Buen Dia Amigos! Greetings from Bolivia!
I just wanted to take some time to tell you all about some of the awesome food that we have been able to enjoy here in Bolivia. Just like the 8 essential amino acids, there are 8 essential rules for Bolivian dining (sorry, but the MCAT is looming ahead). They are as follows:
(WARNING - The Bolivian cuisine is not for the faint of stomach. A good dose of Ciproflaxacin is a necessity for any traveler desiring to get the full Bolivian experience.)
1) DO NOT DRINK THE WATER. Just as in many other countries around the world, Bolivian tap water is not safe to drink. We were reminded of this fact just as we arrived in Bolivia by a thrilling presentation on water borne parasites given by Todd, one of our fellow students from Wheaton College. On the bright side however, Bolivians have a variety of tasty bottled drinks which are a must have with any meal. My personal favorite are the different types of fruit juices. Each type of juice comes in a large, 2 liter glass bottle. There are many different flavors including peach, banana, apple, pineapple, papaya, and mango. The apple juice is especially good and tastes just like chilled apple cider. Additionally, a Bolivian favorite is Fanta. This sparkling orange Coca Cola product is a hit with many of the kids and does a great job of blunting the sting of hot picante peppers. Another unique Bolivian drink is drinkable yogurt which comes in a variety of flavors including blackberry, strawberry, and coconut. Although I wouldn't recommend it with a dense meat dish, it is great as a drinkable desert.
2) BRING A FRIEND. One of the best parts of Bolivian food is the massive portion size of many of the dishes. For only around 50 Bolivianos (7 USD) you can purchase a great dish known as pique, my personal favorite. Essentially, pique consists of massive amounts of meat on top of a bed of fried potatoes and is usually served with ketchup and mustard. There are three different types of meat: large cuts of beef, chorizo sausage, and chicken. Hardboiled eggs, onions and peppers usually adorn the top of the mountainous pile of protein. On the second day that we were here, we ordered two dishes of pique for ten people and still had several to go boxes of food to take home with us. Never eat alone in Bolivia or you are liable to end up carrying more than half of your meal home in a bag.
3) SAVE CHANGE FOR A TASTY SNACK ON THE STREET. The best part of traveling around Bolivia on the 15 passenger buses known as Truffis is the plethora of delicious smells of street stands wafting through the air. (Disclaimer: not all smells on a Truffi are what one might call pleasant. Use caution when breathing through your nose.) One of the best snacks on the street is the Empanada, a delicious combination of melted cheese and baked bread rolled together into a beautifully crimped pastry. A close relative of the Empanada is the Saltena which consists of meat and cheese enclosed in a pocket of baked bread. Both can be purchased on the street for around 2 - 5 Bolivianos (around 50 cents). After a hot snack of meat cheese and bread you may need something to cool off your tongue for the ride back to the hospital. The street vendors have just the remedy. Juanitos are probably my favorite food off the street and can be purchased for 1 Boliviano (15 cents). Basically a Juanito consists of frozen yogurt enclosed inside a plastic package (picture a frozen go-gurt). Juanitos come in a variety of different flavors and colors. Generally, each Juanito has a combination of three successive flavors including mango, peach, orange, lime, bubble gum, grape, chocolate, and pina colada. Juanitos are a great treat for the Truffi ride home and I routinely buy two every time I pass my favorite vendor on the corner. Moral of the story: Always carry loose change for some great street food.
4) WAS THAT SOUP BOILED? Soup is a staple part of the Bolivian diet. At lunch time Bolivians flock to local street stands for chicken, beef, and vegetable soup. Although the locals seem to be immune to the potential gastrointestinal problems associated with parasite ridden water, the traveler must use caution when trying this part of the Bolivian cuisine. Naturally, the most important question is "was that soup boiled?" So far, I have risked trying soup a total of three times this trip and either I have been lucky or I have a great knack for guessing which vendor in traditional Bolivian attire with a baby strapped to her back is most likely to have boiled the water in her soup. Despite the risks involved, I have been generally impressed with Bolivian soup. Chicken soup is very tasty and generally contains potatoes, rice, and carrots in a savory broth with a whole chicken breast plopped in the middle. My personal favorite however is quinoa soup. The Bolivians actually eat a fair amount of quinoa and use it as a substitute for rice in several dishes. Quinoa soup is very filling and makes me feel like I am eating healthy even if the broth probably has enough salt in it to make homeade ice cream.
5) BE COURAGEOUS. One particular delicacy in Bolivia is llama. The primary dish of llama is known as charque and consists of crunchy fried llama meat on a bed of hominy. It is also generally served with a baked potato and hardboiled eggs. Initially, I was very excited about trying llama meat, but after a trip through the llama section in La Cancha, the local market, I was a bit more skeptical. The llama section smelled a bit funky and they even had llama fetuses for sale which were far from appetizing. Despite my misgivings however, at the next restaurant we went to I ordered charque. As I stared at the dried crisps of meat in front of me, I couldn't help but have flashbacks to the smells of the meatmarket and the flies buzzing around overhead. I opened up and put the first bite in. The texture of the meat was very dry, kind of like beef jerky, and I had to crunch on it for a while before I could really taste the flavor. It turned out to be a little bit game-y kind of like deer jerky and on the whole was not to bad. Compared to pique, however, it just could not stand up. It was a great thing to try, but far from a staple food in my Bolivian diet.
6) LOOKS ARE DECEIVING. Another common food in Bolivia is known as Silpancho. At first, this traditional Bolivian food is a bit alarming. It comes in two different varieties: chicken and beef. The catch is that the two different meats are nearly indistinguishable from one another. Both are ground up and fried in to a pancake sized patty. Staring at the flat pancake of mystery meat on my plate was enough to make me at first question this Bolivian concoction, but it turns out I was mistaken. The saving grace of Silpancho is that its is served over rice and is topped off with several fried eggs. Mixed together with some picante salsa, the lifeless patty of meat is transformed into a delicious dish that I strongly recommend.
7) DON'T BE AFRAID TO BUY AMERICAN. Normally, I wouldn't suggest eating American food in a foreign country, but in this case I must say the unthinkable, "in Bolivia, order a hamburger". Yep that's right.
Here in Bolivia they are known as hamburguesas and are actually quite different than their counterpart in the United States. The best way that I can describe Bolivian hambeguesas is as a patty of taco meat on a ciabatta. The taco seasoning flavor of the meat gives the hamberguesa a very distinctive taste and it is a must try for any norteamericano traveling in Bolivia.
8) PURGE WITH FRUITS AND NUTS. This is an essential step in successfully navigating Bolivian food. Without fiber, the Bolivian diet of meat, bread, and fried food can leave you struggling for air. Fresh fruit of the streets is a great way to get some essential nutrients and help prepare your body for the next round of pique. The only precaution with fruit off the street is that it must be adequately cleaned using a rinse of bleach followed by purified water. There are a variety of different fruits in the markets ranging from apples, bananas and oranges to kiwis and papayas. The bananas are extremely cheap. I once tried to buy 5 Bolivianos (80 cents) worth and ended up getting 20 whole bananas. The apples here are also really good although you have to watch out for the occasional rotten one. Oranges are a great way to get some vitamin C which is in high demand while working in the hospitals and trying to combat the general lack of hygiene in the city. My personal favorite are the kiwis which I cut in half and eat with a spoon. They are a great snack and actually have twice the potassium of a banana which has been great in fighting off soreness since I have been trying to run here in the high altitude. Additionally, peanuts and a variety of other nuts that I don't know the name of can be purchased on the street. They are a great snack and a good break from Empanadas and Saltenas. I definitely recommend mixing in a good variety of fruits and nuts to maintain the longevity of your appetite while in Bolivia. And remember: trying new food is a marathon not a sprint so buckle up for the long haul.
Well, I hope that you have been able to get a taste of the many different components of the Bolivian cuisine through this brief overview. May your spoon be ever shiny and your steak knife ever sharp!
As they say in Bolivia
Provecho!! (Good Eating)
Jake
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Lago Titicaca
Hola! Hope you all are doing well! I can't believe we're onto our last week in Bolivia. Time has flown, and we've become quite the veterans at the trufi system, eating street food (especially Annika - who's quite the pro!), and holding basic conversations with the Bolivians! Believe it or not, by this time next week, most of us will be home, but in the meantime, we're soaking in the experiences, bonding closer with each other, and discerning God's will for our present and future through this trip.
This past weekend, we visited the world's highest navigable lake - Lake Titicaca! Our journey started bright and early at 4:15 am on Saturday. When we arrived, there were vendors everywhere selling us tickets to places we weren't even trying to head to! Now, speaking English at 5 am is quite difficult, but trying to understand and speak Spanish is even harder! Somehow we managed to get ourselves - and our loaded backpacks - onto a bus to La Paz. Bolivian traveling was definitely interesting! While we bought tickets for 5:30, the bus didn't actually leave until 6! And when you take the bus, it definitely doesn't mean a nonstop trip! We had vendors boarding the bus and selling us coffee, gum, bread, and even charque! There were stops to pick up people and drop them off. Jake and I got to meet this sweet little girl name Luz who was in one of the seats right in front of us. She was shy at first but ended up hanging out with us for most of the ride. It was especially funny when she would ask for the names of other people in our group and would yell it out through the bus until he/she woke up. She even walked down the aisle and would wake individual people up, especially Ben! Finally, after a 7 hour bus ride, we made it to La Paz around 1 pm, just in time to catch our next bus.
La Paz is a beautiful city settled in a valley with brick buildings adorning the mountain sides and the valley itself. We quickly learned on this trip that cameras cannot capture the true beauty of the country we're in. At the La Paz bus terminal, we bought another ticket to Copacabana - which is located on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca. The ride to Copacabana was beautiful, and we could see the lake for a duration of the trip! We finally arrived in Copacabana in the late afternoon, checked into a sweet hotel right by the lake, and bought our boat tickets to the island for the following day. We arrived at the perfect time, with the sun setting right on the lake and the boats providing the perfect silhouettes. We also went out for one of our favorite Bolivian meals, pique macho. Sadly, we were quite disappointed by our meal and went out for dinner round 2! We found a great cafe that quickly became a favorite of ours and ate a nice second dinner before retiring to our hotel rooms. Fun fact: Bolivian hot chocolate, at least at this cafe is awesome! Danica and I can attest to this fact! It's pretty much hot milk with chunks of chocolate at the bottom that you have to stir to melt into your drink! Yum!
Early Sunday morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed for our boat to Isla del Sol at 8 am. Our boat had an upper deck area that our team definitely took advantage of despite the somewhat cold air of the Bolivian winter. The view from the top was great, and I can't wait for you all to see the photos! Out on the lake, you can see the different islands and the perfect deep blue of the lake contrasts the white clouds, light blue sky, and green-brown mountains. After 2.5 hours on the boat, where we made friends with the other travelers from South Africa, Colorado, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, we finally docked. When we stopped on the northern part of Isla del Sol, we had to dodge the guide who wanted us to go to the island's musuem and other sights for a lovely fee, of course. We decided to take the 8 km hike to the southern part of the island to catch our boat on its way back. The hike was gorgeous as we could see the lake on both sides of us, and the trail was a fairly easy (though not so easy because of the altitude)! We finished with time to spare and caught a leisurely lunch at a restaurant that looks out onto the lake. What was super cool about this island and just Bolivia in general was all the animals hanging around! As we hiked, we saw pigs, donkeys, llamas, and dogs everywhere! Jake and Anna got some pretty epic pictures with this llama that was definitely posing for the camera! When we finally got back to Copacabana, we managed to get rooms at the same hotel as the previous night, which was awesome, though we all definitely wished we had known it was possible before we hiked 8 km with our backpacks full of clothes and food! For dinner, we stopped by a different restaurant where the men of our group plus Rachel got their taste of the infamous Lake Titicaca trout or trucha! The rest of us tried pizza, chicken fajitas, and quinoa soup which was all delicious! But of course, we had to stop by our favorite cafe before bed for some hot chocolate and a burger for Todd.
Our journey back was similar to the trip to the lake. We went from Copacabana to La Paz and from La Paz to Cochabamba. It took all day Monday. On our trip from La Paz to Copacabana though, we managed to take a double decker bus (awesome!) and sit right in front (even more awesome!). Though, to be honest, that made it kind of scary because we got to witness Bolivian driving at its finest! Don't worry though, we all made it home safely! Around 9:30 or so, we finally made it back to the guesthouse! It was such an incredible trip, and for 70 bucks, we got to be tourists for a weekend. With sights like Lake Titicaca, La Paz, and even Vinto where we have been living, it's tough to see how someone could look at all these people and places and not come to the conclusion that there has to be a Creator. It's time to soak in these experiences and continue to love on these people and this country up until the last minute we're here! Until next time!
Dios le bendiga, Myvy :)
This past weekend, we visited the world's highest navigable lake - Lake Titicaca! Our journey started bright and early at 4:15 am on Saturday. When we arrived, there were vendors everywhere selling us tickets to places we weren't even trying to head to! Now, speaking English at 5 am is quite difficult, but trying to understand and speak Spanish is even harder! Somehow we managed to get ourselves - and our loaded backpacks - onto a bus to La Paz. Bolivian traveling was definitely interesting! While we bought tickets for 5:30, the bus didn't actually leave until 6! And when you take the bus, it definitely doesn't mean a nonstop trip! We had vendors boarding the bus and selling us coffee, gum, bread, and even charque! There were stops to pick up people and drop them off. Jake and I got to meet this sweet little girl name Luz who was in one of the seats right in front of us. She was shy at first but ended up hanging out with us for most of the ride. It was especially funny when she would ask for the names of other people in our group and would yell it out through the bus until he/she woke up. She even walked down the aisle and would wake individual people up, especially Ben! Finally, after a 7 hour bus ride, we made it to La Paz around 1 pm, just in time to catch our next bus.
La Paz is a beautiful city settled in a valley with brick buildings adorning the mountain sides and the valley itself. We quickly learned on this trip that cameras cannot capture the true beauty of the country we're in. At the La Paz bus terminal, we bought another ticket to Copacabana - which is located on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca. The ride to Copacabana was beautiful, and we could see the lake for a duration of the trip! We finally arrived in Copacabana in the late afternoon, checked into a sweet hotel right by the lake, and bought our boat tickets to the island for the following day. We arrived at the perfect time, with the sun setting right on the lake and the boats providing the perfect silhouettes. We also went out for one of our favorite Bolivian meals, pique macho. Sadly, we were quite disappointed by our meal and went out for dinner round 2! We found a great cafe that quickly became a favorite of ours and ate a nice second dinner before retiring to our hotel rooms. Fun fact: Bolivian hot chocolate, at least at this cafe is awesome! Danica and I can attest to this fact! It's pretty much hot milk with chunks of chocolate at the bottom that you have to stir to melt into your drink! Yum!
Early Sunday morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed for our boat to Isla del Sol at 8 am. Our boat had an upper deck area that our team definitely took advantage of despite the somewhat cold air of the Bolivian winter. The view from the top was great, and I can't wait for you all to see the photos! Out on the lake, you can see the different islands and the perfect deep blue of the lake contrasts the white clouds, light blue sky, and green-brown mountains. After 2.5 hours on the boat, where we made friends with the other travelers from South Africa, Colorado, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, we finally docked. When we stopped on the northern part of Isla del Sol, we had to dodge the guide who wanted us to go to the island's musuem and other sights for a lovely fee, of course. We decided to take the 8 km hike to the southern part of the island to catch our boat on its way back. The hike was gorgeous as we could see the lake on both sides of us, and the trail was a fairly easy (though not so easy because of the altitude)! We finished with time to spare and caught a leisurely lunch at a restaurant that looks out onto the lake. What was super cool about this island and just Bolivia in general was all the animals hanging around! As we hiked, we saw pigs, donkeys, llamas, and dogs everywhere! Jake and Anna got some pretty epic pictures with this llama that was definitely posing for the camera! When we finally got back to Copacabana, we managed to get rooms at the same hotel as the previous night, which was awesome, though we all definitely wished we had known it was possible before we hiked 8 km with our backpacks full of clothes and food! For dinner, we stopped by a different restaurant where the men of our group plus Rachel got their taste of the infamous Lake Titicaca trout or trucha! The rest of us tried pizza, chicken fajitas, and quinoa soup which was all delicious! But of course, we had to stop by our favorite cafe before bed for some hot chocolate and a burger for Todd.
Our journey back was similar to the trip to the lake. We went from Copacabana to La Paz and from La Paz to Cochabamba. It took all day Monday. On our trip from La Paz to Copacabana though, we managed to take a double decker bus (awesome!) and sit right in front (even more awesome!). Though, to be honest, that made it kind of scary because we got to witness Bolivian driving at its finest! Don't worry though, we all made it home safely! Around 9:30 or so, we finally made it back to the guesthouse! It was such an incredible trip, and for 70 bucks, we got to be tourists for a weekend. With sights like Lake Titicaca, La Paz, and even Vinto where we have been living, it's tough to see how someone could look at all these people and places and not come to the conclusion that there has to be a Creator. It's time to soak in these experiences and continue to love on these people and this country up until the last minute we're here! Until next time!
Dios le bendiga, Myvy :)
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