happy Fiestas Patrias!
Well, actually it was yesterday, but this whole weekend is a celebration.
So my plans for fiestas? Besides watching a bunch of the parades on tv. ;) Well, I figured I´d explore some of the artisans markets. There´s a main art market that is in Miraflores that´s set up in a kind-of ourdoor strip mall style but with small scale booths--the structure is permanent, with solid walls, but the fronts and hallways are open to the air. Very nice, a little pricey because it´s in ritzy Miraflores (suburb of Lima I´m living in) but it´s not bad at all. The people working there are all from Lima, and they just buy the stuff from the makers and bring it in from the countryside.
But for the holiday, they´ve set up special cloth-lined booths in the main park/oval, and lots of people actually from the other regions (especially the sierra) come down to sell things. They´re all in traditional dress and the stuff is much-more individually handmade. The people work on making these handicrafts through the year and come down for special occassions like this to sell. Very cool, you can find some special stuff. It´ll still be fairly pricey, always more so than if I actually took a trip out to the regions, but since I´m stuck in Lima this is the best I can do.
Okay Lisa, alpaca yarn no problem. I´ve found the cheapest stall to get it from (actually the same one I purchased from last year) and it´s 60 soles (approx $20 US) for a bag of 10 balls, all the same color. I might be able to get him to let me split the bags into 5/5 colorwise. It´s not handmade--it´s machine spun--but it´s real alpaca, not a blend. Carrie can post a comment here to tell you about how much the balls can make--they don´t have any info on the labels about length.
Anyone else have requests for yarn or anything else? Let me know, I´ve got a month to do shopping.
The other thing I´d like to do this weekend, or at least some time while I´m here, is go to a pachamanca. A pachamanca is a traditional Peruvian style of cooking that´s a cross between a clam bake and a pottery firing. The name comes from Quechua-- pacha (earth) and manca (pot). They dig a pit and put some charcoal int he bottom, which they burn and use to heat some cleaned rocks. Then they take the hot rocks out, remove the ash, put the rocks back in, and start layering food on top. The order is: white potatoes, tougher meats like beef/alpaca/pork (usually marinated in spices overnight), then sweet and yellow potatoes. More rocks. Then softer meats like chicken/lamb/rabbit/guinea pig, then unpeeled platanos (big starchy unsweet bananas). More rocks. Then vegetables like beans, corn, tubers (like yuca), and tamale-like things called humitas (made out of a super-big white corn called choclo, ground and mixed with spices, can be sweet). They also might put in a clay pot on top with fish, shellfish. Then they cover it with more hot rocks, then a layer of leaves, then a final thick cap of dirt. Everything is left to sit and cook for a good part of the day. Then you dig it up and eat! It is awesome. :) There are specific areas where they have a bunch of pachamanca places all lined up next to each other that do this every weekend and it´s pretty cheap to get a plate. If I can get some folks to get with me, I will definitely go. Yum.
So there´s your dose of Peruvian culture for today, enjoy.
.........
And as a side note, check out this episode´s Foamy the Squirrel. As someone who loves to play card games and recently spent an evening teaching some Israeli guys some card games, I find this to be hilarious. Especialy regarding the problems with the terms. Hehehe.
If you´re a first time visitor to Foamy, you won´t know the characters--that´s not Foamy in this episode, but one of his friends. Yes, that´s supposed to be a squirrel. Just go with it.
So my plans for fiestas? Besides watching a bunch of the parades on tv. ;) Well, I figured I´d explore some of the artisans markets. There´s a main art market that is in Miraflores that´s set up in a kind-of ourdoor strip mall style but with small scale booths--the structure is permanent, with solid walls, but the fronts and hallways are open to the air. Very nice, a little pricey because it´s in ritzy Miraflores (suburb of Lima I´m living in) but it´s not bad at all. The people working there are all from Lima, and they just buy the stuff from the makers and bring it in from the countryside.
But for the holiday, they´ve set up special cloth-lined booths in the main park/oval, and lots of people actually from the other regions (especially the sierra) come down to sell things. They´re all in traditional dress and the stuff is much-more individually handmade. The people work on making these handicrafts through the year and come down for special occassions like this to sell. Very cool, you can find some special stuff. It´ll still be fairly pricey, always more so than if I actually took a trip out to the regions, but since I´m stuck in Lima this is the best I can do.
Okay Lisa, alpaca yarn no problem. I´ve found the cheapest stall to get it from (actually the same one I purchased from last year) and it´s 60 soles (approx $20 US) for a bag of 10 balls, all the same color. I might be able to get him to let me split the bags into 5/5 colorwise. It´s not handmade--it´s machine spun--but it´s real alpaca, not a blend. Carrie can post a comment here to tell you about how much the balls can make--they don´t have any info on the labels about length.
Anyone else have requests for yarn or anything else? Let me know, I´ve got a month to do shopping.
The other thing I´d like to do this weekend, or at least some time while I´m here, is go to a pachamanca. A pachamanca is a traditional Peruvian style of cooking that´s a cross between a clam bake and a pottery firing. The name comes from Quechua-- pacha (earth) and manca (pot). They dig a pit and put some charcoal int he bottom, which they burn and use to heat some cleaned rocks. Then they take the hot rocks out, remove the ash, put the rocks back in, and start layering food on top. The order is: white potatoes, tougher meats like beef/alpaca/pork (usually marinated in spices overnight), then sweet and yellow potatoes. More rocks. Then softer meats like chicken/lamb/rabbit/guinea pig, then unpeeled platanos (big starchy unsweet bananas). More rocks. Then vegetables like beans, corn, tubers (like yuca), and tamale-like things called humitas (made out of a super-big white corn called choclo, ground and mixed with spices, can be sweet). They also might put in a clay pot on top with fish, shellfish. Then they cover it with more hot rocks, then a layer of leaves, then a final thick cap of dirt. Everything is left to sit and cook for a good part of the day. Then you dig it up and eat! It is awesome. :) There are specific areas where they have a bunch of pachamanca places all lined up next to each other that do this every weekend and it´s pretty cheap to get a plate. If I can get some folks to get with me, I will definitely go. Yum.
So there´s your dose of Peruvian culture for today, enjoy.
.........
And as a side note, check out this episode´s Foamy the Squirrel. As someone who loves to play card games and recently spent an evening teaching some Israeli guys some card games, I find this to be hilarious. Especialy regarding the problems with the terms. Hehehe.
If you´re a first time visitor to Foamy, you won´t know the characters--that´s not Foamy in this episode, but one of his friends. Yes, that´s supposed to be a squirrel. Just go with it.
posted by archaesmd at 9:09 AM
3 Comments:
That sounds pretty tasty.
Oh my gosh, it was so delicious! I got to play a kind of tour guide. We went in a group of 5 today, and none of them had really taken the public puses or passed through central Lima. It was a successful trip! I had the Pachamanca Traditional, with chancho (pork), cordera (cut of beef), with camote (yam/sweet potatoes), potatoes, habas (big bean things), and a humita (tasted like a sweet chunky corn bread). Sooo full. :)
Stacy: If silver is not too expensive I'd love a very small pair of posts - you could pick the pattern or design. Love, Mom
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