We had another fun filled day today. We took another day tour with Haku Tours. Today was a market visit and cooking tour. We started with our guide, Jimmi, and three young men from Escondido and 2 of them graduates from UCLA. Small world again.
We met our chef Nindi at our first stop, the marketplace, which was a combination of a swap meet and a farmers market. Mostly locals shopping there, prices were extremely reasonable with the freshest fruit and seafood being sold. We learned some fun facts:
- Peru has more than 3000 types of potatoes
- And more than 400 types of corn.
- Their native drink is Chicha which is made from purple corn
Once we did our shopping and picked our ingredients, we went to the chef’s kitchen and began preparing our two course meal. Papa Rellena (beef and potato hand pie) and Pescado Sudado (steamed fish with onions and peppers). We began with prepping and cutting the veggies and the meat, each one of us were given a separate task.
Chef Nindi did all the cooking but we all took turns being sous chefs. As we finished each course we were able to sit all together and enjoy eating our creations. It was super fun. We learned a lot about the food, the ingredients that only grow here in Peru and how the food varies by the region you are in.
After our cooking class, Ravi and I walked back to our hotel. We finished off the evening with Peru’s cocktail – Pisco Sour. And Peru’s doughnut – Picarones.
Lima is a huge city of eleven million people. It has terrible traffic but it’s cleaner then our hometown. We can’t believe how clean and beautiful this city is. Weather wise, It’s been chill and overcast everyday with no sun and also very damp, drizzling each evening. The good part is, $1 US = $4 Sol. So everything is very affordable and our money goes a long way here. Needless to say. So far we have been loving the city, the food, and the people.
