The section from Arequipa to Puno already called my attention weeks ago. Within about an hour of driving, the maximum elevation gain is over 2,000 meters, from around 2,300m to 4,500m. The lack of power of the car, which I experienced in Ecuador, had concerned me about getting ultimately stranded somewhere. But I finally faced …
I am staying in the Miraflores neighborhood in Lima. While things are well organized and fancy, it was hard to find a restaurant specializing in Ceviche(cevicheria) with a local vibe and more generous portions. When I found myself in a less fancy neighborhood while installing a security film on the windshield, I took a break …
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 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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …