Six days in Tbilisi

Our Georgian journey began in the capital Tbilisi, a lovely little place with a population of about 1 million. It's a fairly compact city with hills all around and we all liked it a lot.

We stayed in the old city, in a little guesthouse which from the outside looks like it's about to fall down but was furnished with modern furniture and had a friendly and helpful (and talkative!) host, Irakli. He gave us some good food and sights recommendations and helped guide our stay, which after a day of wandering around we decided to extend from the four nights we'd originally planned to six.

The city has a lot of grand but faded buildings, houses and apartment blocks which evidently nobody can afford to quite renovate but live in anyway. The style includes beautiful balconies everywhere, in the old part of town at least.

There are a couple of grand avenues, notably Rustaveli Avenue with a lot of large 19th-century buildings including the wonderfully stripy Opera House and the Georgian National Museum. We've been very impressed with the museums here - clear, detailed exhibits which are well-curated. The national museum's Treasury was particularly good with a gorgeous selection of jewellery and artefacts unearthed from burial sites. Georgia has a long rich history and they keep finding stuff from the Bronze Age and on which is really spectacular.

Bank of Georgia HQ

Otherwise the old architecture is interspersed with a selection of crazy modern buildings. The Peace Bridge, spanning the river below the old town, is really quite nice - an undulating glass curve with the stars of Europe on top (they light up at night). Opposite the bridge there's a concert hall and exhibition centre of two glass and steel tubes, as yet unused, which is pretty cool. Other architectural gems we visited included the 1970s building which is now the Bank of Georgia headquarters, a set of boxes stacked on top of each other in a location which is miles from anything useful except a couple of the university campuses.

The city is also filled with churches of all sizes, from very small to very large. Georgian Orthodox churches are quite different to Western European churches - they're generally square-ish inside, and empty of furniture. The walls are hung with gilded icons and people wander in to pray at all times of the day. Often there's a priest chanting too.

Tbilisi's main cathedral is fairly new, consecrated only in 2004. Inside it's still plain plaster although they're beginning to paint frescoes at the altar end. It's huge and lofty and rather lovely. We got there about an hour before sunset and the sun on the golden sandstone turned the building the most gorgeous colour; inside, we listened as four very ordinary blokes just out of work sang prayers in harmony as a priest chanted.

We also visited the museum of ethnography, which was a little disappointing as not many of the houses from around Georgia were actually open. The ones which were had guides to tell you about the culture of the people who had lived in them. We liked our first guide best, a young lady wearing semi-traditional dress who was happy to chat and answer questions. We discovered that the traditional Georgian nappy involved strapping your baby into a cot and positioning a pipe (different shapes for boys and girls) strategically to catch urine and funnel it into a pot!

Ethnographic museum

The best bit was probably our trip to the market, where we wandered for ages looking at the produce on sale and trying to have conversations with the stallholders in our limited Georgian/Russian (hello! thank you! English!) and their limited English. They seemed genuinely thrilled to have three Brits stopping by and we scored a number of free samples.

A lady checking beans in the market

On our last day in Tbilisi we caught a marshrutka (basically a minibus) to the nearby town of Mtskheta, a UNESCO World Heritage site, where there's a stunning old cathedral decorated heavily inside, and a church on a hill overlooking the town. Normally you pay a taxi driver to drive you up to the hill but, being us, we decided to walk. The tourist information office was helpful in giving us instructions, although Julie had found instructions online too which suggested that the best way to cross the highway below the hill was through an underpass. So we duly trotted along to the underpass, which is by a gravel pit, only to find that the gravel works was guarded by at least four aggressive dogs. Backing off we decided to cross the road at road-level instead, which actually wasn't too bad. Coming back was much easier and far more direct!

We ended our Tbilisi stay with a trip to the public baths, which was if nothing else an experience. Tbilisi has a hot spring running off the hills into the river and they have a number of bathhouses where you can soak in mineral-rich water. Julie had researched online and thought she'd found one where you didn't have to book but there were hot pools to soak in; only we turned up and it was expensive, reservation-only.

Instead we went to one of the other public bath options, where the women's baths were only showers. But it was cheap and we soaked for a while under steaming hot water smelling slightly of eggs. We tried to get a massage or a back scrub but, through the medium of miming mainly as our Russian is not great (well, mine's non-existent, Julie knows a little) and the attendants' English was worse, we ascertained that this wasn't going to happen. We also had to borrow some flip-flops after a lady had a go at us for being bare-footed.

We came out and discovered that Andrew had had a far different experience on the men's side, with a pool and a massage. Typical.

Overall Tbilisi was great - it's still not too touristy, and British tourists especially are few and far between. It's easy to get around (the metro is cheap and reliable) and seems pretty safe. Definitely a good spot for a city break, or, as for us, the starting point to a tour around Georgia.

Georgia (the country, not the US state)

Back when I was still in Rio my friend Julie emailed and said "we're thinking of going to Armenia and Georgia in the spring, do you fancy coming?"

At that point the Paralympics hadn't even begun, I hadn't done my South American odyssey and wasn't thinking much beyond the next few weeks. But by Christmas, two months home, I was already getting itchy feet (and not much work!) and willingly signed up for three weeks around Georgia.

"Why Georgia?" asks everyone, quickly followed by, "and which one, anyway?"

The answer to the second is that we're in the former Soviet state, a country which borders Turkey, embraces the EU (there are EU flags everywhere, although Georgia is not a member state), and which has been consistently invaded and occupied by Russia throughout its history.

The answer to the first is broadly, "why not!" When Julie and Andrew were on their two-year trip around the world we met up for a fortnight in Uzbekistan and had a wonderful time and the thought of another journey to a country in that broad region appealed. Obviously Georgia is culturally, politically and historically quite different to Uzbekistan but it also sits on the ancient Silk Road and there are commonalities. It's also supposed to be stunningly beautiful and everyone who's been there raves about the people and their friendliness.

Also, they make wine and the local speciality is a sort of bread pastry filled with melted cheese. Was there even a question?

Flying to Georgia is a bit of a mission with few airlines taking you there from the UK and all at unsociable hours. My flight left Stansted just after lunch and after a four-hour layover in Istanbul got me to Tbilisi at 3.30am. Apparently there are few rules in Georgia about when flights can land, so many international flights get in at stupid o'clock in order to cut costs.

Apart from that, though, it's a pretty easy country to visit for a Brit with no tourist visa required, lots of goodwill towards the UK and very low costs.

We began our journey in the capital Tbilisi ... more soon!

Lots of highs, few lows: a trip round-up

I've been back in the UK for six weeks now - six weeks which have flown by just as fast as the six weeks I spent travelling and the weeks in Rio. Every time I've seen a friend for the first time since returning they've asked me what the best bit was, usually prefacing with "how was the Olympics?" At that point I've usually gone "oh yeah, the Olympics, I did that too". The travelling part of the trip, being more recent and immediate, had somehow taken priority over Rio in my head.

I blogged about both the Olympics and Paralympics earlier and the memories are still strong. The ones I've been dragging out when people ask tend to be:

• the lovely chat I had with single sculls champion Mahé Drysdale before racing started, because it genuinely was just a nice conversation with a nice guy;
• watching the GB women's eight win silver, because over the years I've known a number of the women who have been fighting for that medal for so long; 
• being in the athletics mixed zone on the night of the men's 100m final and squishing into the front of the agency pen to grab Usain Bolt's quotes (that man is TALL - my arm was aching from holding my phone up to record);
• the many, many incredible stories from the Paralympics, but maybe most that of Australian para-canoeist Curtis McGrath. We sat in the shade in the boat park and he told me, with perfect clarity, about the moment on 23 August 2012 when he'd lost his legs in an IED explosion in Afghanistan. It was only moments later, being stretchered to the helicopter, that he told his mates they'd see him at the Paralympics. Some of them were in Rio to watch him win gold four years later. It was hard to listen and ask questions without getting emotional.

The Lagoa at dawn

But those are just a handful of the many moments I'll remember from those two and a half months in the Cidade Maravilhosa, shared with a great bunch of colleagues and friends.

When it comes to best experiences from the travelling, the Salkantay and Machu Picchu probably top the list. I had such high expectations from the trek and they were met almost entirely, which is saying quite a lot. Iguacu Falls is also up there as one of the best bits of the trip. The sheer power of all that water was just astounding - and I got to go to Argentina for the day!

But I also loved Ilha Grande and wished I'd stayed there longer; I was very pleasantly surprised by Lima, which everyone had said wasn't that great a place; I chilled out with the locals by Lake Titicaca; I was awed by condors in Colca Canyon; and saw pelicans in a place that looked like the moon in Paracas. I stuffed my face with steak in Brazil and with livelier fare in Peru, and drank somewhat more than my fair share of capirinhas and pisco sours as well as plenty of ice-cold beer.

With my Lake Titicaca homestay host Calixto

Along the way I encountered all sorts of interesting people, from the wonderful locals who were my guides and hosts, to other travellers. Young couples taking career breaks, older solo travellers looking for something new, backpackers from all over the world stretching their money as far as it can go. And of course in Rio a whole host of fantastic cariocas who were so generous with their welcome to their city. 

In many ways it's odd looking back at the journey. At the beginning of the year I was tired, trying to give as much time as I could to work and to rowing and not quite succeeding on either level. I felt like I'd been operating at maximum capacity for far too long. And I really wanted to work in Rio, having spent the best part of four years looking back wistfully to the London Olympics. When the offer came through I was on a long weekend break in New York, seeing my brother and sister-in-law and enjoying a brief few days of travel - it seemed appropriate that I spent much of that weekend buoyed up with anticipation over Rio too.

It was difficult in some ways leaving my job. I worked with an awesome team and the job itself was interesting, varied and challenging. But I'd been there a while and the changing shape of the world of business media was getting me down. Taking the leap into Rio, travelling and then the challenge of trying to go freelance was absolutely the right thing to do. Writing this now, despite the fact I haven't really put much effort into getting work yet, I feel refreshed and excited about next year. Planning is overrated - I'm going to see what happens and seize any opportunities that come. It seemed to work this year, after all.

Thanks for following my travels with me. Until next time!

Welcome to Miami

You know that Will Smith song, Welcome to Miami? Well, I had it running through my head on loop the entire time I was there, despite the fact I'm not a big fan of the song.

Turns out, though, that Miami itself is pretty cool.

I ended up flying home through Miami because I couldn't find any reasonably-priced direct flights from Lima. All the cheaper ones involved a change somewhere, mostly in the US. So then I thought, how about a stopover in the US on the way home? Further investigation revealed that US budget airline JetBlue has Fort Lauderdale as its hub, and flies between there and Lima; and Norwegian Airlines has incredibly cheap flights between the US and UK. So I spent the money I saved by not flying direct in Miami, which was a much more pleasurable way of spending it!

Vizcaya

I had essentially two days and one night there, and tried to go for a mixture of things to see and do. First up, after an American breakfast of pancakes and bacon in a diner, was the Vizcaya Museum, a beautiful mansion built in the early 20th century by a very rich American called James Deering. Annoyingly they didn't allow pictures inside the house and it was a bit drizzly so my pictures outside in the gardens weren't amazing either, but it was well worth the visit. The place was stunning, each room themed with art and furniture sourced to fit the theme. It was a bit OTT but I really liked it.

After Vizcaya I headed to Little Havana, which was weird. Not Little Havana in and of itself, but because I'd just spent a month in a Spanish-speaking country. Now here I was in an Anglophone country and all the signs were in Spanish, and people were speaking Spanish on the street. The sense of slight displacement, exacerbated by an overnight flight the night before, was very odd.

Domino Park in Little Havana

Dinner was in yet another bit of Miami, the up-and-coming area of Brickell where there's lots of new development and some funky restaurants. I'd also just been paid by Rio 2016 had a Happy Hour cocktail with dinner and then went back to the hotel for a nightcap in the roof bar before crashing.

Day two dawned hot and sunny with no sign of the previous day's drizzle. Conscious that within 24 hours I'd be shivering in British November I donned shorts and a vest top and spent the day dodging the sun.

Wynwood Walls

Across the course of my trip I'd discovered that I really like street art. So when I read about the Wynwood Walls I added it to my list of Things To Do in Miami. Wynwood was a deprived area of the city and indeed still has a slight air of deprivation to it, but it is sprucing itself up largely thanks to street art. In the centre, there's a complex called the Wynwood Walls where street artists are invited to come and add their work to the walls. All around, other artists have decorated houses, shops and even the street furniture with vibrant colour. It was stunning.

Art at the Perez

To continue the art theme the next stop was the Perez Art Gallery. Compared to the cost of museums in South America the entry fee was a bit eye-watering for a relatively sparse gallery, but that said, I liked pretty much all the art in there. Sometimes modern art can be pretentious - I can never quite understand how a canvas of just one colour gets to be in a museum - but most of the Perez collection was nice to look at and thought-provoking. I especially liked a sort of video/audio installation where the artist had collected audio files of people speaking endangered languages.

After such a surfeit of art it was on to a bus - Miami has a great public transport system, which includes a free monorail - to go to Miami Beach. I'm not a massive beach person and felt I got my year's fill in Rio, but it was nice to see the beach and have lunch wave and people-watching.

Ocean Drive art deco

As well as a large golden beach Miami Beach is also where you go to see art deco buildings. I walked down Ocean Drive, a whole street of beautiful former hotels and apartment blocks which are now mainly restaurants. On a sunny Friday they were packed with people eating vast American portions and drinking the largest cocktails I've ever seen in my life. I was kind of tempted actually, but I'd planned dinner at a Miami Beach institution, Joe's Stone Crabs.

There's a weird little backstory to why I went for this. I have the full collection of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, a mixture of modern paperbacks and the 1960s hardbacks collected by my dad and his brothers when they were teenagers. I love them - they're totally of their time and there is a huge amount of misogyny and racism in several, but the stories are fast-paced and exciting. Anyway, in Goldfinger Bond goes to Miami and eats stone crabs (and pink champagne) at 'Bill's on the Beach' and thinks it's one of the best meals of his life. Bill's was apparently inspired by Joe's and I like crab anyway, so the thought of stone crabs appealed. And they were good; crab claws packed with meat followed by a slice of key lime pie. A quintessential Florida meal to finish off my day, walked off along the marina before I caught the bus back to downtown and a taxi to the airport. And that was my trip, done.

Miami Beach

Peru round-up

It's almost a month since I got back to the UK and I somehow haven't got around to finishing the last couple of posts I planned for this blog.

First up, a Peru round-up!

Why go to Peru?

Go to Peru if you want fascinating history, awe-inspiring ruined cities, stunning landscape and interesting food.

My top three Peruvian experiences:

•  The Salkantay Trek and Machu Picchu - I can't really split up the trek from Machu Picchu, as, to echo our tour company's slogan, the journey was as important as the final destination. The group was so great and the whole experience truly memorable, culminating in that 6am view of the early light over Machu Picchu. 
• My Capachica Peninsula homestay. It was a very chilled out two days, but it was lovely to meet people in their own environment, eat proper local food, and sit for an hour gazing over Lake Titicaca. 
• Colca Canyon - for a combination of reasons why I'm picking the Salkantay and Capachica Pensinsula! Colca combined the scenery and sense of achievement of the former with some of the isolation of the latter. 

You know you're in Peru when ...

•  A lady is standing on the street dressed in traditional costume either clutching a lamb or towing an alpaca and asking for you to take her photo (I never actually did).
• You're standing at a crossing waiting to get to the other side of the road and three taxis drive past beeping at you, just in case you might actually be wanting a taxi instead of simply crossing the road.
• There's a random parade going on to celebrate a religious festival, the fact it's Sunday, or the local university!

What to pack when going to Peru

Layers. Lots of layers. And suncream. On the coast it's hot and dusty but at altitude it can be chilly. Except when the sun's out, when it's hot again and you're liable to burn in no time at all.

Annoyances and things to look out for

As a solo female traveller I felt safe in Peru at all times, although a few people seemed astonished I was on my own (given that I met a few other women in a similar position this was odd, but there you go). Single rooms were reasonably-priced and I was well-looked after eating alone too.

It wasn't all perfect though! A few things:

Peruvian traffic is truly awful. The big comfortable tourist buses are a good, cheap way of getting around but your driver will take bends on mountain roads fast and wide. Best to buckle up and trust they know what they're doing. Taxis in towns are cheap and seem fairly reliable, save for the driver I got in Arequipa who drove in circles and almost failed to find my hostel.

There was a S./ 400 limit on ATM withdrawals at most ATMs for much of my stay, which was a pain. When I needed to withdraw a large amount of US dollars to pay for the Salkantay trek I had to go to a bank and get it over the counter. I stuck to bank ATMs as in Brazil, although I'm not sure if the skimming issue is the same in Peru as Brazil. 

Prices of things are definitely elevated in tourist towns - food, drink and entry to attractions. Foreigners are charged substantially more to visit attractions than locals (which I get, but I wish the same applied in the UK!)

What I've missed most about Peru

The vibrancy and colour of the place, especially the bright clothes worn by the locals away from the bigger towns; and the fantastic fresh fruit.

Paracas and the Islas Ballestas

When I was planning my trip I spent some time trying to work out a way to get to the Galapagos Islands. But realistically, on top of six weeks already, I felt I couldn't justify the extra money. The Galapagos are expensive!

But there was a small consolation. South of Lima, off Peru's southern coast, are a little group of islands known as the Islas Ballestas. Some people call them 'Peru's Galapagos', which I think is probably a little too favourable. In any case, they were my opportunity to go and see some wildlife in a cheap and efficient sort of way.

Pelican diving

The gateway to the Ballestas is the little town of Paracas. I'd been in the city of Arequipa for five nights, enjoying culture and good food and from what I'd read there wasn't much of either in Paracas. Which ended up being true, but that didn't mean that I didn't find myself rather liking the place. My hostel was small and welcoming and although it was overcast when I arrived, it was warm and the seafront was minutes away. I went for a walk past a string of interesting, attractive houses - mostly holiday homes I think, as they were mostly closed up - and got very excited when I spotted a pair of enormous pelicans flying and diving for their food. And then there were more, and lots of little wading birds, and seagulls, and crabs on the beach. It was instantly apparent that Paracas is good for wildlife.

The following morning I joined every other visitor in heading to the pier for 8am, when the main fleet of tourist boats heads off to the islands. The different companies were indistinguishable; all run large speedboats accommodating about 40 people with tours running for about 90 minutes to two hours.

Candelabra

The first 'stop' was at the Candelabra, which is a shape carved into the sandy side of the Paracas peninsula. Nobody knows who made it or how old it is but it bears a resemblance to the nearby Nazca Lines, which I didn't go and see. Various theories suggest it was made by the same civilisation which made the Nazca lines, and that it's a cactus rather than a candelabra; others think it was made by the Spanish conquistadors and is a candelabra acting as a sort of fairly useless lighthouse ("here's a big cliff, avoid it!")

Then we went on to the islands themselves. Every eight years the Ballestas islands produce vast quantities of guano, mainly from cormorants which at this time of year nest in their thousands. They're also home to other seabirds, more pelicans, quite a lot of sea lions, and some Humboldt penguins. Naturally the penguins we saw, hopping unsteadily down to the cliff edge to go hunting, were the best because they're just so cute. But there were a lot of birds and it was a good little trip around the islands.

The black patch is all cormorants

Back at the hostel I rented a mountain bike from them and headed to the Paracas national reserve. The peninsula south of the town is all protected and you can get bus tours around it, drive, rent a sandbuggy or cycle. The latter option is pretty tough going. The roads are variable - some really nice ones and some very sandy and bumpy - and the terrain up and down. There was also a stonking headwind for a lot of the ride. At one point I came around a bend and instantly lost 10kph on my speedometer (I was recording on my watch). The end point of the ride was a beach where I sat in a moderately sheltered spot and watched people's beach umbrellas get blown away!

The landscape though was incredible. It was like cycling on the moon, or on Mars. There were hills and dunes all around, some tinted red, and nothing else to see until you hit the coast. There, the golden-red of the sand contrasted vividly with the bright blue of the sky and the deeper blue of the sea. It was really one of the most unusual places I've ever been, and more than worth adding to anyone's Peru itinerary.

Not the Moon

Peruvian cuisine

After getting a bit bored of Brazil's meat-rice-beans-chips combo of food I was looking forward to Peru, said to be a culinary destination in South America. By and large it didn't disappoint, although I wasn't expecting some of the best food I had to be in a series of tents on the Salkantay trek!

Basics

Traditional Peruvian food is vegetarian and simple and revolves around a few staples: corn, potatoes, quinoa and rice. Corn and potatoes are grown in staggering numbers of varieties and the individual corn nibs are gigantic compared to the sweetcorn you get in the UK.

Potatoes are generally served boiled. In Arequipa I went to a restaurant called Hatunpa where they give you a plate of sliced, boiled potatoes (I had the 'special' with seven sorts) topped with your choice of various toppings including tuna, beef and chicken. 

Quinoa has shot up in price since the West discovered it as a superfood, and even more super-foody versions which are finer but a little less common are supplanting quinoa in Peru. Nevertheless you find it in soups and as an accompaniment to other things pretty often. They also make pretty good energy bars from quinoa and its relatives kiwicha and kaniwa, which are handily light and quite tasty.

Rice is also common as a side dish and as the base for chaufa, which is a sort of fried rice that has developed from the large-scale Chinese immigrants of the late 19th century. Like Brazil it's not uncommon to get rice plus another starch, mainly potatoes. An Aussie couple I met in Cabanaconde said they'd been given quinoa and rice and nothing else as dinner in Colca Canyon. Yum.

Luckily Peruvians love a bit of spice and often serve a sort of salsa called pico de gallo with meals – a bit of chili, tomatoes, peppers and onions and herbs, usually coriander, all chopped up and adding just a little kick to your soup or whatever you're eating.

Fish and seafood

One of Peru's best-known foodie highlights is ceviche, which is a simple, effective dish of raw fish (or seafood, or indeed vegetables and even (cooked) meat) marinaded in lime juice, fish sauce and chillies. I had ceviche in a cevicheria in Barranco, Lima, which was pretty good if spicy and overloaded with raw onion, but it wasn't until we made our own on an excellent 'culinary experience' afternoon in Cusco that I appreciated how to properly make it. You need the freshest fish, which you mix with lime juice and finely-chopped chillies, salt and pepper and a little fish sauce. You let it marinate for only a few minutes, add a little milk if you wish to take the edge off the spice, and serve with a little boiled potato or sweet potato and the amazing toasted corn nibs which are found everywhere in Peru. The idea is to mix the textures up.

You can also find grilled and fried fish everywhere in Peru. Around Lake Titicaca trout is common; they introduced it to the lake and it's now dominating. Tasty though. We had some amazing trout for lunch on our first day on the Salkantay, poached with a vegetable sauce. 

Chupe de camarones at 'Chicha' in Arequipa

In Arequipa they make a chowder from river prawns called chupe de camarones. The prawns are more like crayfish really and it has a bit of chili in it, potatoes, corn, and other vegetables. It's pretty good.

Meat

The best-known meat dish is lomo saltado, which isn't actually as exotic as it sounds. It's basically beef stir-fry with peppers, onions, coriander and yes, a bit of chili, served with chaufa. You can also have lomo saltado with alpaca meat. Alpaca is found everywhere in Peru although I don't think the locals eat much of it – it can be chewy but I had some really nice alpaca on my travels. It ought to taste like lamb or mutton given the similarities between alpacas and sheep, but is more beefy than that. 

Lomo saltado crafted by my own fair hands

I couldn't bring myself to try guinea pig, although it's reasonably common in touristy restaurants. When I went to the food fair in Arequipa there were stalls grilling loads of the poor beasts and serving them up on trays with all four paws sticking out. It's the paws that did it for me. I also never got around to trying anticucho, which are beef hearts on skewers. I had chicken hearts in Rio and I wasn't a massive fan – I know offal is good for you, but it just doesn't really appeal.

Guinea pigs grilling

One thing Peru does do well though is meaty sandwiches. Actual sandwiches, in bread rolls and sometimes with a bit of salad. (If there's one thing I've missed from the UK it's being able to get a good sandwich for my lunch.) The classic sandwich is chicharron, roast pork with crispy skin and plenty of fat. I had a really good chicharron sandwich for just S/. 5 (£1.18) in the market in Arequipa, with plenty of pork and some salady stuff, spicy sauce and mayonnaise. Impossible to eat neatly but incredibly tasty.

Fruit and veg

Peru is good for fruit. Like Brazil there are juice bars everywhere and especially in the markets, where ladies lean over elaborate displays of fruit and cajole you to buy one of their glasses of mixed juice.

In the markets there's lots of choice. At the culinary experience in Cusco we tasted seven sorts of Peruvian fruit including the best mango I've ever had, completely string-less and melting in the mouth. I tried a few other mangos but never found another quite like it. Passionfruit is common and I got fond of granadillas, which come as hard-shelled orange fruit that you can peel open, sinking your nails into the thick skin, to reveal the greyish interior of pips like any other passionfruit. It's sweet and juicy and very good, plus convenient to carry in a bag because it's not easily squished.

Vegetables are less exciting. Apart from the ubiquitous corn and potatoes, tomatoes and peppers feature in sauces, but getting vegetables with your main course isn't that common. I'm sure some of the vegetables I was served as main courses in homestays and in the Colca Canyon were tinned or frozen – diced beans and carrots!

Drink

The main drinks in Peru are tea, pisco, beer, chicha, and the fluorescent yellow soda called Inka Kola which I didn't try.

They serve a lot of coca tea to tourists in Cusco and in the other towns at high altitude. Coca tea is made by steeping the leaves of the coca plant (from which cocaine can be and is extracted) in hot water. It's quite a nice taste, unusual but it grew on me, although I didn't need the tea much to help with altitude sickness because I didn't suffer from it much.

Capachica tea

On the Capachica peninsula my homestay host gave me tea which is also made from steeping a local plant in water. This time it was some sort of thyme, slightly minty, and really lovely. I drank quite a lot of that.

Pisco is a spirit akin to grappa made from grapes, grown on the coast south of Lima where the climate produces very sweet wine (I did have some Peruvian wine, it was fine but not exceptional). Pisco is very clear and strong and can be drunk straight or in cocktails, notably the pisco sour which is ubiquitous throughout the country: pisco, ice, lime juice and an egg white, shaken until the egg white is frothy and seasoned with a couple of drops of bitters. I like them; I had a passionfruit version a couple of times which was arguably even better and pisco also lends itself well to other cocktails like the Chilcano which features ginger beer. 

Beer is mainly lager – Cusquena is the brand you find everywhere, drinkable enough. Sadly the Brazilian habit of providing a cooler for your large bottle hasn't yet caught on. There are some good craft beers around, with an emphasis on IPA and pale and amber ale and I enjoyed some decent brews especially in Cusco and Arequipa.

Chicha was the Inca alcohol, beer made of corn. I saw people drinking this cloudy brew but didn't try any. For a more refreshing option chicha morada is a sort of non-alcoholic juice made from purple corn. It's a bit like grape juice, and is better cold. We had it on the Salkantay but it wasn't chilled (fair enough, we didn't expect them to carry ice!) and wasn't quite as nice.

Inka Kola isn't cola at all. I have no idea what it's made of, although I think coca is a component. It's such an artificial colour it didn't appeal.

One of my biggest Peruvian culinary disappointments was that I still drank mostly instant coffee, although finding cafés serving coffee made in a machine was a bit easier than Brazil. Staying in cheap hostels means that instant is the option in the morning. It gave me the caffeine hit, but I am looking forward to decent coffee again. I bought a bag of beans from the coffee farm we visited on the Salkantay, where we had the best coffee on the whole trip, and am going to invest in a grinder when I get home.