3 South America

unnamed valley, Ecuador, April 13, 2018

I do not know the name of this valley. I don’t even know whether it has a name. I just stopped to pee while headed for Cuenca from Riobamba, Ecuador.The drive was not easy – not only because it was curvy and hilly, but because it was so scenic that I wanted to pull over …

Fanesca, Quito, Ecuador, April 7th, 2018

Fanesca is a traditional soup in Ecuador usually consumed during the Holy Week, or Semana Santa. It is not too visible in pictures but there were lots of beans at the bottom of the bowl, and they say they use 12 different kinds of beans, representing the twelve apostles of Jesus. And one of the …

Emotional sauna, Quito, Ecuador, April 6, 2018

Today is my 4th day in Quito, but I haven’t explored the city much, well, at least in the touristy sense. The day I crossed the 4,000 meter-high mountain range to arrive in Quito, I saw my car struggling to go uphill – the speed was comparable to the human walking speed. Although I knew …

Cerro Morro, Popayán, Colombia,  march 31, 2018

  I knew I was going to get to Popayan one day, because it is on the road to Ecuador. Over the past weeks though, my interest level went up, after hearing about what it was like to grow up in the town from my new Colombian friend in Medellin. Also, I read that Popayan …

Small reminders, San Agustin, Colombia, April 2nd, 2018

You upload the highlight of your day on your SNS, and travelers do the same. In fact, travelers are constantly presented with beautiful and exciting scenes, and this makes it even less likely to get to know about their ‘housekeeping’ efforts to do make the traveling going day after day. In south of Colombia, the …

Ajiaco santafereño, El Mejor Ajiaco del Mundo, Centro, Bogota, Colombia, March 26, 2018

This soup is called Ajiaco. To be exact, this particular one is called Ajiaco Santafereño, implying that it followed the recipe in Santa Fe region in Colombia, I assume. According to Google, Ajiaco is a popular dish found in Colombia, Peru, and Cuba, and the origin of the dish is still unclear. As seen, the …

Salsa-singing woman, Centro, Bogotá, Colombia, March 26, 2018

It was an ordinary Monday in the Centro in Bogotá, Colombia. The sound of a salsa song was getting louder in the direction I was walking. With curiosity, I was expecting a local live band but it turned out to be a street-karaoke while the singer was promoting her albums! I could not help but …

Pueblito Paisa, Medellín, Colombia, March 20, 2018

Pueblito Paisa is a small mock village which provides a peek into a typical Antioquia town. Itself is a small and cute village but the outlook nearby offers a clear view of Medellin. It is funny – there is nothing special about having a bird’s eye view of a city because they tend to end …