The Latin America Experience - Visiting Peru and Bolivia

We recently did a 10 day trip to Peru and Bolivia. It was an enriching experience to spend time in a place where culture, food, language and most things were significantly different. It was going to be a little difficult for vegetarians as well, as the continent's cuisine is primarily meat, and with English not spoken widely, it was going to be even more interesting. In the end, things turned out to be very pleasant.

Day 1 & 2 - May 8/9th - Flying to Lima from Seattle

This was a day when we were to fly out of Seattle to Miami around 9:30 Pm. Arun dropped us at the airport around 8 Pm. The checkin went smoothly in under 5 mins, but for the first time I saw such long lines at the security checkin. So long, that it took 1 hour to clear the security. It was 9:15 Pm. American Airlines (AA), known to be the worst of all airlines [There is very close competition between Delta, United and AA, but AA has my vote] was surprisingly on time. They made the boarding announcement and called Divya's name for the last boarding call. Both of us ran hard and were the last to board. The flight took-off on time, and landed at 6 AM the next day at Miami.

The flight to Lima was in the evening around 5 Pm. We checked-in to a cheap hotel [Runway Inn] near the airport, slept for a few hours, freshened up, and checked-out. Then we hit the famous south beach for a few hours. The beach looked gorgeous, but it was sweating hot. We decided to have lunch in an Indian restaurant "Indian Oven". The food was just OK, but we were happy to even get this. We decided to pack some "masala dosa" for dinner in the flight, since we were not sure if AA would give is any food [No special meals were provided on this flight].



Miami Beach

We came to the airport fairly early around 2:15 Pm itself, but the flight was late by around 30 mins. Surprisingly, we got veggie food in the flight in the form of cheese ravioli. We had the masala dosa mostly since we had spent money for it :), and only a little of the ravioli. The flight landed around 10 pm at Lima.

From now on, each day of the trip is described in a separate post.

Day 2 - May 10th, Lima
http://raghuthinks.blogspot.com/2013/05/lima-city-tour.html

Day 3 - May 11th, Sacred Valley/Ollaytantambo
http://raghuthinks.blogspot.com/2013/05/sacred-valley-tour.html

Day 4 - May 12th, Machu Picchu
http://raghuthinks.blogspot.com/2013/05/machu-picchu-lives-upto-hype.html

Day 5 - May 13th, Cusco city tour
http://raghuthinks.blogspot.com/2013/05/cusco-city-tour-may-13th.html

Day 6 - May 14th, Lake Titicaca, crossing into Bolivia
http://raghuthinks.blogspot.com/2013/05/crossing-into-bolivia-through-lake.html

Day 7 - May 15th, La Paz city tour
http://raghuthinks.blogspot.com/2013/05/la-paz-city-tour-may-15th.html

Day 8 - May 16th, Salar de Uyuni tour
http://raghuthinks.blogspot.com/2013/05/salar-de-uyuni-may-16th.html

Day 9 - May 17th, Valley of the moon
http://raghuthinks.blogspot.com/2013/05/may-17th-last-day-in-bolivia.html


Summarizing some of my thoughts below:

1. The flavors in the food are kind of similar to India. The food is tasty, spices are good (not bland).
2. Peru and Bolivia have around 1000 varieties of potatoes and corn, in many different colors and shapes [even shape of ginger]. They taste really good.
3. The juices were fresh, similar to India. I don't know how people in USA drink the medicine like orange/apple juices. Even in the domestic flights in Peru, the canned juices tasted like fresh juice, not like some cough syrup.
4. The traditional dress was very colorful, but it was worn only by elder people. The younger people took mostly to jeans and T-Shirts. Probably 20-30 years from now, these places may not be as colorful as today.
5. Freshness - Most food, fruits and vegetables are fresh. Even the fish market did not have any smell. Everything was very fresh. In the USA, most restaurants serve frozen food [even allowed by federal laws]. Here it is so refreshing, and USA needs to learn a few things from here.
6. Spanish is spoken everywhere. English knowledge is limited even in touristy areas, so its good to learn Spanish before getting here [duolingo.com is a great site for learning].
7. Gap between rich and poor is a lot like in India. The Spanish descendants are still much richer compared to the native descendants.