We started off with a beautiful breakfast buffet at our hotel. There were scrambled eggs, ham, homemade tamales, sausages, yogurt, cereals, cheese, strudels, juices, coffees and teas. I just had scrambled eggs, cheese and toast with coca jam. Coca jam is a sweet goodness that was very leafy, like wheatgrass. It's an acquired taste.
We started the day with a quick stroll around the square near our tour operator to get finals details for our upcoming river rafting trip, more about that later.
We strolled to the main square and ended up by the fountain watching a local band play music before meeting an local lady making belts.
It was amazing that she took the time to show us how she made each belt. We of course bought two belts and took photos with her before heading the Santa Catalina Monastery, an all women's nunnery.
On our way to lunch, we met some local Peruvian ladies with alpaca's. Alpaca's are like little llama's but stinkier and edible.
We ended up at Uchu, a Peruvian steakhouse for lunch. In my opinion, the worst place we had lunch during our time in Cusco. Our first course was a cold alpaca meat dish served on top of cold sour potatoes. It was so horrible after one bite my stomach was churning.
The second course which was a stuffed potato (papa rellena) with chicken and aji (yellow pepper) cream was delicious. It was crispy on the outside with a gooey, creamy yellow sauce coating the chicken perfectly.
The best and last course of the meal was a side dish of mashed potatoes mixed with peanuts and hot chili's. It was spicy like Thai food and had great crunch from the peanuts and creaminess that is mashed potatoes. This dish redeemed the meal.
Next was the Cathedral of Santo Domingo. It was the oldest church with a lot of old relics. Inside the church there are little stations for each saint that you can light a candle and pray in front of. Outside there are little old Peruvian ladies who sells candles and allow you to take pictures of them dressed in traditional outfits with their baby alpaca's.
Since it started to rain late afternoon, we decided to duck into the market again to finish off our last souvenir shopping. The last thing that I bought was a hand carved gourd that was opened in front of me to be used a jewelry holder. It was amazing the art that these women make with such rudimentary tools.
With the weather still not favorable, we decided to head to the Museum of Pisco where you can take a class and make your own Pisco Sour behind the bar! BTW they are the only bar outside of JW Marriott that serves Jameson in Peru.
Buzzed from drinks, we headed to dinner before calling it an early night. We decided to go to Restaurant Inkazuela. It was supposedly known for its stews and soups. It was a quaint little place that can't really seat parties bigger than 4. We started our meal with a chicken soup with quinoa and assorted vegetables. It was hearty and good but way too salty. The homemade bread that is was served with was crusty and warm and helped to overcome the saltiness of the soup.
Next course was 4 Andean cheeses. There were two cheese that tasted familiar. One was like Swiss cheese and the other like Mozzarella The other two were quite unique. The one that was our favorite of the four tasted had the texture of Asiago cheese and the taste of goat cheese. The one that we liked least of the four tasted was stinky like Limburger and texture of extra ripe brie. Yuck. All of the cheese were made from cow's milk.
Lastly, we had the traditional Andean stew made with lamb, beans and vegetables and a chicken coconut curry stew. The Andean stew was light but the lamb meat was gamey, tough and greasy. It didn't really provide much flavor and the stew would be better off vegetarian in my opinion. The coconut curry stew reminded me of Thai curry and was super spicy. It would have been better off served with rice rather than bread, but maybe that is the Asian in me?
After dinner, we called it an early night as we had to get up early go to river rafting!
The second course which was a stuffed potato (papa rellena) with chicken and aji (yellow pepper) cream was delicious. It was crispy on the outside with a gooey, creamy yellow sauce coating the chicken perfectly.
The best and last course of the meal was a side dish of mashed potatoes mixed with peanuts and hot chili's. It was spicy like Thai food and had great crunch from the peanuts and creaminess that is mashed potatoes. This dish redeemed the meal.
Next was the Cathedral of Santo Domingo. It was the oldest church with a lot of old relics. Inside the church there are little stations for each saint that you can light a candle and pray in front of. Outside there are little old Peruvian ladies who sells candles and allow you to take pictures of them dressed in traditional outfits with their baby alpaca's.
Since it started to rain late afternoon, we decided to duck into the market again to finish off our last souvenir shopping. The last thing that I bought was a hand carved gourd that was opened in front of me to be used a jewelry holder. It was amazing the art that these women make with such rudimentary tools.
With the weather still not favorable, we decided to head to the Museum of Pisco where you can take a class and make your own Pisco Sour behind the bar! BTW they are the only bar outside of JW Marriott that serves Jameson in Peru.
Buzzed from drinks, we headed to dinner before calling it an early night. We decided to go to Restaurant Inkazuela. It was supposedly known for its stews and soups. It was a quaint little place that can't really seat parties bigger than 4. We started our meal with a chicken soup with quinoa and assorted vegetables. It was hearty and good but way too salty. The homemade bread that is was served with was crusty and warm and helped to overcome the saltiness of the soup.
Next course was 4 Andean cheeses. There were two cheese that tasted familiar. One was like Swiss cheese and the other like Mozzarella The other two were quite unique. The one that was our favorite of the four tasted had the texture of Asiago cheese and the taste of goat cheese. The one that we liked least of the four tasted was stinky like Limburger and texture of extra ripe brie. Yuck. All of the cheese were made from cow's milk.
Lastly, we had the traditional Andean stew made with lamb, beans and vegetables and a chicken coconut curry stew. The Andean stew was light but the lamb meat was gamey, tough and greasy. It didn't really provide much flavor and the stew would be better off vegetarian in my opinion. The coconut curry stew reminded me of Thai curry and was super spicy. It would have been better off served with rice rather than bread, but maybe that is the Asian in me?
After dinner, we called it an early night as we had to get up early go to river rafting!
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