The Americas: Oh My Gawd Food Moments

Since food is such a highlight of our travels, we have collated a list of moments where our taste-buds have been blown away by delectable and tantalising flavours. We also have a running top 5 global food orgasmic moments in a list on the right, which we will keep updated throughout our Radventure. 


The Top Five:


1 - Eight Plate Degustation at El Baqueano (San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
2 - La Caberera Steaks (Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
3 - Freddo Ice Cream (San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
4 - Mexican at La Vaca Mu (Tapachula, Mexico)
5 - Cafe Gitane Baked Eggs (New York, USA)

Other Noteworthy Mentions:

- Empanadas (Puerto Iguazu, Argentina) 
- Quesadilla's (Tapachula, Mexico)

- FriOreo (Tapachula, Mexico)

- Lomo Saltado Spaghetti (Puno, Peru)

- Churros (Mexico City, Mexico)

- Calabresa aka Sausage & Onion (Sao Paulo, Brazil)

- Fresh Coconuts (Rio De Janerio, Brazil)

- Banana Dulce de Leche Liqueur (Mendoza, Argentina)

- Cab Sav Utopia 2006 (Mendoza, Argentina)

- Roasted Plaintains (Otavalo Markets, Ecuador)

- Persicco Coconut Ice Cream (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

- Don Julio's Parrilla (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

One of the eight plates at El Baqueano - Alligator Gyoza

Scott at Freddo's getting suck into the 1/4L goodness 

Delicious El Australiano at La Vaca Mu!

Every mouth full of these empanadas is a flavour explosion!

Its scary the Peruvians can make a good pasta

The yellow liquor is the tasty one... the other not so much

Keep eating good food kids,

Scara

The ABBA Experience

A is for Argentina!
We finally arrived in Argentina after a very round the loop flight path from Quito. Have you ever been on a flight for only 35 minutes, dropped half the passengers off (while you stayed on the plane) and then just kept on flying? Very odd.


Puerto Iguazu was our first destination, of course to marvel in the stupendous Iguazu Falls. The water, ever so calmy streams down the river, and then suddenly the earth falls away and it roars down into the Devils Throat. Every so often there is a huge spray of water from the mouth of the falls and everyone gets soaked!

The roaring Devil`s Throat! 

Some more waterfalls...

 

And a pretty rainbow!

In Puerto Iguazu we were also successful in getting a Brazilian visa! Yay! And sampling the first of many delicious empanadas and gigantic ice-creams. It was also the beginning of many long bus trips!

A very happy man with his Brazilian visa!

B is for Brazil
Visa in hand, we crossed the boarder bound for the bum bearing beach of Copacabana in Rio De Janeiro. It delivered! We have never seen so much cellulite in our lives! There were definitely a good share of Brazilian Beauties, but there should be full brief bikinis for grandmas. There was no bum bearing for Scara though! We said a little pray as we stood under Cristo Redentor to help digest the kilos and kilos of meat we were consuming.

Hydrating on Copacabana Beach 

 

Also hydrating on Copacabana Beach, local style

Cristo Redentor spreading the love to Rio

As U2 descended on Sao Paulo with all its fans, so did we. It made finding accommodation extremely difficult; it was such a hassle settling for a hotel instead of a dorm for a couple of days! The city is much bigger than Rio, so we had lots to explore. We visited the Football museum, practically a shrine to Brazilian soccer legends; in quite the spectacular setting under the stadium. Sara not quite being sick of markets yet, we meandered through a few, always titillating the tastebuds with more empanadas, African influenced dishes and tempura type pancakes. We flashed through Brazil, with the hope of one day going back for more.

Tasty tempura pancake 

An art exhibition we stumbled across with an entire wall of post-it notes!

B is for Bolivia
We went back to Bolivia for part 2. It sounds like a bit of a round about trip, but some how it all made sense to us. Well Bolivia pulled out all it's tricks, including the entire country blockading every major entry point in and out of it's major cities. It made for interesting bus journeys, as we walked through blockades to swap buses and continue our travels. We visited a number of small towns along the way to our major destination of the Salt Flats, including Cochabamba, Sucre and Potosi; each having it's own unique charm. We joined a Frenchman, Englishman (its starting to sound like a joke...) and German woman  for a 3 day jeep guided tour through the bumpy terrain  of the south west Bolivia. We saw an ever changing landscape including the stunning Salt Flat sprayed with the water effects of wet season, red dessert, coloured lagoons, volcanos puffing smoke, train graveyard, the Valley of the Rocks and the Rock Tree, geysers, flamingos and wild llamas. At times it was simply breath taking.

Jumping for joy 

Getting squashed!... like some of Sara's ridiculous jokes

 Salt mounds at the flats

Sun burnt salt cracking 

It looked like it would go on forever

The train grave yard

 Sara on top of a huge rock in the Valley of the Rocks

Taking in the unbelievable setting 

Stunning nature

Scott being all arty and stuff....

Mars - the red desert

A is for Argentina (again!)
Not quite experiencing the Argentinian way of life to the fullest quite enough the first time, we went straight to Mendoza; wine country! The Argentinas can make a very fine drop as we discovered. So we hired some bikes and peddled our way through a few boutique vineyards. Pretty soon we were very happy cyclist and sharing the narrow roads with shonky Argentinean drivers. Great way to see it all and favorite saying for the day was 'beautiful part of the world'.

Photographic evidence that Sara can ride a bike 

Wine tasting!

Our final city in the Americas was Buenos Aires. We were really looking forward to settling into a city for a few days and celebrate the end of our South American Radventure. Buenos Aires did not disappoint! We choose a beautiful part of the city to base ourselves and enjoyed the very trendy European cafe culture of Palermo. The wide tree lined streets and trendy shops had Sara zig zagging down every street with constant 'Ohhh that's pretty!' 


The luxury of 5 days in one place meant we had many lazy mornings, which often ended in going to a delicious bakery to devour some tasty empanadas. Highlights of BA would definitely include sipping a bottle of Mendoza wine in the beautiful parks around Palermo, getting caught up in the passion of the locals at a futbol match, finding some very funky pieces of art at the San Telmo street market, listening to a street Orchestra (again at San Telmo), watching some street tango, soaking up the small but impressive art museums all around BA, the strange stroll through the Recoleta cemetery (along with hundreds of other tourists, which makes the experience even weirder) and an interesting wander through downtown which takes you from the green palace to the pink house (very colourful in a number of ways!)

May I have this dance? 

 San Telmo Markets - reminds me of Rozelle Markets without an awesome coffee stand!

A little music at San Telmo Markets 

Goooooooooooooooooaaaaaallll!!!!!!!

Happy hour in the park

Possibly the biggest highlight for us in Buenos Aires, however, has been the delicious food we have been able to enjoy! Apart from the mouth watering aforementioned empanadas, we made a daily pilgrimage to amazing ice cream shops all around BA to purchase a 1/4 kilo tub filled with ever changing, but always scrumptious flavours of ice cream (these included Vanilla, Chocolate, Chocolate Suisse, Chocolate Persicco, Frutilla, Frambuesa, Dulce de Leche, Americano, Menta Granizada, Coco del Crema, Cookies & Cream, Banana Split, the list goes on .... )

Ice-cream!

The other delectable delight we have enjoyed daily that melts in your mouth has been the Buenos Aires steaks. Nightly dinner trips to many of the phenomenal surrounding parrillas has meant many meals with unbeatable steaks cooked to perfection that ooze juicy flavour and another bout of meat sweats for Scott.

Mmmmm... tasty!

Ciao for now, 

Scara

Ecuador

Ecuador was a wild card which has exceeded expectations. A must see destination for any South American adventure. We were awed by the spectacular landscape, as we stayed slightly off the beaten track.

We wondered the Old Town of Quito which is a UNESCO world heritage site, blending Spanish and indigenous elements into its spectacular cityscape. And battled the bustling restaurant and party goers of the New Town. But the real beauty of the country was waiting outside the urban capital.

We went to Otavalo markets, 2 hours north of Quito, to bargain our way through the largest market in South America. It was a bazar of bright pinks, blues, greens and yellows. The array of stripy pants was unfathomable. We quickly wondered through the Fruit and Meat market, which was filled with a not so fragrant butcher aroma. We tried to blend in with the locals as we munched on roasted plantains, cold corn kernels and delicious blackberry pies. We stayed 4km out of town at La Luna; with it's picture perfect views of Volcano Cotacachi, the town and lake.

Stunning view from the lodge

Flavours of the market

Corn, corn and more corn!

Colourful textiles

Next we put on our cargo pants, gum boots and heavy duty insect repellant bound for the Amazon basin. As we were shown to our cabin at the Shangrilla Ecolodge, we both froze as we took in an unimaginable birds eye view of the jungle. Have we paid enough to stay here? As the river gently splashed down stream and the butterflies danced through the trees, every fiber in our bodies relaxed as we chilled in a hammock watching the sunset through the mountains. It was magical.

Chillaxing in the hammock

Soaking up a sunset

Incredible views from our cabin

It wasn't all siestas in the sunshine. We learnt all about the medicinal, constructional, nutritional and recreational (aka hallucinogenic) purposes of many Amazonian plants. We even tried a few delicious and not so delicious fruits and creatures - rain fruit, guava, lemon ants, tomato de arbole and surprisingly the favorite, lava from a local palm tree. We visited an Amazonian community (they had a Boa Constrictor snake as a pet!), rode a tube downriver, climbed cascading waterfalls, slide down natural rock waterslides, trekked past snakes, Congo ants and spider monkeys... And then, most importantly, we went back to the hammock! This experience will go down on record as one of the highlights!

Enjoying a local delicacy, palm tree larvae

One of the many beautiful waterfalls

Quick shower

Tomb Raider

Keep it real kids,
Scara

Peru and Bolivia Part I

We ventured into high altitude country and were joined by a couple of familiar faces, Sally & John (Scott's parents); together we embarked on an expertly organised, spectacular tour of the country (thanks again Sally!).

It all started in Cuzco, where we visited the heart of the Inka Empire "Sexy Woman", bargained at the first of many markets, drank cups and cups of coca tea, tasted a little guinea pig and alpaca and soaked up some Inka architecture in The Sacred Valley. The trip then took a mystical turn as we made the journey to Machu Picchu! Machu Picchu is a breath taking site from every angle. In the two days we were there, we managed to visit all the key sites - Sun Gate, Inka Bridge, Machu Picchu Mountain and the most spectacular of all Wayna Picchu! Walking a total of 10 hours in the blistering sun and drenching rain we experienced it all.

Dad enjoying some cuy (guinea pig)

Sacred Valley

Machu Picchu

 At the top of Machu Picchu Mt

Two boofheads at Machu Picchu

We then made our way down to Puno, which was the launching pad for our island hopping experience of Lake Titikaka. We visited Uros, floating islands made completely of reeds. It is a very unusual feeling stepping off the boat, and your foot sinking a few centimeters into squashy terrain. Next island was Amantani, where we had a home stay and meet Angelia (our adopted Peruvian mama). She cooked us many Peruvian dishes and we danced the night away in traditional dress at a local fiesta. From there we went to Taqulie Island and munched on freshly caught Trout overlooking trillion dollar view of Lake Titikaka. Our Peru adventure was pretty much over, but we still had more of Lake Titikaka to explore in Bolivia.

 With Angelia, our Peruvian mama, at the local fiesta

Delicious trout with spectacular views

Uros, the floating reed island

Our colourful Uros taxi driver

When in the Andes wear an alpaca hat

We crossed the border into Bolivia without too much changing except the currency, which Scott was still calling Pesos anyway. A quick trip around the original Copacobana and it was all aboard the catamaran. As it turns out it is low season for travel in the Andes so we were luckily enough to get this catamaran all to ourselves and for 24 hours lived the lifestyle of the wealthy! A private tour of Isla del Sol (aka Sun Island and birthplace of the Inca's) followed by Sara breaking the oar of a traditional reed boat (Oops!) and then treked part of the Inka trail over the island. The day did not end there, with a candle lit dinner (might be the only one Sara gets all year!!) and a private traditional dance show. Not sure we are made for the Peru beat (we all had left feet!). Overall, it was a spectular experience, waking in the morning literally under a full rainbow.

 

Sara breaking an oar

Sunset from our private catamaran

On our last day with John and Sally, we saw the Tiwanaku ruins, which taught us a little about the pre Inka civilisation, before continuing on to La Paz. All were amazed as we rounded a corner and the city was spread out in the valley before us. That night it was a fun and sad dinner as we bid farewell to Sally and John at a rooftop restaurant soaking up the lit up valley of La Paz. We were shocked back into the backpacker lifestyle as we were stuck in La Paz due to demonstrations followed by a 30 hour bus ride up into Lima.

Hasta Luego,

Scara