Our group has a certain Achilles Heel for food, especially sweets, so I thought it was time to do an in-depth blog about the amazing foods we have been eating on this trip.
First off, let's give a basic overview of our eatin habits so far. Our meals have mostly consisted of rice, fried eggs, avocados, some type of soup as an appetizer, lots of plantains cooked every-which way, lentils or beans, some type of chicken or beef, lots of queso fresco (the only type of cheese in all of South America), lots of coffee and tea, and an absolutely absurd amount of bread from local panderias.
Our first out of the ordinary South American food was when Alejandro boldly tried cow tongue on our second day in Quito. While on the banana farm, we tried numerous types of plantains cooked many different ways, and one night we made our own nutella chocolate spread from the cacao beans we harvested earlier that day. In Baños, we all got to try a classic Ecuadorian dish called ''balones''. Balones are pieces of queso fresco wrapped in plantains and fried. We also got to try Besty's favorite type of bread, ''pan de yuca'', which is bread made from the tuber root yuca with queso fresco inside. The other great things we got to try in Baños were pizza cones!, which look and taste exactly how they sound. Only one brave soul, Betsy, has tried cuy (guinea pig), but we have seen them roasting on spits in the streets a couple of times.
As previously mentioned, our group craves more sweets than the average person should. Let's dive a little deeper into just how bad our addiction is…
For starters, yesterday here in Arequipa, afte a group meeting in the park, we all went to a cafe in the mall fo cake. In total, we all got a piece of cake, and Gabriela went back for some ice cream, and Betsy and Iris split another slice. Then today Olivia and I went back to the same cake place and both ordered coffee, ice cream, and an alfajor (these amazing layered caramel cookies), and after we finished, Olivia asked the cafe employees if an alfojores cake exists. In Ecuador we spent the majority of our money and per diems on either chocolate, bread, coffee, or sweets. While in Baños, we had the opportunity to try lots of taffy, and spent most of our free time at this amazing gourmet chocolate shop. Also, when we were stuck in the jungle in Tena and didn't have much access to sweets, we resorted to just slowly eating sugar with our hands. For bus rides, we usually bought lots of Amor chocolate wafer cookies, and in Pucara we literally bought all of the sweets in the whole town. Also in Pucara, we got a chance to watch the cool panela sugar making process, and ended up trying 6 different forms of sugar cane in a hour period. While here in Arequipa, Olivia nad I tried a traditional Peruvian dessert called ''queso helado''. No, it's not cheesey ice cream. It tastes similar to vanilla ice cream, but the way it's prepared makes it look like chunks of parmesan cheese.
Lastly, our greatest food extravaganza happened when our flight from Lima to Arequipa got cancelled and we spent the night at a very nice Sheraton hotel in Lima. We had a free buffet for dinner and breakfast, and we binged. We piled our plates high with pastas, potatoes, steamed vegetables, cheese that wasn't queso fresco, rice, sweet potato puree, salad, radishes, tiramisu, apple streudle, chocolate cake, rice pudding, and dulce de leche. Suntea'Ohna ate four cups of jello, and Gabriela had a line of dessert cups in front of her. For breakfast we again filled our plates with eggs, bacon, pancakes, french toast, yogurt and granola, fruit, 3 types of potatoes, toast with amazing strawberry jelly, cinnamon rolls, chocolate croissants, and more. Betsy and I smuggled out some rolls and chocolate croissants for the plane ride later. I'm still ​feeling the effects of eating so much nearly 5 days later, but it was so worth it.
That's all for this week, but hopefully we can have a food blog entry every week about a cool traditional dish we tried.
