Land & Sea - Delicious Meals

Let’s talk about Peruvian food, people. As I mentioned, ceviche was my dish of choice. But I did want to try everything. My first ceviche in Peru was when I landed in Lima at the Wyndham airport hotel. I savored my first flavors of Peru with a classic ceviche and a delicious pisco sour. This was best to have in Lima is best as the fish is fresh from the ocean on the coast. I had ceviche for the first time ever when I traveled to Chile but this was beyond amazing. The tigre de leche made from fish juices and lime was delightfully tangy along with purple onions, crunchy corn, fresh corn, sweet potato, and a bit of heat. I don’t think it gets much better than that.

I found a wonderful restaurant in Cusco, recommended by my guide, Alfredo. Yaku Cocina was within quick walking distance of my hotel, Andean Wings. I could have visited different restaurants, but I kept returning to Yaku! I enjoyed a llama steak, aji de gallina, the best hot chocolate of my life, and of course pisco sour. Here, they had a maracuya (passion fruit) pisco that was incredibly delicious.

The meals at the lodges during the trek were equally delicious. They included beers, wine, or pisco at any meal which was dangerous not to take advantage of! Each meal was hearty and filling. My fellow travelers were vegetarian and they were given delicious meals as well. There weren’t options for dinner time, but I enjoyed each meal they provided. At dinnertime, we were given a soup, entrée, and dessert. At Colpa lodge, they treated us to a Pachamanca which was a traditional meal similar to Thanksgiving in the US. A hot bed of coals were raked over wrapped meat and potatoes to cook for about an hour. The result was a delicious spread that had my stomach in knots because I had to try it all. There were about 4 different types of potatoes, corn, meat, and vegetables. I tried my first Guinea pig that day too! I mortified everyone on my Instagram feed when I shared the photos, but you can’t go to Peru and not try a Guinea pig. It was a dark, gamey, and oily meat similar to rabbit. I thought it tasted like an odd combo of duck and rabbit. It was quite tedious to eat around the little bones, but wasn’t bad at all.

All in all, the food was excellent and I was excited to try anything and everything. It was the first trip I could try it guilt-free since I was walking my butt off each day.