called sillar surround the arcaded, fairy tale main square, the Plaza de Armas; El Misti Volcano, which has a ghostly habit of not showing up in photographs, looms high above it all. And you don’t need to read the signs to know that Arequipa is a World Heritage site: the city could be the World Heritage poster child.
For such a great place, I sure had a terrible first night in town. For that I blame a French couple I met in La Paz who had raved about small hotel, Los Balcones de Bolognesi. They hadn’t actually stayed there, but wished they had, calling it a “charming” spot “right near the Plaza de Armas” and assuring me it would cost “about 60 nuevos soles” ($22) a night. They were right about the price (59 nuevos soles for a single) and sort of right about the location (two blocks off the plaza). But they were wrong about the charm, unless the Dictionnaire Larousse’s definition of “charmant” now mentions plastic covered, ratty-carpeted staircases, stained mustard-yellow bedspreads and a din from the reception area that keeps you up at night. I lasted one night. On Day 2, I checked around for other options and soon found lodging truly full of charm. Up the street was the Casablanca Hostal, an old colonial house refitted with a boutique touch where a single went for 65 nuevos soles ($24) a night. They were booked until Monday, so I reserved a room for my final night, and settled into the Hostal Regis, where a perfectly acceptable private (windowless) room in another colonial–era building cost me 20 nuevos soles ($7). Most of the morning shot, I finally set out to the Plaza de Armas and found Arequipa’s citizens in full leisure mode. They sat on benches, taking in the sun and chatting as their young children entertained themselves by feeding then frightening pigeons. This looked like just the crowd to settle the questino of which of the dozens of picanterías I would visit for my limited time in the city. I began an informal survey and heard all the names I had read about: La Nueva Palomino, El Sombrero Arequipeño, Tradición Arequipeña. But one woman was so fanatical about La Capitana (at Los Arces No. 209 in the Cayma neighborhood) that I headed there for lunch.
She was used to going with her family, so she probably didn’t think about the best part for single travelers: the communal seating. Instead of my usual pull-out-a-book or pretend-to-check-my-cellphone routine, I had instant companions – an older couple who had been coming to La Capitana for years — to decipher the cuisine. They helped me order the rocoto relleno, insisting to the waiter it come with the traditional cheese-and-potato pie known as pastel de papas, and later needled him into giving me a free sample of their dish, patitas con mani – cow’s feet with peanuts, some seaweed thrown in for good luck. (Not my thing, but happy for the freebie.) I also checked off two other items from the Arequipa must-try list: a bottle of Kola Escocesa, the regional soda that tastes like carbonated cough syrup, and a queso helado, a tasty ice-cream-like dessert flavored with cinnamon and cloves. Total check: 15.50 nuevos soles (less than $6). I spent the afternoon wandering the city and checking out the churches and mansions, not to mention the ubiquitous and pricey La Ibérica chocolate shops, where I treated myself to one of the cheapest items, a bag of assorted toffees for 3.50 nuevo soles ($1.30). Seeing the Santa Catalina Monastery– a walled city within a city — cost me 30 nuevos soles for entry and 10 more to latch onto a tour, but it was worth it for a look at the double wood grates through which nuns had the only contact with the outside world from the time they entered as novices at age 12 until their death. That night, I stumbled into a scene that would have shocked 17th-century nuns. Trying to check another highly recommended picantería off my list, I took an 8-nuevo sol ($3) cab ride to to Chicharronería Cecilia, expecting to enter another homey establishment where I might sit next to another elderly couple. Instead, I walked into an enormous banquet hall that was seemingly hours into a raucous party; tables were strewn with empty bottles of Cuzqueña beer and half-eaten plates of fried pork, and a live band had the dance floor hopping with Colombian cumbia, Puerto Rican salsa and Dominican merengue. It wasn’t even 7 p.m.
This was not going to be an easy scene for a backpack-toting gringo to crash, but I got lucky. The party crashed into me, in the form of a 40-something woman who had had a few too many Cuzqueñas and literally ran into me on her way to the bathroom. Her table – a half-dozen co-workers – erupted in laughter, and I gained an instant group of friends. The ringleader, a chain-smoking lawyer named Milagros, had lived in Virginia for a year and loved speaking English. Among the expressions she repeated between cigarettes were “I’m so sad, my boyfriend’s dead” (true only figuratively, I think) and “Holy moly!” I ordered a plate of chicharrones (fried pork) for 13 nuevos soles ($5) and a few Cuzqueñas for the table, and was soon dragged off to the dance floor. We moved onto a nightclub (with free admission!) called La Roca, but I had to call it quits by 11 p.m. I had booked a tour starting at 7:30 a.m. the next day to Colca Canyon – the prerequisite excursion from Arequipa. I got up early so that I could speed walk over to the city’s central market as it got rolling to have a hearty breakfast before the long day ahead. As I walked — more like staggered — into one market an hour early because my clock was still set on Bolivian time, I was steered to the balcony by a worker who said that there “you’ll find some very delicious dishes.” Well, there was but one dish for sale: lamb’s head soup. And though it may be delicious to some, it would not sound delicious if your cultural background was, say, mine. But for 6 nuevos soles ($2), it was hardly a strain on the budget, so worth a try. I sat down next to a man named Alejandro at one of the communal tables and was handed a huge bowl of broth loaded with potatoes and and a big chunk of unidentifiable cartilage that Alejandro explained was a lamb’s ear.
Turns out you were supposed to specify which part of the head you wanted when you ordered, which could have landed me tongue, the least gross of the head parts. But I hadn’t known to ask, so I took a few chomps on my ear (gross) and slurped down all the broth (delicious). “It will give you so much energy, you will be able to pick up another man with one finger,” said Alejandro. He finished his soup — brains — then took off to begin his day of volunteer work at a local hospital. For me, it was off on the tour. As anyone who has been following my journey knows, I do not like organized tours. But I do like good deals, and heading to Colca Canyon – twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and home to soaring Andean condors – is logistically tricky and a budget killer to do on your own. For the tour, which included all transportation, a guide, and a hotel room with breakfast included, I paid 85 nuevos soles ($31). Going independently, a public bus to the canyon and back and the hotel room together would have cost 64 nuevos soles, and I still would have needed to get around to the attractions of the canyon somehow. And I’ll confess, it was kind of fun and relaxing to forget about logistics for 36 hours, and just be driven around in a Mercedes-Benz van with a crowd that included a dreadlocked Austrian, three upbeat Swedes, a boisterous high school Spanish teacher from Minnesota and a guide who could explain the pre-Inca and modern-day irrigation systems and explain the Quechua origins of the town names. And the condors were unquestionably cool.
그러나 나는 빅딜을 좋아하여 나는 그랜더케년의 두배의 깊이에다 고공비행을 하는 앤디언 콘돌의 본향인 콜카 케년으로 향했는대 그것은 여행의 보급문제상 트리키(까다로운)하고 혼사 스스로 모든 문제를 해결해야만하는 돈 잡아 먹는 하마 때문에 어쩔수없이 단채여행을 택햇다. 모든 수송,따오유 한명,아침이 포함된 호텔에서의 숙박을 포함 단체 투어용 여행경비로 85뉴에보스 솔레스(31달라)를 지불했다. 만약 혼자 간다면 케년으로 가는 공공버스와 그 버스를 타고 다시나오고 호텔비용등 모두 합처 64뉴에보스 솔레스가 들것이고 나는 여전이 섬하우(어떻게해서든지) 케년의 유명관광지 주변을 돌아다니는대 문제가 있었을 것이다. 그리고 나는 솔직이 고백하는대 그 단체여행이 36시간동안 각종 보급문제를 신경안쓰는 재미있고 마음편안 여행이었고 드레드락(따아내린갈래머리)의 오스트리언,3명의 업비트(낙관적인,즐거운) 스웨덴사람,보이스트러스(명랑하고떠들썩한) 미네소타에서온 고등학교 스페인어선생과 잉카이전과 현대의 관계시스템을 설명해주고 그 마을 이름인 케차의 유래를 설명해주는 한명의 따오유등과 함께 벤츠를 타고 주변을 돌아다는 관광이었다. 그리고 콘돌 또한 의심의 여지 없이 쿨한것이었다
I got back to Arequipa late Monday afternoon and rushed off for two final meals. The first, an early dinner at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Don Francisco (Calle Puente Grau No. 304-A) I had spotted a few days earlier, where I sat at another communal table, having soup and a main course of caygua, a hollow, savory fruit, stuffed with beef and vegetables. The second was at Chicha, that chic Gastón Acurio spot, where I had the adobo. How, you might ask, can the Frugal Traveler justify a two-dinner evening, especially when one is at perhaps the most chic restaurant in town? Here’s how: dinner at Don Francisco ran me 2.50 nuevos soles, a whopping 92 cents. As for Chicha, entrees there ran only 9 to 39 nuevos soles ($3 to $14), tax and tip included and a fraction of the cost of a meal at Mr. Acurio’s restaurant in San Francisco. The real question: with these kinds of deals, how could anyone justify not having two dinners? Next week: Northern Peru and Ecuador. Updated: A previous version of this post misstated the height of El Misti in relation to the city of Arequipa.
나는 월요일 오후 늦게 아레치파에 다시 도착하여 두번의 마지막 식사를 위해 허겁지겁 달려갔다. 몇일전 내가 점찍어 놓았었던 돈 프란시스코라고 불리는 홀인더월(옹색한,답답한) 식당에서의 첫 이른 저녁 식사에서 나는 공용태이블에 앉아 스프와 ,할로우,맞좋은 과일,비프와 소채로 채워진 케이가의 주 요리를 먹었다. 두번째 식사는 어도우보 요리를 먹었던 우아하고 고상한 아쿠리오 스팟인 치차에서 했다. 여러분은 알뜰한 여행객이라는 사람이 어떻게 비싼 이따위 저녁식사를 하고 특히 이 마을에서 가장 고급인 식당에서 식사를 할수 있느냐고 반문할수도 있을 것이다. 변명을 하자면 돈 프란시스코식당에서의 저녁식사는 2.50뉴에보스 솔레스로 할수 있는 불과 92센트로 와핑(참패,굉장한,엄청난)한 식사를 할수 있는 저렴한 곳이다. 치차로 말하자면 엔트리는 세금과 팁포함 불과 9에서 39뉴에보스 솔레스(3달라에서14달라)의 비용이 드는대 그것은 센프란시크코의 아쿠리오식당에서 먹는 식사의 극히 일부 비용에 불과하다. 진짜 질문하나 하겠는대 그럼 이런 저렴한 빅딜을 가지고 그 어느누가 두번의 식사를 한것이 아니라고 정의를 내릴수 있단 말인가?. 다음주에는 북패루와 에콰도르편을 실는다. 업데이트한 내용: 이번 게시물의 전편 버전은 아레치파시와 관련하여 엘 미스티의 높이는 잘못 언급 하였음을 알려 드립니다
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