Dear Mom and Dad,
In retrospect, I get how WhatsApp video calling you from the hospital might have been alarming. For better or for worse, mild medical catastrophes have become part of my day-to-day while abroad. My weak American stomach is just not built for Peruvian food.
I can’t wait for your visit in a few weeks, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t occasionally worried about food poisoning during your trip. But fear not—there are good, safe eats to be found! Here are some of my favorite meals I’ve enjoyed over the last two months. Listen to the girl so you don’t hurl. Pay attention, quit the retchin’. Don’t eat the vegetarian sandwich at the place on my street, and maybe you won’t contract salmonella that lasts for a month and lands you in the hospital and now you’re spending spring break guzzling antibiotics. Alright, let’s go.
Yanama
My Quechua class recently field tripped to Yanama, a small farming town nestled in the mountains. After a long hike, we were downright elated at the promise of choclo con queso, a typical Cusqueñen dish of steaming hot corn with creamy, locally-produced cheese. We were less thrilled to learn that we’d be the ones picking the choclo.
After a few hours spent trudging through the corn field, yelling bravely and toughly when massive spiders crawled out of the husks, and receiving quite a few critiques from the resident farmer—which, to be fair, it was our first day—it was finally time to eat. Never has a meal hit the spot so hard.
Plaza de Armas
Anyone considering a trip to Cusco has undoubtedly heard of the Plaza, and for good reason—this city center is packed to the brim with delicious restaurants, cultural happenings, and a new arts festival every weekend. It’s also one of the more tourist-dense spots in the city, so your waiter is probably accustomed to some enthusiastic but occasionally faulty Spanish.
Some of my favorite restaurants in the Plaza were discovered by chance and necessity. During the weekend of Cusco’s Carnaval de Cajamarca, my friends and I innocently and unknowingly wandered straight into the crossfires of the city’s biggest foam fight. We were instantly drenched. Ambushed. Subjected to a couple hundred years of post-colonial rage in the form of water balloons and pink chalk bombs. Arming ourselves with spray cans from street vendors, we began to fight back against our attackers. When the foam cleared, we were embarrassed to find that those attackers were mostly between 5 and 10 years old. But intimidating opponents nonetheless!
After a few more battles, we took shelter in a restaurant, apologizing profusely for dripping all over their floor. We downed tomato soup and a delicious cheese plate within minutes. Exhausted from the battle. Foam in our hair. Smiles splitting our faces.
Magisterio
There’s no place like home, and I’ve been fortunate enough to spend the last few months living and eating in Magisterio. While my café trips back in the U.S. are usually all-day occasions with the intention of slamming out the intense amount of homework American students are subjected to, it’s rare to see an open laptop or a textbook in a café here. Peru has mastered the concept of the third place—somewhere that isn’t work or home, somewhere designed to gather and relax.
Walking into a café to find people talking over coffee has been one of my most pleasant culture shocks so far. For the price of about $3 USD, I can spend the afternoon sipping a cappuccino and eating panes de chocolate, getting to know my friends better, reading in English or Spanish, or crocheting tops for my upcoming trip to Bolivia. There are so many good coffee spots here, I’ve started my Cuadernito de Cafecitos—a tiny notebook chronicling who I went with and what we ordered.
In spite of my many flirtations—or full-on affairs—with tummy troubles, these two months have been the best of my life. My stomach is getting stronger, and I’m becoming a happier, healthier, and even more caffeinated version of myself. Mom and Dad, get excited for your trip. It’s going to be a week of good eats.
Love,
Sara
Sara Yates is a student at the University of Pittsburgh and an ISA Featured Blogger. She is studying with ISA in Cusco, Peru.