This is the second article I am dedicating to this festival. I was writing earlier this year an article about the Zoneo Fest 2019. A festival in Santo Domingo about the…with…where you can do…
Well, to be honest, there is a lot to do for many different audiences. Whether you come with family and kids, discover gastronomic specialties, have an ice-cold coffee, want to walk over the street market and look for handcrafted goods or just listening to live music you can do that. And you can bring your dog. Thus, there is a lot to do and everybody is welcome to spend two days at Fortaleza Ozama, right in the Colonial Zone in Santo Domingo.
If you’re interested in the first article, you should click here.
Peru Street Food
Contrary to my first visit at the end of June 2019, I didn’t focus this time on all the offered food variations from the trucks. The reason for that was the lack of time. At the respective weekend, I had only time for a few hours on one of the two days. And on Sunday afternoon under the burning Caribbean sun, I wasn’t that hungry to try them all.
Nevertheless as always where you would expect tasty food freshly prepared, it was Daniel from Peru Street Food who served his specialties from the Andean kitchen.
If you are interested in the Peruvian kitchen and why it is the best kitchen in the world, you should read the following article about my 10 favorite Peruvian dishes I tried during my time in Peru. If you rather want to see a crash course on how to prepare the most famous and internationally known dish called Ceviche, take a look at the following video:
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Street vendors
A lot of artesian work was offered by many vendors. Here you could find valuable alternatives to the whole Made-in-China industry from the supermarkets. Most of them offered products and packaging material from sustainable sources and most of the things were themed to the upcoming Christmas time.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t spend this time more hours there. I am looking forward to the next Zoneo fest in 2020!
After the mysterious deaths of several US-American citizens within a short period of time in 2019, many vacationers highly doubt that the Dominican Republic is still a safe country to go on holiday. Is their perception correct or is it maybe only collective hysteria created by the powerful US-American media manipulation? What are the causes? Even more interesting: What are the effects of all the incidents? I encourage you to read this article if you are curious about the opinion of a regular guy like me and how I can contribute to this topic with a little research and without being part of the mass media.
First things first, let me please introduce myself, and explain why I want to write this article. My name is Phil and I have lived for 6 months in Santo Domingo, the oldest capital on the American continent and at the same time the most heavily populated city in the Caribbean and the Dominican Republic. Although I live in the same country where all these incidents happened, I can’t claim that I have insider information. The only thing I can do is analyze the given information and compare them with the regular tourism statistics. I can’t do magic or unravel the deaths of the US-American citizens. That’s not my goal, neither my task to play Sherlock Philmes here. It should be actually the job of every journalist to reveal all the information to create an objective article with high quality. But the media nowadays…
Let’s forget about this. I might be neutral enough to write about it. Neither am I Dominican, nor a US-American. That gives me a little distance from the hot topic. But I am not unconcerned either. I work for a Dominican DMC (destination management company) and the company suffers as well from several cancellations from US-Americans. Major fears are: “I don’t feel safe anymore” and “What if that also could happen to me?”.
This is a general risk which no one can take away from another person. Nearly every day, tragic accidents can happen to you. Most accidents happen at home, some on the way to work, several when you exercise and go to the gym and even during your working time you’re not spared from them. But if you visit a county that you didn’t know before, surely everyone has his/her concerns. Same with me – And I came to the Dominican Republic to stay for longer, not only for a ten-day all-inclusive vacation in a hermetically sealed resort. I need to live in this country and with all the circumstances of Santo Domingo (e.g. cleanliness, order, medical care, etc.) are even worse than in paradisiac appearing Punta Cana where international visitors encounter a highly modern and neat looking area.
US-Americans are far more likely to be killed in the US than in the Dominican Republic
To directly counteract against the negative news propaganda, it would be worth it to watch a powerful video with interesting content:
The odds of a US visitor dying unnaturally in the Dominican Republic in 2017 was about 0.82 per 100,000. Those odds dropped even further last year to 0.58 unnatural deaths per 100,000 American visitors.
Source: CNN
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If you take a closer look at the death statistics…
In this video, you will hear the Dominican minister of health speaking about the deaths. The US embassy in Santo Domingo says, that they have no proof that these deaths are related.
Sure…That’s what a minister of health has to say to defend his country in this situation, aight? But what, if he and the US-embassy in Santo Domingo would be right? What, if the death US-tourists are not related?
I found a very interesting article on the American Council on Science and health. They basically tried to answer the two questions I asked before: “Is It Safe to Go To The Dominican Republic?“ All data about US citizens who died out of the United States can be found publicly here:
Non-natural US-American deaths in the Dominican Republic: from 2018 – 2018
What are non-natural deaths? According to its definition, non-natural causes of death include motor vehicle accidents, falls, suicides, homicides, drowning, poisoning, complications from medical or surgical treatments, and exposure to smoke and fire. These deaths are in total responsible for less than 10% of total all-cause mortality.
Source: American Council on Science and health
From these numbers of 2017, you can make a comparison between the Top-5 tourism destinations for US-American citizens.
Keeping in mind the caveats that (1) the non-natural death data includes not only tourists but business travelers and expatriates; (2) the non-natural death data includes accidents and suicides; and (3) the calculated mortality “rate” is just a rough estimate since Americans don’t generally spend an entire year in a foreign country. The numbers are pretty clear. Among the top five most popular tourist destinations for Americans, Mexico is by far the most dangerous (in 2017, anyway).
Source: American Council on Science and health
Well, 6.12 deaths per 1 million US-visitors – Is that now a good or a bad statistical result?
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The coherence of African killer bees, shark attacks and the Dominican Republic
For me, this information is very interesting to see and shows – of course – the general failure of the US-American media. Whenever something produces interest to be able to create supreme hysteria to the US-American population, the effects on that related topic is drastic. Whether speaking about the African killer bees from the ’90s or – as mentioned in the video – Summer of the sharks from the early ’00, the US-American media created a class enemy, a major scare and anxiety because they were bored to death during their silly season in the summer. Nothing to report about? Let’s create something!
Unfortunately, this media frenzy continued for a long time and solidified in the perception of the US-American civilization. It took several years before US-journalists lost their interest and looked out to terrify the population with other topics. Instead of reporting in a dedicated and critical manner about these incidents, journalists speculate and try to force an opinion. Still, nowadays, sharks are seen as a major threat. Although we know the urban legend, that coconuts are more dangerous than sharks.
I hope, that the US-media doesn’t try the same with the Dominican Republic, what they before succeeded with bees, sharks and other topics. Bees and sharks can nothing do than continuing living their feral lives. Dominicans can’t. They are dependent on tourism as one of their major GDP sources.
Heavy losses for the Dominican economy due to US-cancellations
The following statistics made by CREES are from 2015, I couldn’t find a more recent comparison. Although these statistics aren’t up to date, they show significant data about the dependency of tourism for the Dominican Republic. We can be of course sure, that these figures raised until 2018.
This statistic shows the total Income of tourism in Latin AmericaThis statistic shows the tourism income per capita in Latin America.
Both income per capita and the total amount shows the dependence of tourism for the economy of the Dominican Republic. Tourism itself exceeds 20% of the country’s GDP. Approximately 12% of the whole Dominican GDP is coming from US-American tourists.
The United States are the masters of marketing, the media circus, and mass manipulation. These three ‘Magic M’s’ are responsible for a jab into the Dominican economy. I’m curious about the final statistics for 2019 and which impact it all had on the economy.
The Dominican Republic announced a 6.2 percent increase in 2018 for overall tourism to the country, welcoming a total of 6.5 million tourists. This growth exceeds the world average growth of 6 percent and solidifies the Dominican Republic as the top destination in the Caribbean, representing 20 percent of all travel to the area in 2018.
Source: Global News Wire
Followed by these good statistics from 2018, the first two months in 2019 looked appealing as well:
In the first two months of 2019, Dominican Republic welcomed 604,977 tourists, an increase of 8 percent compared to this time last year. In that timeframe, 65 percent of those tourist arrivals came from North America, specifically the United States which continues to be a key market for the Dominican Republic.
Source: Global News Wire
But then, the slump started to affect the statistics due to the US-American casualties. With only having data from the first six months of the year, it is too early to inference whether or not 2019 is going to be an overall bad year for the Dominican Republic. According to ForwardKeys, a good reliable source for references to tourism trends, the cancellations from US-citizens exceeded 70% in June compared to the same months in 2018:
Source: ForwardKeys
Even more distinct and obvious are the statistics of the cancellation without comparing them to the prior year. Taking a look at the cancellations since April 2019 shows the real impact and power of the US-American media hysteria:
Source: ForwardKeys
Not only mass media has worsened the situation with the cancellations to the Dominican Republic. Now, air carriers like Delta Airlines aggravate this situation and hysteria and inspire US-citizens to cancel their trips to the Dominican Republic for free.
Can other Caribbean countries produce the same tourism quality like the Dominican Republic?
What we learned earlier from CNN was that Americans are far more likely to be killed in the US than in the Dominican Republic. Consequently, US-American citizens still want to spend their vacations in a country with sunshine, palms, rhythmic music, and fruity cocktails. Hence the people shift to other Caribbean destinations which might provide comparable holidays:
Source: ForwardKeys
One remaining question is if these destinations can fulfill the customers’ expectations regarding quality and excellence experiences. Due to statistics, the Dominican Republic offers the highest quality for travelers in the Caribbean. As a result of eight sub-rankings (culture, entertainment, sightseeing, sports and adventure, culinary, lodging, safety and connectivity), the Dominican Republic ranks number one here. 21 out of 25 of the region’s highest-rated hotels are in the Dominican Republic.
This heat map shows the crime index of the Caribbean in 2017. Source: numbeo.comThe Dominican Republic has the lowest crime index and the highest safety index of the Caribbean
But…What if I get killed in the Dominican Republic?!
Another statistic shows the Top 25 countries by Americans killed per capita. These statistics exclude any country that received fewer than 100,000 American visitors between 2009 and 2016.
Source: data.world
The chance to get killed for a US-American is highest in Pakistan. But where is the Dominican Republic?
Other Latin American countries (e.g. Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, etc.) and such from the Caribbean (e.g. Jamaica, Haiti, Grenada, Barbados) could be seen here as direct competitors for a tourism destination. Even they are likely to represent a higher danger for US-American citizens. The Dominican Republic doesn’t come off badly in this ranking, particularly if you consider the mass of people who are traveling to that country.
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Is the Dominican Republic still safe to visit?
Soooo, what did you learn from this article? You learned about the coherence amongst killer bees, killer sharks and killer Dominicans thanks to the US-American media hysteria. You learned about the importance of tourism for the Caribbean island. And you learned that the Dominican Republic produces the highest tourism quality in the geographic region.
Is the Dominican Republic still safe to visit? The best answer should be: That depends on your own perspective and what you do during your vacations. It’s safer for US-American tourists to visit Mexico than the Dominican Republic, but more unsafe than visiting France. Does this help? Of course not. But it replaces ‘panic thinking’ with ‘rational thinking if you consider soberly the statistics and keep emotions far away from decision making.
A beach is a beach. No matter if it’s in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Brazil, Dubai, Thailand or Australia. And people die everywhere in the world during their vacations, regardless of their nationality. Not only US-Americans.
You can still visit the Dominican Republic and have a good time, fun and what is most important: a safe feeling. Even if you are a US-American. But please don’t binge-drink at an All-Inclusive resort all day in the sun at 100°F if you suffer from heart failure and are currently on meds. I don’t want to see yourself included either into these or in Jamaican, Cuban or Barbados statistics. Have a long, successful and healthy life!
Following the worldwide trend of mobile gastronomic supply in the form of food trucks, there was a whole festival organized in Santo Domingo. I’m not sure, how many editions it had before. But I saw a few days before its promotion on Instagram from the Dominican magazine ‘Zoneo’, which was at the same time the organizer of the ‘Zoneo festival’. As a food lover, food blogger and food eater, it was a must for me to attend and check everything out. It all took place in the Colonial Zone, to be more exact in Fort Ozama. And I was surprised about this street food festival and the good food I had there. Please lean back and enjoy this article about Zoneo Fest 2019 and it’s tasty street food as I did during my consumption.
What is the Zoneo Fest?
Sometimes, humans are contradictory and inconsistent in their aspirations. On the one hand, they want to have everything cheap and always available. On the other hand, they are striving for exclusive moments and personalized experiences. The same holds true with food. One can always choose between the cheap solution and readymade fast food or high-priced food and tasty experiences in restaurants. I always like to pay a little more for good food, but can’t do that all the time.
Hence, I look for these good and tasty moments and special occasions, such as the Zoneo festival. This food truck and street food festival took place for two days on June 29 and June 30. Thanks to the geographic area at the Fort Ozama, there was enough space for a lot of activities for children, little artesian markets, a music stage and – of course – the food trucks. Especially children had a good time with all the games and activities.
Many activities for children during the Zoneo festival
An entrance ticket cost 200 DOP and was valid for the whole day. You had the chance to leave the festival area and come back ‘for free’. Which was okay, because spending all day under the sun wasn’t a pleasure. I didn’t envy the food truck operators, who prepared all day the food while it was up to 95°F (35°C) hot. Not even considering their ovens, fireplaces and gas cookers they were using and made them suffer more…
Of course, I haven’t had the opportunity to try every food at the festival. It wasn’t a question of hunger, because I can eat like an elephant if I want. It’s more a question of the budget because good and qualitative food has its price. Thus, I had to select wisely what I should try. With some food trucks, it was an easy decision. Here you can find my tastings and why there were good or bad:
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High tech doughnuts
One of the arguments for food trucks is to be able to observe its preparation. A little stand offered high tech donuts with a form of preparation I haven’t seen before:
Really amusing to see the whole linear process of preparing the doughnuts live and in color!
Not only the raw preparation of the doughnuts but also the gastronomic refinement was worth to see:
The Venezuelan kitchen is not unknown to me, but I had until now only a very few opportunities to try its food. I don’t know a lot of Venezuelan food – But would be very happy if someone introduces and invites me one day to have a deep conversation about their food. Even better than talking about their food would be to cook and try it together!
The only thing I tried before this festival was Arepas. I am not 100% sure if it is an original Colombian or Venezuelan dish, but I associate it with Venezuela. All Colombians should be indulgent with me if I don’t concede Arepas to be Colombian food. If you would like to convince me of your national heritage, please prepare a Colombian version of Arepas for me.
I visited the food stand ‘Casita Venezolana’ and ordered – of course – Arepa with beef.
‘Casita Venezolana’ offered food from Venezuela
A salute to all Venezuelans in the world!
Greets to all the nice people I know from Venezuela!
Arepas consist of ground maize dough and my version was filled with ground beef and cheese. I forget to ask, which type of cheese it was. But it wasn’t molten and still had a solid consistency.
This picture was captioned a few moments before biting in the Arepa
Still good, still tasty. If you tend to be hungry and looking for a real stomach filler. I would be happy to learn more about the Venezuelan kitchen. So far, I only know their fast/finger food but would love to try more!
Peruvian food: Peru Street Food
For me personally THE highlight of the festival from my perspective. Kids might prefer the bouncer castle, drinkers the rum bars. But as a foodie, you must love Peruvian food. I spend almost one and a half years of my life and had the joy to get to know the best kitchen in the world. You can find the previous articles in my database, but I would like to recommend one article in particular to all readers to read later. You might get an idea, why Peruvian food is the best food in the world.
I wrote several articles about Peruvian food, maybe my perception is a little biased and other food trucks didn’t have the same fair opportunities to convince my hungry stomach. However, Luis Pacheco runs this little food truck and can be found at the Malecon. He prepared ORIGINAL PERUVIAN Ceviche what I was missing since the last time I tried it in the street markets in Lima.
Luis invested not only a high dedication and effort to prepare good food, but he also uses original Peruvian ingredients. Well, except for the fish and lemon. But all the spices and sauces are 100% Peruvian quality. Check out how the make of Peruvian Ceviche.
A picture with the Peruvian Chef Luis Pacheco from ‘Peru Street Food’ during the Zoneo Fest 2019. Dishes, ingredients, and decoration were 100% Peruvian!
He announced to have on Sunday as well Anticucho to offer. That was predominantly my main reason to come back to the festival. Where else do I have the chance in this Caribbean country to taste a cow’s heart? It might sound disturbing to a lot of people to eat a cow’s heart – But you don’t know what you miss if you reject this wonderful food.
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For me, number one of all!
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The original Peruvian specialty ‘Anticucho’ (The heart of a cow – no joke)
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Chinese/US (?) food – Omnifoodie
A picture of the food stand from ‘Omnifoodie’
I am not quite sure, what type of food that was. In comparison to the ones before, their nationality wasn’t clear. I affiliate the dumplings (which I ordered) with the Asian kitchen, but all the other ingredients tend to be Chinese or US-American. I suspect them to be a Chinese/American food stand, although there people weren’t looking Chinese at all and it wasn’t 100% defined.
Anyway, I tried their dumblings:
I ordered their ‘potstickers’ – Without reading ‘dumplings’, I wouldn’t have known what to expect from that dish.
Dumplings with a homemade sauce
In fact, I paid 250 DOP (which is $5.00) for four little dumplings. That’s the saddest food tourism trap I stepped into since I am here in the Dominican Republic. The taste was good and the sauce handmade but are 4 dumplings this really worth $5? That’s $1.25 each dumpling. Next time Dumb Phil should ask, how many dumpling units are included in that menu!
To finish the evening with a tasty drop, I ordered Oettinger Black Beer:
Original German Black Beer
All in all, it was a cool festival and quite good organized. I wish, to have had even more variety of food trucks, but it was okay. The only minor things I would have to criticize would be the following:
The official begin of the festival was at 12AM – But even at 3PM, some stands were still building up and thus, food wasn’t ready to have lunch there.
I didn’t see a possibility to pay entrance tickets for both days
More Dominican food and drinks, please! I saw many thrilling and fancy international varieties, but very little local specialties 🙂
Siguiendo la tendencia mundial de la oferta gastronómica móvil en forma de camiones de comida, hubo todo un festival organizado en Santo Domingo.No estoy seguro cuántas veces se había realizado anterior a esta. Unos días antes de su promoción en Instagram de la revista dominicana ‘Zoneo‘, que al mismo tiempo era el organizador del ‘Zoneo Fest 2019‘. Como amante, blogger y comedor de comida, era una necesidad para mi asistir y inspeccionar todo.El festival se llevó a cabo en la Zona Colonial, para ser más exactos en La FortalezaOzama.Me sorprendió este festival de comida callejera, en especial la buena comida que tenían allí.Por favor, recuéstesey disfrute de este artículo sobreZoneoFest 2019 ysusabrosa comida de la calle.
¿Qué es elZoneoFest?
A veces, los humanos son contradictorios e inconsistentes en sus aspiraciones.Por un lado, quieren tener todo lo barato y siempre disponible.Por otro lado, se esfuerzan por momentos exclusivos y experiencias personalizadas.Lo mismo ocurre con la comida.Siempre se puede elegir entre la solución barata y la comida rápida preparada o la comida costosa y las experiencias sabrosas en los restaurantes.Siempre me gusta pagar un poco más por la buena comida, pero no puedo hacer eso todo el tiempo.Por lo tanto, busco estos buenos y sabrosos momentos y ocasiones especiales, como elZoneo Fest.Este festival de camiones de comida y comida callejera se llevó a cabo durante dos días, el 29 y el 30 de junio. Gracias al área geográfica en el FuerteOzama, hubo suficiente espacio para muchas actividades de niños, pequeños mercados artesanales, un escenario musical y – por supuesto – los camiones de comida.
Many activities for children during the Zoneo festival
Un boleto de entrada cuesta 200 DOP y es válido para todo el día.Tuve la oportunidad de dejar el área del festival y volver ‘gratis’.Lo que estaba bien, porque pasar todo el día bajo el sol no fue placentero.No envidiaba a los operadores de camiones de comida, que prepararon la comida durante todo el día cuando estaba a 95 ° F (35 ° C) de calor. Y también estan sufriendo del calor de sus hornos, chimeneas y cocinas a gas que estaban usando…
Por supuesto, no he tuve la oportunidad de probar todas las comidas en el festival.No era una cuestión de hambre, porque puedo comer como un elefante si quiero.Es más una cuestión de presupuesto porque la comida buena y de calidad tiene su precio.Por lo tanto, tuve que seleccionar sabiamente lo que debería intentar.Con algunos camiones de comida, fue una decisión fácil.Aquí puedes encontrar mis degustaciones y por qué hubo buenas o malas:
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Doughnuts de alta tecnología
Uno de los argumentos para los camiones de comida es poder observar su preparación.Un pequeño puesto ofrecía donas de alta tecnología con una forma de preparación que no había visto antes:
¡Realmente divertido ver todo el proceso lineal de preparación de donas en vivo y encolor!
No solo la preparación cruda de los donuts, sino también el refinamiento gastronómico, fue digno de ver:
¡Nunca vi una preparación más dedicada y encantadora de Donuts!
Comida venezolana: CasitaVenezolana
La cocina venezolana no me es desconocida, pero hasta ahora solo había tenido muy pocas oportunidades para probar su comida.No sé mucho de la comida venezolana, pero me alegraría mucho que alguien me presente y me invite un día a tener una conversación profunda sobre su comida.¡Incluso mejor que hablar de su comida sería cocinar e intentarlo juntos!
Lo único que probé antes de este festival fueArepas.No estoy 100% seguro de que sea un plato original colombiano o venezolano, pero lo asocio con Venezuela.Todos los colombianos deberían ser indulgentes conmigo si no les concedo que lasArepas sean comida colombiana.Si desea convencerme de su patrimonio nacional, prepareme una versión colombiana deArepas.
Visité el puesto de comida ‘CasitaVenezolana‘ y pedí, por supuesto,Arepacon carne.
‘Casita Venezolana’ offered food from Venezuela
Un saludo a todos los venezolanos del mundo!
Greets to all the nice people I know from Venezuela!
Las arepasconsisten en masa de maíz molida y mi versión estaba llena de carne molida y queso.Me olvido de preguntar qué tipo de queso era.Pero no estaba fundido y todavía tenía una consistencia sólida.
This picture was captioned a few moments before biting in the Arepa
Todavía bueno, todavía sabroso.Si tiendes a tener hambre y buscas un verdadero relleno de estómago.Me encantaría aprender más sobre la cocina venezolana.Hasta el momento, solo conozco su comida rápida o para comer con los dedos, ¡pero me encantaría probar más!
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Comida peruana: comida callejera peruana
Para mí, personalmente, lo que más destacado del festival desde mi perspectiva fue la comida peruana.Los niños pueden preferir el castillo de gorila, y los bebedores las barras de ron.Pero como amante de la comida, debes amar la comida peruana. Pasé casi un año y medio de mi vida y tuve la alegría de conocer la mejor cocina del mundo.Pueden encontrar los artículos anteriores en mi base de datos, pero me gustaría recomendar un artículo en particular a todos los lectores para que lo lean más adelante. Podría tener una idea, por qué la comida peruana es la mejor comida del mundo.
Escribí varios artículos sobre comida peruana, tal vez mi percepción es un poco parcial y otros camiones de comida no tuvieron las mismas oportunidades justas para convencer a mi estómago hambriento.Sin embargo, Luis Pacheco maneja este pequeño camión de comida y se puede encontrar en elMalecón.Preparó el ceviche ORIGINAL PERUANO de lo que me estaba perdiendo desde la última vez que lo probé en los mercados callejeros de Lima.
Luis invirtió no solo una gran dedicación y esfuerzo para preparar una buena comida, sino que también utiliza ingredientes peruanos originales.Bueno, salvo el pescado y el limón.Pero todas las especias y salsas son 100% de calidad peruana.Echa un vistazo a cómo hacer el ceviche peruano.
A picture with the Peruvian Chef Luis Pacheco from ‘Peru Street Food’ during the Zoneo Fest 2019. Dishes, ingredients, and decoration were 100% Peruvian!
Anunció que también tendrá el domingo elAnticucho.Esa fue mi principal razón para regresar al festival.¿Dónde más tengo la oportunidad en este país caribeño de probar el corazón de una vaca?A muchas personas les puede parecer inquietante comer el corazón de una vaca, pero no sabes lo que extrañas si rechazas esta maravillosa comida.
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Para mí, el número uno de todos!
🐮💔
The original Peruvian speciality ‘Anticucho’ (The heart of a cow – no joke)
Comida china / estadounidense (?) –Omnifoodie
A picture of the food stand from ‘Omnifoodie’
No estoy muy seguro de qué tipo de comida era.En comparación con los anteriores, su nacionalidad no estaba clara.Afilié las bolas de masa hervida (que ordené) con la cocina asiática, pero todos los demás ingredientes tienden a ser chinos o estadounidenses.Sospecho que se trata de un puesto de comida chino / estadounidense, aunqueno habíagente que pareciera china y no estaba definida al 100%.
De todos modos, probé susdumblings:
I ordered their ‘potstickers’ – Without reading ‘dumplings’, I wouldn’t have known what to expect from that dish.
Dumplings with a homemade sauce
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De hecho, pagué 250 DOP (que es $ 5.00) por cuatro pequeñas bolas de masa.Esa es la trampa de turismo de alimentos más triste que pisé desde que estoy aquí en la República Dominicana.El sabor era bueno y la salsa hecha a mano, pero ¿son 4 albóndigas que realmente valen $ 5?Eso es $ 1.25 cada bola de masa.La próxima vez Dumb Phil preguntara, ¡cuántas unidades de bola de masa están incluidas en ese menú!
Para terminar la noche con una sabrosa gota, pedí la cerveza negra Oettinger:
Original German Black Beer
En general, fue un festival genial y bastante bien organizado.Ojalá hubiera tenido aún más variedad de camiones de comida, pero estaba bien.Las únicas cosas menores que tendría que criticar serían las siguientes:
•El inicio oficial del festival fue a las 12 am. Pero incluso a las 3 pm, algunos puestos aún no estaban habilitados y, por lo tanto, la comida no estaba lista.
• No vi la posibilidad de pagar las entradas para los dos días.
•¡Más comida y bebida dominicana, por favor!Vi muchas variedades internacionales emocionantes y elegantes, pero muy pocas especialidades locales 🙂
This fluvial tourism excursion was part of the canyoning experience I had during the Easter weekend 2019 at Tubagua Eco Lodge. I already wrote an article before about the time I spent there. It was the perfect half-day excursion and a great combination of hiking, climbing and jumping inside of natural sweet water pools. Comparable to the adventure I had in Cabarete, but this time with better photos and videos. Nothing too crazy, moderate difficulty level, high fun attitude. Stay tuned and read further, if you are looking for a fun outdoor activity off the beaten track in the proximity of Puerto Plata. A canyoning trip to Charcos de los Militares and god’s swimming pool in Tubagua.
The ‘Charcos de los Militares’ in Tubagua might be a great alternative for nature and action lovers.
Approximate reading time: 6 minutes
(Last update: April 11, 2021)
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Why does this place have two different names?
‘Charco de los Militares’ comes undeniably from the soldiery vocabulary. But why do the Dominicans call this place ‘military puddle’ (Charco de los Militares)?
According to the community, the name of puddles is because at the time of the dictatorship of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, a group of soldiers took the difficult and sensitive decision of dropping out, leaving their uniforms pulled into the crystalline waters of these pools, and from this event were baptized with the name of : The puddles of the military.
Some sources name this trail also God’s swimming pool. Well, although I did this trip during the Easter holidays – what would be a good catholic explanation – I didn’t feel either resurrected, nor reborn or baptized. But very refreshed. In any event: A divine swimming pool sounds a bit more peaceful than the military connotation about the military puddle.
Anyway: This excursion is supposed to be held exclusively through the Tubagua Eco Lodge with a guide who accompanies you during the whole trip. Don’t even think about trying to hike there on your own, you will never make it without local help.
I would have never found the way to the water, neither the way back to the lodge. That’s why I was thankful for the good guidance. Although this guy walked as fast as 100m runner, we never lost track during the way. And I was always the last of the group because I took photos and videos on the way what the other members of the group didn’t do.
Where is Charcos de los Militarios in the Dominican Republic?
You can find it on the map:
The GPS coordinates from Charco de Los Militares:
Latitude: 19.6743856
Longitude: -70.5978251
But again: Without an experienced tour guide who has local knowledge, you’ll never find it on your own. That’s why you need the Tubagua Eco Lodge and their guides to access Charco de los Militares.
The hiking trail to Charcos de los Militares is a green paradise
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Every nature lover would be happy to do this excursion and walk to the ‘Charcos de los Militares’. What nature offers you is a stunning view and green paradise:
Our guide must’ve felt that our group was in a rush and we hiked, unfortunately, with a high velocity. Consequently, there wasn’t enough time to enjoy the green landscape. Only a few little videos and photos were possible. It would have been for me also okay to spend some more minutes to breathe in the pure air and enjoy the view.
But after approximately one hour of crossing abundant vegetation through ups and downhill areas, the group arrived at the military puddle or God’s swimming pool. The landscape changed now to a rugged and mountainous zone, but still with the same vegetation.
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What you can see behind this chubby guy who blocks the view, is one of the three pools you can jump into and take a swim. Clear and cold water coming from the mountains and then accumulating to three different little or big ponds. The quantity of the pools of course depends according to rainfall and drought periods. Our guide told us, that there was at the time we arrived at a low water level.
Jumping into Gods swimming pool in Tubagua
You can climb up the rocks and jump into two of the three pools – If you dare to:
The water is crystal clear and refreshing and looks as following:
Individual tourism is quite rare in comparison to mass tourism in the Dominican Republic. The majority of tourism concentrates on Punta Cana. Hence you have in the country many opportunities to do an excursion that fly under the touristic radar. These excursions are hard to find for foreigners, but promise some unique moments you’d never experience in All-Inclusive trips.
I was warned before, that during the Easter holidays a 1/3 of the Dominican population would travel through the country as well. It was supposed to become difficult collecting unique experiences. But at Tubagua, it was surprisingly quiet on the highway, in the accommodation and during the whole excursion. No one was actually ‘in the way’ during the walk to the military puddle. We spend at least 1.5 good hours there. Until the moment, when we were about to leave at maybe 12:30am and a horde of Dominicans entered the area with music and fire for BBQ.
That was the perfect moment to leave the scenery and hike back one hour to the eco lodge. This time uphill – Very exhausting!
What you should definitely bring to Charcos de los Militares:
Comfortable tramping boots to hike to the pools. A pair you might want to jump into the water with.
Sun blocker (water resistant)
Head covering
Sunglasses to look cool on photos
Swimsuit
Towel
Water – Although there is enough water to see, you should bring bottled water to drink
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An insect repellent was recommended to bring with as well. I didn’t apply it to my skin and was lucky to not have been bitten by insects there. Better bring insect repellent just in case.
Another top secret recommendation from me is to bring and wear water shoes or old well-worn but comfortable tennis shoes which can get wet. Putting of your tramping boots, go for a quick swim, putting them on again, walk to the next pond and repeat it several times is annoying. But walking the surface without any shoes make you look like a fool.
Better would be during the walks of the ‘Charco de los Militaros’ to put on water shoes which have a flexible sole and can become wet without any problems. Everything else might hurt your feet.
I hope, that you liked this blog article about God’s swimming pool in Tubagua – Next time I will try to remember, that it would be better to record videos in widescreen. Shame on me!
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La comida peruana es mundialmente famosa y especial. Elogié en un artículo antes el gusto de la cocina peruana. Escribí un articulo en Inglés sobre mis 10 platos favoritos del país andino. Definitivamente vale la pena leerlo cuando tendrías más tiempo. Mejor vamos a continuar con este artículo sobre el famoso jugo especial de Peru.
The Peruvian kitchen is world famous and a culinary delight for even the most critical gourmets. During my time in Peru I had the joy to discover a lot of brilliant flavors, aromatic spices and tasty sauces in a variety of excellent dishes. Therefore, it’s not an accident, that the Peruvian kitchen is seen as the…
Pero ¿qué pasa con las bebidas peruanas, también pueden ser especiales? ¿Y es una buena idea llamar a un batido un ‘Jugo Especial’? Y aún más importante: ¿Que hace realmente especial al “Jugo Especial” peruano? Durante uno de mis últimos días en Perú, estaba visitando uno de los muchos mercados en Lima. Lo que realmente me gusta de este tipo de mercados no son solo los precios bajos que paga por todo tipo de alimentos básicos. No, es aún mejor, que muchos pequeños empresarios manejan sus negocios de forma independiente y venden lo que las personas necesitan. En comparación con las grandes cadenas de supermercados nacionales como Plaza Vea, Tottus y Wong, uno tiene este enfoque de cliente individual y también apoya la comida local.
Multicentro La Capullana en Surco
Sin embargo, el ‘Multicentro La Capullana’ se encuentra en la Avenida Ramón Castilla en Santiago de Surco. Muy cerca de mi antiguo alojamiento y a menos de 10 minutos a pie. Me gustaba caminar por las mañanas o a media mañana y comprar algunas cosas que necesitaba. Desde el exterior, no lo reconoces ó parece realmente como un mercado, o (como dicen) un “multicentro”:
Pero desde el interior te quedarás definitivamente encantado con todos los fruteros, verduleros, carniceros, comerciantes en general, etc. y sus verduras, frutas y otros productos frescos que venden. Lo que realmente me gustó fue su esfuerzo por diseñar sus productos de una manera presentable:
Realmente no sé cuánto tiempo pasó con equilibrar y ordenar todas las fresas, pero realmente respeto el esfuerzo para que acomodarlos bien. Si recuerdo de todos los paquetes de plástico que usamos en Europa para tener la cantidad correcta y mantenerlos duraderos, siempre preferiré esta versión fresca e individual.
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¿Jugo especial? ¿Por qué especial?
No obstante, todas mis visitas a este mercado procedieron cronológicamente de la misma manera. Entré en el mercado y antes de comenzar a comprar todo tipo de cosas bonitas, me paraba en la pequeña tienda junto a la entrada para obtener un jugo recién exprimido. Aquí puede tener las mezclas más sanas de todo tipo de frutas exóticas y genéricas. Usualmente prefería los de durazno y mandarinas / naranjas. La mayoría de los prejuicios y preocupaciones de este tipo de mercados en los países de América del Sur son que el nivel de higiene es más bajo que los estándares en los países europeos y occidentales y que es más fácil recibir algunas bacterias debido a condiciones de suciedad. Debo decir que este prejuicio no está justificado, porque nunca vi un nivel de higiene estándar más alto por parte de todos los demás que antes me estaban sirviendo un jugo:
Pero un jugo en su menú fue simplemente llamado “Jugo especial” sin ninguna explicación adicional. Esto ya me dio curiosidad, porque quieres saber por supuesto qué tiene de especial este zumo, respectivamente, cuales ingredientes hacen que este zumo sea especial. Era más caro que todos los otros jugos y eso me llamó la atención también. Es por eso que pedí un “Jugo Especial”.
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Lo que realmente hace que este jugo sea un jugo especial
No fueron las frutas como la papaya, la fresa y el plátano. Mi curiosidad fue saciada cuando observé a la dama preparando mi jugo especial. Ella puso muchas cosas inusuales en la licuadora, que la mayoría de la gente preferiría usar para preparar pasteles. Junto a un torrente de leche de vaca y un huevo (!), Llenó un almíbar de algarrobo negro, miel de abeja natural y esencia de vainilla. Se agregó un chorro de cerveza negra (!!) para redondear todo y agregar aún más calorías. Solo para estar seguro, que no me moriré de hambre después de tomarlo.
De la antigua expectativa de un jugo puro, me presentaron ahora un híbrido de batido de leche / bomba de calorías. No solo la existencia pura me dejó sin palabras, sino que también fue la mera cantidad. Pagué por un “Jugo Especial” y casi obtuve un litro de bebida exagerada. Por supuesto, era demasiado para un vaso, por eso la señora lo puso en dos vasos grandes. Muy generosos estos peruanos!
Si quieres escuchar mi opinión gourmet, escucha el siguiente video:
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Una extraña explosión de sabores entró en mis sentidos, afrutada, dulce, cremosa y sabrosa al mismo tiempo. Para no insultar al barman, me vi obligado a terminar los dos vasos. No quería ser grosero al salir de la tienda después de tomarlo. Pero después de tomar ambos vasos, ya tenía suficientes calorías para dos comidas y me tambaleé a casa con una sensación de saciedad.
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Ich habe mich entschieden, den folgenden Artikel über Pozuzo in Deutsch zu verfassen. Hurra! Holdrio! Donnerlüttchen!
Schild am Ortseingang von Pozuzo
Gleichzeitig stellt dieser Artikel somit ein Novum auf meinem Blog dar, da ich bisher lediglich in Englisch und Spanisch schrieb. Ich erhoffe mir dadurch natürlich einerseits das Interesse meiner Freunde, Familienmitglieder und alten Weggefährten, die eventuell weder mit Englisch noch Spanisch mithalten können, bzw. dann an der Fremdsprache schnell das Interesse verlieren. Zum anderen jedoch glaube ich, dass ich diesmal um die ein oder andere deutschsprachige Vokabel nicht herumkomme, denn was ich auf meinen knapp zwei Tagen in Pozuzo erleben durfte sprengt die Vorstellungskraft eines jeden Lesers.
Um den Artikel so authentisch wie möglich zu halten, nahm ich mir sehr viel Zeit bei der Erstellung. Sie, werter Leser, benötigen ebenfalls ein gewisses Zeitpolster, bis Sie mit allen Texten, Bildern und Videos durch sind. Nun aber genug der einleitenden Schwafelei: Lehnen Sie sich zurück und tauchen Sie mit mir in ein bizarres Reiseziel ein, das Sie sich nicht einmal in Ihren kühnsten Träumen hätten vorstellen können.
WAS MACHT EIN REISEZIEL EINZIGARTIG?
Diese Frage gilt übrigens nicht nur für Reiseziele, sondern praktisch für jedes Produkt oder jeden Service. Aus Marketingsicht wird immer gerne der U.S.P. (Unique Selling Proposition) verwendet, also das Alleinstellungsmerkmal, das einen Wettbewerbsvorteil eines Produktes gegenüber seiner Konkurrenz darbietet. Gewiefte Marketing- und Kommunikationsstrategen versuchen daher zuhauf, einen U.S.P. in ihr Produkt in Form von Vokabeln wie „einzigartig“, „ausschließlich“ oder „einmalig“ kommunikativ zu untermauern.
Die Realität sieht jedoch anders aus, liebe Freunde. In Wirklichkeit gibt es gar nicht so viele einzigartige Produkte zu erwerben, wie sie denn kommuniziert werden. Erst Recht nicht, seitdem die Globalisierung den problemlosen Import indischer und chinesischer Schrott-Imitate ermöglichte. Aber das ist ein anderes Thema.
Gleiches gilt ebenfalls für Tourismusdestination. Möglicherweise hat auch Ihnen die gelernte Reiseverkehrskauffrau im lokalen Reisebüro bereits weismachen wollen, dass Sie diese eine Reise, die Ihnen überteuert angedreht werden soll, ein einzigartiges Reiseziel darstellt. Der naive Idealist mag zwar auf einen solchen Trick reinfallen und die Reise buchen, bevor es zu spät ist. Wohingegen der kühle Realist feststellen wird, dass es möglicherweise auch in anderen Ländern Strände, Berge, Wälder, Tiere und Hotels gibt, wie es der Urlaubskatalog verspricht.
Und Recht hat er! Es gibt nur wenige generische, einzigartige Reiseziele auf der Welt, die von Mutter Natur selbst geformt wurden. Und selbst falls das einmal der Fall sein sollte, so war es bestimmt nicht die Absicht von Mutter Natur, dass der Mensch ihre natürlich erschaffenen Ressourcen als Reiseziel auslobt, um diese dann kapitalistisch auszubeuten und zu verwüsten.
Meistens sind dann diese Reiseziele von Menschenhand erschaffen, wie das teuerste Luxushotel oder das höchste Bauwerk der Welt. Aber was, wenn man mal von den vielen einzigartigen olympischen Disziplinen á la „Höher, Schneller und Weiter“ absieht und nach kulturellen, bzw. herkunftsbedingten Merkmalen sucht?
POZUZO IST DIE EINZIGE ÖSTERREICHISCHE KOLONIE DER WELT
Ich hatte die Gelegenheit, ein Reiseziel kennen lernen zu dürfen, das den Titel „einzigartig“ mehr als gerechtfertigt verdient hat. In Peru gibt es die einzige österreichische Kolonie der Welt. Da kommen Sie womöglich ins Zweifeln und auch mir ging es beim ersten Mal genauso.
Wir haben ja alle schon einmal etwas von den vielen französischen, niederländischen und britischen Kolonien gehört. Die Spanische Krone hat vor knapp 500 Jahren gar einen halben Kontinent unterjocht und kolonialisiert. Aber wie um alles in der Welt haben es denn die Österreicher geschafft eine Kolonie zu gründen? Noch dazu als Binnenland auf dem europäischen Kontinent ohne eigenen Hafen?
Hierzu empfehle ich das folgende YouTube-Video, das ihnen komprimiert die wichtigsten Fakten vermitteln wird:
Jenes Video sollte einen ersten groben Eindruck dessen vermitteln, was ich in dem kleinen Dörflein selbst erleben durfte. Allerdings habe ich mich nach Betrachrtung des Videos natürlich wie so oft über die deutsche Lügenpresse, verfälschte Berichte, schlechte Recherchen und mangelhaften Journalismus geärgert.
So auch diesmal, denn eine Vielzahl der von der Redaktion von Galileo vorgestellten Informationen sind geschönt, nicht authentisch oder schlichtweg falsch. Wie so oft wird dann dem Zuschauer – hier diesmal von Pro7 – ein falsches Bild vorgegaukelt, was leider nicht den Tatsachen entspricht. Dies soll natürlich nicht ungesühnt bleiben und wurde mit einem saftigen und deutlichen Kommentar meinerseits zu dem Video sanktioniert:
Anstatt des überbezahlten Moderators Harro Füllgrabe hätte ich selbige Rundführung für Galileo völlig kostenlos gemacht, wäre authentischer rübergekommen und hätte niemals so viel unwahres Zeug dahergeschwafelt. Und viel schlechter als der Moderator sehe ich auch nicht aus!
Wer sich also bis hierhin alle Informationen angeschaut und durchgelesen hat, dem sei gesagt, dass es noch nicht zu spät ist: Eine Umkehr zum seelenlosen Massenmedium ist noch stets möglich und Sie dürfen gerne das Schäfchen bleiben, dass dem Pro7-Massenmedium bedenkenlos folgt und alles glaubt, was ihm vorgezeigt wird. Möchten Sie aber dem Pro7-Schäfer abtrünnig werden, aus der Herde ausbrechen und einen Insider-Report über die einzige österreichische Kolonie der Welt nach authentischen Maßstäben lesen, der mit einem Kommunikationsstil á la ‘frei von der Leber weg’ serviert wird, so dürfen Sie gerne weiterlesen. Kleinere Rechtschreibfehlerchen natürlich inklusive!
Es la primera vez que intento escribir un artículo en mi blog en español. Para mí, es algo difícil de hacer, porque no es mi lengua materna. Por lo general, escribo en mi blog en el inglés para llegar a un público amplio. Aunque el inglés no es mi lengua materna tampoco, lo hablo con fluidez y sé cómo escribirlo después de muchos años escolares, estudios y trabajos internacionales.
Nunca aprendí español en la escuela, pero visité algunos cursos básicos aquí y allá durante un par de meses, pero nunca leí un libro en español, etc. Para mí, fue más ‘aprender haciendo’ y obtuve todo mi conocimiento de mis tiempos en Perú, Ecuador, Paraguay y España teniendo conversaciones y escuchando.
Nunca tuve la oportunidad de escribir un texto profundo en español. Ahora hay una oportunidad y me gustaría contactar a todos mis amigos y conocidos que hice durante mis tiempos en Sudamérica para compartir algunas líneas. Tal vez por lo general no leen mis artículos, porque están en inglés. Quizás porque nunca hay suficiente tiempo libre en nuestras vidas estresantes para leer un artículo. Para mí ya es un honor si continúas leyendo hasta aquí. Y si tiene unos minutos más de tiempo, me gustaría profundizar en mis pensamientos y recuerdos.
El primer contacto con América del Sur tuve en 2014:
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Era febrero y aterricé en Lima para hacer un semestre en el extranjero durante mis estudios de ‘Marketing internacional’. Para mí fue la primera vez que salí de Europa y pasé tanto tiempo fuera de casa. A pesar de que tenía 26 años, no era realmente maduro y no tenía idea de lo que estaba pasando en un continente diferente y cómo es la vida en una metrópolis en el otro extremo del mundo. No sabía nada de Perú, excepto Machu Picchu, Lamas y algunos futbolistas que jugaban para los equipos europeos. Aparte de eso, era un completo rookey y novato. Pero aprendí rápido.
Lo que aprendí fueron las diferencias entre Europa y Sudamérica en términos de disfrutar la vida. Música rítmica, comida sabrosa, bailes impresionantes, hermosa naturaleza y destinos turísticos únicos. Todos estos elementos ayudaron a dar forma a una cultura extrovertida y una mentalidad orgullosa y segura de sí misma.
Y especialmente esta mentalidad orgullosa y segura de sí misma es lo que me impresionó y lo que definitivamente es una mejora de la cultura fría y poco inspirada que crecí en Europa Central. La gente sale y baila en las calles, siempre está en un estado de ánimo ruidoso e hilarante, toca instrumentos y sonríe todo el tiempo, a veces, incluso si no hay ninguna razón. Simplemente son más felices y modestos con lo que tienen, a pesar de todos los problemas económicos y políticos causados por sus políticos corruptos.
Y muy pronto comprendí que todos estos elementos tal vez faltaban en mi vida antes. Me di cuenta de que me gustaría pertenecer a esta cultura expresiva de alegría y felicidad más que a la cultura aburrida en la que viví toda mi vida en Alemania. Por supuesto, hay razones económicas detrás de muchos otros argumentos como la oferta médica y la estabilidad política para preferir vivir en un país como Alemania. Pero, ¿realmente quiero consumir cerveza y salchichas todos los días hasta el fin de mi vida? Levántate, trabaja, vuelve a casa y duerme otra vez? ¿Un círculo vicioso sin salida??
No lo hice e intenté regresar a Sudamérica en junio de 2017 para hacer una pasantía de graduación para mi estudio de maestría en la Secretaría Nacional de Turismo en Paraguay. Mi objetivo era terminar mis estudios (¡listo!) Y después del estudio vivir (¡listo!) y trabajar (¡error!) En América del Sur.
Siempre fue mi sueño regresar a Sudamérica y vivir y trabajar durante unos años. No importa dónde o en qué país o ciudad. Simplemente diviértete, gana mucha experiencia en el extranjero y perfecciona para hablar español. Hice todo lo posible por encontrar un trabajo desafiante e incluso estuve dispuesto a evitar una gran cantidad de salario y otros beneficios que un empleado buscaría en Europa. Pero no tuve la suerte de encontrar lo que estaba buscando y perdí bastante tiempo, dinero y potencial durante la búsqueda de trabajo en Perú.
Especialmente para un extranjero como yo, era muy difícil encontrar un trabajo. Muchos peruanos me dijeron exactamente lo mismo que estaba describiendo en el primer párrafo. No importa cuánto lo intentes o cuán bueno seas, todo funciona con conexiones. Y, por supuesto, un extranjero como yo en realidad no tiene muchas buenas conexiones con una nueva ciudad en la que quiere vivir. Los pocos contactos que tengo, han tratado de ayudarme, pero que no tuvieron éxito con sus esfuerzos. Hay tantas empresas que buscan empleadores internacionales con experiencia laboral y que pueden hablar varios idiomas, pero nadie está dispuesto a ayudar con la visa de trabajo o patrocinarla a un extranjero. ¡Una situación absurda, que nunca podré entender!
Por supuesto, gané aquí y allá un poco de dinero cuando me contrataba como traductor y redactor. Pero esta no es la razón por la que estudié dos veces, ni lo suficiente para llenar un programa semanal o mi estómago hambriento. Y las personas que me conocen me confirmarían que tengo un estómago muy hambriento y puedo comer tanto como trabajo.
Sin embargo, es el momento después de todos estos meses para reconsiderar lo que es mejor para mí. Creo que fue mi madre (?) Quien dijo una vez: “Nunca está mal tener un sueño y orientarte a eso”. Y me gustaría saber qué diría sobre un sueño que no se realizó. Probablemente, ella estará muy feliz de tenerme de vuelta 🙂 Y eso es lo que realmente significa la realidad: si no puedes hacer realidad tu sueño, será mejor que vuelvas a la realidad y tal vez vivas la vida que se suponía que debías hacer antes.
Entonces, regresaré a Alemania. ¿Qué vendrá después de eso? No tengo ni idea, pero buscaré un trabajo en el sur de Europa, preferiblemente en España, por supuesto. Después de tanto tiempo viviendo en una mentalidad diferente, no es posible en ninguna otra parte que no sea en el área mediterránea tener una experiencia de vida comparable a la de América Latina.
Dudo que regrese a Lima / Perú nuevamente. En 2014 vine a este país para estudiar, en 2018 para vivir. Conozco casi todos los destinos turísticos notables del país y apenas hay algo completamente nuevo para descubrir. Y si no se me concede trabajar en Lima / Perú, no veo una razón real para regresar. Algunas veces, el amor no es recíproco y permanece unilateral.
Entonces volviendo a la realidad, ¿eh? El caballero de la fortuna busca su suerte en otro lugar del mundo. Sería increíble, si alguien tiene un radiestesista o detector de metales para encontrar lo que estoy buscando y estaría dispuesto a prestarme. Alternativamente, estaré más que agradecido por cada ayuda inspiradora o última charla antes de dejar Perú y Sudamérica. Un pequeño adiós-comentario sería bueno también. Gracias, muchachos!
Es la primera vez que intento escribir un artículo en mi blog en español. Para mí, es algo difícil de hacer, porque no es mi lengua materna. Por lo general, escribo en mi blog en el inglés para llegar a un público amplio. Aunque el inglés no es mi lengua materna tampoco, lo hablo con fluidez y sé cómo escribirlo después de muchos años escolares, estudios y trabajos internacionales.
Nunca aprendí español en la escuela, pero visité algunos cursos básicos aquí y allá durante un par de meses, pero nunca leí un libro en español, etc. Para mí, fue más ‘aprender haciendo’ y obtuve todo mi conocimiento de mis tiempos en Perú, Ecuador, Paraguay y España teniendo conversaciones y escuchando.
Nunca tuve la oportunidad de escribir un texto profundo en español. Ahora hay una oportunidad y me gustaría alcanzar a todos mis amigos y conocidos que hice durante mis tiempos en Sudamérica para compartir algunas líneas. Tal vez por lo general no leen mis artículos, porque están en inglés. Quizás porque nunca hay suficiente tiempo libre en nuestras vidas estresantes para leer un artículo. Para mí ya es un honor si continúas leyendo hasta aquí. Y si tiene unos minutos más de tiempo, me gustaría profundizar en mis pensamientos y recuerdos.
El primer contacto con América del Sur tuve en 2014:
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Era febrero y aterricé en Lima para hacer un semestre en el extranjero durante mis estudios de ‘Marketing internacional’. Para mí fue la primera vez que salí de Europa y pasé tanto tiempo fuera de casa. A pesar de que tenía 26 años, no era realmente maduro y no tenía idea de lo que estaba pasando en un continente diferente y cómo es la vida en una metrópolis en el otro extremo del mundo. No sabía nada de Perú, excepto Machu Picchu, Lamas y algunos futbolistas que jugaban para los equipos europeos.
Aparte de eso, era un completo principiante y novato. Pero aprendí rápido.
Lo que aprendí fueron las diferencias entre Europa y Sudamérica en términos de disfrutar la vida. Música rítmica, comida sabrosa, bailes impresionantes, hermosa naturaleza y destinos turísticos únicos. Todos estos elementos ayudaron a dar forma a una cultura extrovertida y una mentalidad orgullosa y segura de sí misma.
Y especialmente esta mentalidad orgullosa y segura de sí misma es lo que me impresionó y lo que definitivamente es una mejora de la cultura fría y poco inspirada que crecí en Europa Central. La gente sale y baila en las calles, siempre está en un estado de ánimo ruidoso e hilarante, toca instrumentos y sonríe todo el tiempo, a veces, incluso si no hay ninguna razón. Simplemente son más felices y modestos con lo que tienen, a pesar de todos los problemas económicos y políticos causados por sus políticos corruptos.
Y muy pronto comprendí que todos estos elementos tal vez faltaban en mi vida antes. Después volver a Alemania en agosto 2014 me sentí como la piedra en la siguiente imagen:
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Me entiendes? Como el único que esta diferente en su masa. ¿Quizás esta cultura va mejor conmigo? Me di cuenta de que me gustaría pertenecer a esta cultura expresiva de alegría y felicidad más que a la cultura aburrida en la que viví toda mi vida en Alemania. Por supuesto, hay razones económicas detrás de muchos otros argumentos como la oferta médica y la estabilidad política para preferir vivir en un país como Alemania. Pero, ¿realmente quiero consumir cerveza y salchichas todos los días hasta el fin de mi vida? Levántate, trabaja, vuelve a casa y duerme otra vez? ¿Un círculo vicioso sin salida??
No lo hice e intenté regresar a Sudamérica en junio de 2017 para hacer una pasantía de graduación para mi estudio de maestría en la Secretaría Nacional de Turismo en Paraguay. Mi objetivo era terminar mis estudios (¡listo!) Y después del estudio vivir (¡listo!) y trabajar (¡error!) En América del Sur.
Siempre fue mi sueño regresar a Sudamérica y vivir y trabajar durante unos años. No importa dónde o en qué país o ciudad. Simplemente diviértete, gana mucha experiencia en el extranjero y perfecciona para hablar español. Hice todo lo posible por encontrar un trabajo desafiante e incluso estuve dispuesto a evitar una gran cantidad de salario y otros beneficios que un empleado buscaría en Europa. Pero no tuve la suerte de encontrar lo que estaba buscando y perdí bastante tiempo, dinero y potencial durante la búsqueda de trabajo en Perú.
Especialmente para un extranjero como yo, era muy difícil encontrar un trabajo. Muchos peruanos me dijeron exactamente lo mismo que estaba describiendo en el primer párrafo. No importa cuánto lo intentes o cuán bueno seas, todo funciona con conexiones. Y, por supuesto, un extranjero como yo en realidad no tiene muchas buenas conexiones con una nueva ciudad en la que quiere vivir. Los pocos contactos que tengo, han tratado de ayudarme, pero que no tuvieron éxito con sus esfuerzos. Hay tantas empresas que buscan empleadores internacionales con experiencia laboral y que pueden hablar varios idiomas, pero nadie está dispuesto a ayudar con la visa de trabajo o patrocinarla a un extranjero. ¡Una situación absurda, que nunca podré entender!
Por supuesto, gané aquí y allá un poco de dinero cuando me contrataba como traductor y redactor. Pero esta no es la razón por la que estudié dos veces, ni lo suficiente para llenar un programa semanal o mi estómago hambriento. Y las personas que me conocen me confirmarían que tengo un estómago muy hambriento y puedo comer tanto como trabajo.
Sin embargo, es el momento después de todos estos meses para reconsiderar lo que es mejor para mí. Creo que fue mi madre (?) Quien dijo una vez: “Nunca está mal tener un sueño y orientarte a eso”. Y me gustaría saber qué diría sobre un sueño que no se realizó. Probablemente, ella estará muy feliz de tenerme de vuelta 🙂 Y eso es lo que realmente significa la realidad: si no puedes hacer realidad tu sueño, será mejor que vuelvas a la realidad y tal vez vivas la vida que se suponía que debías hacer antes.
Entonces, regresaré a Alemania. ¿Qué vendrá después de eso? No tengo ni idea, pero buscaré un trabajo en el sur de Europa, preferiblemente en España, por supuesto. Después de tanto tiempo viviendo en una mentalidad diferente, no es posible en ninguna otra parte que no sea en el área mediterránea tener una experiencia de vida comparable a la de América Latina.
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Dudo que regrese a Lima / Perú nuevamente. En 2014 vine a este país para estudiar, en 2018 para vivir. Conozco casi todos los destinos turísticos notables del país y apenas hay algo completamente nuevo para descubrir. Y si no se me concede trabajar en Lima / Perú, no veo una razón real para regresar. Algunas veces, el amor no es recíproco y permanece unilateral.
Entonces volviendo a la realidad, ¿eh? El caballero de la fortuna busca su suerte en otro lugar del mundo. Sería increíble, si alguien tiene un radiestesista o detector de metales para encontrar lo que estoy buscando y estaría dispuesto a prestarme. Alternativamente, estaré más que agradecido por cada ayuda inspiradora o última charla antes de dejar Perú y Sudamérica. Un pequeño adiós-comentario sería bueno también.
Lima! Capital of Peru! What a megacity with more than 10 million people living there! I was blessed to have had twice in my life the opportunity to live in Lima. 2014 as a student during a semester abroad and 2018 as the regular expat traveler. In total, I lived for more than a year in Lima and feel eligible to write a useful guide for expats about life in Lima. Are you a foreigner and are interested to live in Lima as well? There are some things to consider, but plenty of reasons to make the move. In this article, I would like to exemplify 5 reasons to live in Lima.
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Approximate reading time: 18 minutes
(Last update: April 10, 2021)
The official flag of Lima in Peru
“Hoc signum vere regum est”, means loosely translated from Latin to English “This is the sign of the truth of the king”. Lima appeared for me less than a royal city. It showed me more of a very rough and maritime city with passionate and hardworking people. Many hardworking people in a real megacity.
Lima is the biggest city I lived in so far in my life. According to recent statistics in 2021, Lima has in total 10,861,999 people living in the whole Metropolitan area of Lima. The 5th biggest city in South America! A lot of hungry mouths have to be fed in this huge city, don’t you think?
I already dedicatedin a former blog article my gushing praise for the Peruvian kitchen. Every visitor will be more than happy to be able to expect the best kitchen in the world. You should read this article and agree with me. If not, I hope, that the few pictures I will show give an indication about the quality of the Peruvian kitchen.
Lima is the best city for ambitious expats with predilections for foodies. I lived and traveled through various Latin American cities for years and did not enjoy a better cuisine than the Peruvian one. Peruvians are very gastronomic and hospitable people. And in a big city like Lima, you’ll find a lot of people who are proud to introduce their kitchen to you. Be sure to be gustatorily pampered.
2
Living costs are relatively cheap
I remember the conversation with the operators of the short flight I did:
The guy told me, that the same flight experience ‘somewhere else’ would cost up to three times more than in Lima. Inside I laughed because I thought that this was a feeble argument of his selling tactic. But then I realized, that he meant with ‘somewhere else’ other countries. And of course, this guy was right with what he said. Somewhere else life is definitely more expensive than in Lima!
A life in Lima costs – Of course depending here on the level of consumption and the private lifestyle – in average only 504.78$ per month. According to numeo.com Lima is ranked on number 446 of 602 cities worldwide when it come to living costs. In the South American ranking, Lima is on 8 of 30, after many other Latin American capitals. But of course a comparison amongst 27 cities isn’t very expressive and more data would be needed to have clear imagination here.
But this indication should be proof enough to say, that life in Lima isn’t that expensive. A good argument for expats to live in Lima.
And yes, I know that the whole country was awarded for being a green destination, not the city of Lima itself. But in 2018, there are already many parks and green spaces spread over the whole city. They better should get over the awful traffic situation, that I will describe in another article. Why have a beautiful and green park, if you can’t enjoy sitting there because of the awful traffic noises 😉 At least the parks are all maintained very well.
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Another indication is the news from 2015, that Lima wants to invest $110 Million in Green Infrastructure And Climate Adaptation. This sounds reasonable for Lima, which is the world’s second-largest desert city after Cairo. In another very interesting source, I read, that Lima is returning to nature by diverting one percent of water fees to restore Andean forests, grasslands and wetlands that provide critical ‘ecosystem services’ such as regulation of water flows. If I will ever return to Lima, I will be very curious about how green the city will look.
4
Lima has a royal nightlife
Do you remember the flag of Lima? That Lima is the city of kings as I introduced earlier? Good! I would like to enhance, that you can also live the nightlife of a king in Lima. In no other city than Lima, I had so much fun and different activities to do. New York might be the city, that never sleeps. But Life should be awarded then as the city, that always celebrates parties. You can go out every night, there is always something to do.
But it’s supposed to be at least a semi-serious article with the approach of quality insight reports. Whenever there is something to celebrate like concerts, festivals, football, or national holidays, you can be sure that hell will break loose in Lima and everywhere around. One good example to give an indication about the party mood in Lima are the following videos:
What you can see here was what happened on the 29th of May in 2018. It was nothing more than a Tuesday night, maybe 10 pm. The national football team of Peru defeated Scotland with 2:0 in a FRIENDLY MATCH. It wasn’t an official tournament match or anything comparable. But still, reason enough for the people to make party after the match for hours in the city.
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And that was ‘only’ football. What anarchistic parties will happen during the Peruvian national day? I can only imagine…
5
There are beaches everywhere in Lima
Lima is a coastal city. If Coastal cities don’t have cliffs, they usually have beaches. Lima has maaaaany beaches as well. Lima’s beaches, located along the northern and southern ends of the city, are heavily visited during the summer. No wonder in a city of almost 11,000,000 people. Eventually, you have to share your space on a summer Sunday with someone from the city.
In Lima city and near to the metropolitan city, you will find numerous resorts and beaches on the banks of the Pacific Ocean. Although a perfect holiday doesn’t symbolize for me the beach itself, it can’t harm to visit each month for a day or two the local beaches and swallow some sunshine. And you should cherish the good weather in Lima during the summer months of November till April because starting from mid of May until October the climate will change the whole city to a grey and gloomy area.
The Peruvian coastline is equipped with challenging Pacific waves all year long. On the coast of Lima, great surf beaches are Punta Rocas, the site of one World Qualifying Series surfing tournament, and the beach of Pico Alto, whose waves are compared to those in Hawaii. The coast area is characterized to be rather desertic, some of them with sand, and others with stones.
…which should give you a great impression about a lovely and funny day at the beaches in Lima. You should not expect the best beaches of the whole country in Lima. To see them, you need to travel to the northern or southern coasts of Peru. But living in a city with direct access to a beach is always a big plus. As an expat, you should consider that. I am not the biggest beach person, but don’t reject a nice day at the beach with friends either.
Enjoying beaches in Lima generally difficult in this city with its grey season. Almost half a year, you’ll miss sunshine in the capital city of Peru. You don’t believe me? Please read my following article and find out more about the 5 reasons to NOT live in Lima. This will be the consequent article that shows you as an expat the reverse of the medal.
I hope, that I could give you support for your decision to live in Lima. By giving several arguments from the insider’s perspective, you should now have a better imagination about the fifth biggest city of Latin America.
I’d be very happy if you decide to leave a comment below or become a subscriber to my blog. Many other interesting articles are already in preparation. Never miss an update and follow me on social media!
Thanks for reading my article!
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Lima is the capital of Peru and a popular destination for many tourists and travelers. However, there are as well many expats living in the Peruvian megacity. There are plenty of good reasons to come to that city. But some expats might have doubts when it comes to moving to a city like Lima. Could it be, that you somehow are simply not made for a tumultuous, chaotic, and culturally dull city with a very grey climate? Read in this article more about 5 reasons to better NOT live in Lima.
Approximate reading time: 15 minutes
(Last update: May 15, 2021)
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Welcome back! You successfully clicked your way through and came here from the previous article. Or you accessed it by any other means. In any event, you are an expat and curious why it might be a better idea to avoid living in Lima. There are always tons of encouraging articles you want to tell you what you should do, where to move, what to visit, etc. But only a few articles confront the reverse of the medal and show some contra arguments. That’s why you are here – You would like to find out more about possible downsides, disadvantages and reasons to not live in the 5th biggest city of Latin America.
Here you can see a colorful painting of a flat in Lima.
And here I am. I would like to give interested expats some more insights about Lima. Sharing with you first-hand insights from my perspective might help you. Not everything is shiny and perfect in the capital city of Lima. Please continue reading this article and find out more about 5 reasons why to NOT live in Lima.
Please let me know in the comment section if you liked the article and what you think about it. You can also send me an eMail to contact@traphil.com and ask your questions in a bit more private manner. I’ll respond to it as quickly as I can.
1
The labour situation is awful
It doesn’t matter, how hard you try. It doesn’t matter, how well you are qualified. And it doesn’t matter, how much work experience you already have. In Lima, employees have a very hard time finding a job. Although the country has had for many years increasing prosperity and economic recovery, the job situation isn’t good in Peru, even worse in Lima.
The situation in Lima looks terrible to be honest. Finding available jobs for highly qualified foreigners in Peru’s capital continues to be a tricky matter, as 14.5 percent of people in Lima are currently without official employment per the latest figures from February 2021.Covid and its consequences are affecting you as a foreigner as well. Something to consider BEFORE moving to a city like Lima.
Malecon de Lima en 2014
Especially for a foreigner like me, it was very difficult to find a job. Many Peruvians told me the same as what I was describing before in the first paragraph. No matter how hard you try or how good you are, everything works with connections. And of course, a foreigner like you doesn’t have a lot of good connections to a new city he wants to live in. The few who I have tried to help me, but didn’t succeed with their efforts. There are soooooo many companies who are looking for international employees with work experience and who can speak multiple languages, but no one is willing to help with the working visa or sponsor it.
An absurd situation, that I will never be able to understand!
2
The traffic situation in Lima is terrible
Wherever you want to go in Lima, which neighborhood or part of the city, be advised that it will take ages to arrive and you should start to go on midday when you are expected for dinner. Yes, Lima is a very big city with a lot of habitants as described in the introduction. But the traffic situation is one of the poorest of the world. Lima grows year by year of population and everyone wants to have a car. Streets are because of that more than congested and during the busy times such as morning and evening rush hours, it is terrible to be in need of going to another point of the city.
Seems like a waste of resources.
Did you know Lima has 15 times more taxis than NYC? I know, that it sounds weird, but during my six months in Lima, I didn’t witness any single accident. This is not because of the good and talented driving style of the drivers. All streets are so congested, that there is almost no movement and with a lower speed, cars make fewer accidents. Sounds crazy, because I saw many damaged and scratched cars during my time in Lima, but still didn’t see an accident with my own eyes.
What you can see on the following video is Ovalo Higuereta, one of the main traffic junctions of Lima. I recorded this video from the low angle shot at 5pm – Hence BEFORE the rush hour in the evening after work.
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Now you should imagine, that during the real traffic chaos between 6 pm – 8 pm the situation is even worse. Can you imagine that? There is already a traffic rotary with five lanes, but still, it is completely congested. You can see busses as well in the video. They were sometimes so overfilled with passengers, that the rear axle of the vehicle was abrading the street and damaging it.
Generally, people from Lima don’t obey the traffic laws, that’s why you hear almost everywhere in the streets load roaring sirens. Whether police, firefighters, or ambulances are driving to an operation or not, they are abusing their sirens in the hope of having an advantage in the traffic situation. Unfortunately, the drivers don’t grant additional space for the emergency vehicles to drive through. Drivers in Lima use their horns for every possible situation in traffic: For Turn signals, to cross a street, to insult other car drivers, etc. Pure chaos!
The following video is from 2014. So everything you see there is 100% from Lima, but you should regard, that the situation is now four years later worse than in 2014:
The only alternative to rapidly go to another neighborhood is the Metro system they have. Although it is a double rail, there are currently only two lines that connect different parts of the city. I only could find one semi-good map of the metro system of Lima:
Only the pink and violet lines are active, all others are under construction or just a project. Here, it is very easy to say, that the government overslept to react on time to the growth of the city. Because of this omission, it will take many years to solve the problems of the past. but then they still are not ready for the future, because the city will continue to grow and new challenges will appear.
A usual situation at the metro of Lima looks like the following:
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All Peruvian craziness in one single video. And this is nothing special, but ‘only’ a scene during a Saturday afternoon.
3
Corruption
A real balanced equilibrated and progressed society shines because of one important factor: equal opportunities for everyone. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case in a lot of examples I encountered in Peru. On one of my first days in January 2018, I have recognized something, that I didn’t see before in my life.
An exhibited corruption of a governmental institution to its civilians. I was ordering an Uber driver to pick me up and drive me home at night. At the red traffic light, he stopped duly. This can be seen already as something special because no one follows the traffic rules in Lima. Regardless, if it is a pedestrian, biker, or car driver. But he stopped the car as wide as a finger beyond the stop bar. One traffic cop who was lurking across the street at the other side saw this and came to the car.
A gas station in the middle of the road!
After a few minutes of discussion and threatening the Uber driver with losing his license for his offense, the police cop ‘offered’ to solve this without an official fine, if the driver would pay him 20 Soles (more or less $6.15). All efforts of the driver to avoid payment because of this ridiculous misdemeanor didn’t help: He had only the option to pay this amount to the corrupt cop or to lose his driver’s license. So he had to swallow the bitter pill and paid the cop more than the recent price for his taxi services to me. I felt very bad for him!
Corruptions exist everywhere in the world. In some countries Peru ranks in the Corruption Perception Index 2016 from Transparency International on rank number 94 of 180 which is pretty bad. Only Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay have in South America a higher corruption than Peru. For a country, that wants to be modern, civilized, and progressive it needs more anti-corruption measures. The Peruvian president needed to resign in March as well because of a corruption-related matter. A very interesting article can be read here.
4
Lima is the least authentic Peruvian city in Peru
Before I came for the first time to Lima in 2014, I didn’t know anything about the country except Machu Picchu and Lamas. Let’s call that the stereotypical and default gringo knowledge. Machu Picchu and Lamas you will find far outside of Lima. Amongst many other things, that are purely Peruvian and you would generally expect a city like Lima to offer you.
One example is a cultural festivity like carnival. I expected from a religious country something like the cultivation of customs and traditions regarding their catholic festivities. And they do, you will find a lot of customs and traditions with authentic suits, dances, and music – Outside of Lima. What I found in Lima during the carnival was the following situation you can see in the video:
Does that have anything to do with the carnival you were expecting from a catholic continent like Latin America? At least I don’t think so, but I lost a good pair of jeans and a shirt in this colorful mayhem.
This is not the only moment when I was missing a distinctive Peruvian spirit in Lima. The same happened during Easter weekend. Or Whitsuntide. Or even the national holiday. Everywhere else the Peruvians in other cities are celebrating these special occasions with their style. In Lima, they do not celebrate it at all.
To see these monuments, you need to travel to other provinces like Callao Monumental for example
I’m not sure, why this is the case. Maybe Lima is regarding its population too hybrid of all Peruvian origins to be distinctive? The same happens when you mix all colors: At the end, you will have a hue of grey. Like Lima La Gris.
And making a perfect transition, grey is the typical color of Lima as it will be introduced to you in my last of the five reasons.
5
Lima la gris
Although it is a coastal city AND located in the desert, the most of the year the weather is really shitty. From May to September, the climate changes for the whole metropolitan area of Lima from good to bad. During the winter months, the whole city will be shrouded in a grey and depressive mood. Dark rainy clouds are coming from the seaside and cover the whole sky. There won’t be any sunlight or a light blue sky for up to five months. ‘Lima la gris’ is nothing more than a nickname for the city that means ‘Lima the grey (one)’.
A silky grey shroud girdles Lima for about 6 months.
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As a Northern European citizen, I am used to facing hard and relentless winters with a lot of cold and snow. Although you might freeze a lot during the European winter months, you never get depressive, because you see at least sunshine or a blue sky for some hours of the day. And falling snow gives you as well some rare opportunities, like building a snowman or a snowball fight or pissing the name of your girlfriend in the white mass.
Fortunately, it doesn’t get really cold, maybe around 10 – 15 °C (50 – 60 °F). Still, a normal day in Lima during the winter months looks like the following:
Not the happiest place to be. Lima is because of its climate a very challenging place for expats to live. If you are very sensitive to hot temperatures or have allergic reactions or chronic respiratory ailments, you should reconsider moving away from the hot/cold/grey/polluted/congested capital city of Peru. Maybe other cities in Peru or Latin America will suit you better.
That’s all, folks! No more Lima for me. I am heading to another destination. Where? Stay updated and subscribe to my newsletter to never miss an update and be always informed about my latest articles!
I hope, that I could give you support for your decision to live in Lima La Gris. By giving several pros and cons from the insider’s perspective, you should now have a better imagination about the Peruvian megacity.
Did you read the first article about the many good arguments for expat life in Lima? In case you didn’t, please click on the article below to gather some additional information about 5 reasons to live in Lima from the expat’s perspective.
I’d be very happy if you decide to leave a comment below or become a subscriber to my blog. Many other interesting articles are already in preparation. Never miss an update and follow me on social media!
Thanks for reading my article!
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¿Qué es realmente especial de destinos turísticos? Para algunas personas es el encanto estar lejos de todo lo que les es familiar en su vida acostumbrada. Otros prefieren simplemente relajarse y desconectarse de todos los problemas y penas en el hogar. Para mí es la curiosidad de contactar y comprender a personas con una mentalidad diferente para entender su forma de vida y adaptarme en fases a su cultura ancestral. Lo que hace que la cultura sea interesante y distinta para los demás son las costumbres, tradiciones, vestidos, bailes y música. Este artículo quiero dedicar al Huajsapata: Un trago endemico de Puno.
Para mí, aparte de eso, siempre es interesante conocer la comida y las bebidas de las personas y lo que tienen que contar al respecto. Y Puno – la ciudad más grande en el Lago Titicaca – tiene un trago caliente que solamente puedes tomar por allá. Durante mi último viaje a las tierras altas del Perú también viajé a Puno. Esta ciudad es famosa por el lago Titicaca y se encuentra a 3810m sobre el nivel del mar. Puede hacer bastante frío aquí durante las noches de los meses de invierno y tuve la alegría de visitarlo en julio, que es al mismo tiempo un de los meses más fríos en promedio según las estadísticas climáticas:
La vida parece ser dura e inhóspita en una ciudad como Puno. Debido a eso, la gente local depende de una bebida durante las horas de la noche para calentarse. Esta bebida es ‘bastante nueva’ y solo se consume desde hace más de 40 años, cuando fue inventada por un barman local de Puno.
Huack…?! Huaç…?! Huatsch…?! HUAJSAPATA!
Todavía necesito reírme un poco sobre este nombre, porque tuve mis problemas al principio para pronunciarlo correctamente. Huack …?! Huaç …?! Huatsch …?!
Huajsapata! Con una J: intenta pronunciarlo como un hhrrr e intenta imitar el sonido animal de un gato montés. Un silbido salvaje. “Sapata” casi se pronuncia solo, eso no es realmente difícil. Huajsapata – Afuera de Puno, los Peruanos no conocen ni la bebida ni el nombre difícil con su pronunciación. Por lo tanto, es una bebida súper endémica y exclusiva de Puno y serás uno de los pocos que probarla.
Y nuevamente, es difícil obtener informaciones adicionales sobre una bebida peruana como Huajsapata. Sin entrada oficial de Wikipedia, sin historia, sin existencia. Como si la gente de Puno guarden un secreto en torno a esta bebida para que brille un poco más misteriosa de lo que ya es su nombre. Así que tengo que profundizar un poco más para encontrar lo que estoy buscando.
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“Cerrito de Huajsapta, testigo de mis amores, tu no mas estas sabiendo la vida que estoy pasando.”
Sí, una melancolía subliminal siempre está parte de un peruano cuando se habla de su hogar. Al menos estos fueron los pensamientos del barman que inventó este cóctel caliente para calentarse durante las noches frías de Puno. La bebida obtuvo su nombre de un cerro que está cerca de Puno. Pero, ¿qué es exactamente parte del Huajsapata que se puede tomar?
Huajsapata Menu
Vino caliente significa aquí vino tinto. Pero créanme por favor, si les digo, que esto en combinación con Pisco (un brandy destilado hecho de uvas) y esencias de frutas es una fórmula que les incluso lo calentarán durante los calurosos días de verano. Pero no hay días calurosos de verano, si recuerdas la estadística que te mostré antes. Por lo tanto, se calienta durante las frías noches de invierno.
¿Esencias de frutas? Eso es bastante vago para Huajsapata, ¿no estás de acuerdo?
Sí, estoy de acuerdo y le pedí al camarero que me explicara cuales esencias de frutas hay exactamente dentro de este cóctel caliente. No se limita a nada específico y puede significar esencias con sabor a granadina, amargo de naranja, especias como canela o clavo de olor, y a veces incluso un poco de cáscara de naranja. Woah, que mezcla tan salvaje!
Huajsapata – La bebida endemica de Puno sirviendo en una copita ceramica
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Como describí anteriormente en un otro artículo en mi blog, es muy común que la cocina andina sirva alimentos y bebidas en una vajilla de cerámica. Esa también es una gran idea para el Huajsapata, porque te quemarías tocando un vaso con los dedos. Huajsapata es una alternativa económica para tomar una bebida. Pagué quizás 8 soles, que no son más de $2.00.
Solo congelar durante una noche fría en Puno es más barato.
Well, maybe the title is been a little too martial and gonzo. But it doesn’t change the tasty and surprising content, that this article about the Peruvian kitchen will show to you. The Peruvian kitchen is world-famous and a culinary delight for even the most critical gourmets. During my time in Peru, I had the joy to discover a lot of brilliant flavors, aromatic spices and tasty sauces in a variety of excellent dishes. Therefore, it’s not an accident, that the Peruvian kitchen is seen as the best kitchen in the world. At least if you ask every Peruvian.
During my time in Peru, I had the joy to discover a lot of excellent Peruvian dishes. You should imagine the Peruvian dish as a language. All are very proud to speak it, but there are a lot of dialects and everyone likes poems. The coastal kitchen with all fish and seafood dishes is way different than the Andean style where it is tradition to prepare native animals or the Amazonian cuisine where many local fruits and sometimes insects are used for the dishes. The mixing of all different cultures and the variety of climates within the country determine the variety of local cuisine. This would be actually worth another blog article. But I would like to focus this time on the best dishes I discovered during my time in Peru.
There are dishes you wouldn’t even imagine of their powerful tastes. I was more than cosseted and blessed with all the brilliant flavors, aromatic spices and tasty sauces in a variety of excellent dishes, that the Peruvian kitchen has to offer. I would like to show all people the 10 best national dishes I tried during my time in Peru.
Who has ever heard about Otuzco? You probably thought, that in the headline is written “Cuzco” or it could be a typo. But it’s not. Even people from Peru got confused and not anybody knows where or what Otuzco is. Read the story about an insiders’ recommendation and a worthy tourism destination.
Quito! Capital of Ecuador! And at the same time the highest capital in the world! But how can that be with ‘only’ 2,850 m in altitude? I was very shocked, when I read this a few months ago, because I was always on the assumption, that Bolivia has the highest capital in the world. Then I was happy because my assumption was semi-correct: La Paz is on 3,640 m of altitude. Then I was shocked again because La Paz is the seat of the Bolivian government, but it’s not the official capital of Bolivia. Sucre is the constitutional capital of Bolivia and retains judicial power. And with only 2,810 m in altitude, it’s not the highest capital of the world. And Quito is very proud of 40 m more, because size matters! Quito is as well the capital of the world, which is located closest to the equator. Apart from that, Quito has several wonderful nicknames:
– Luz de América (Light of America) – Carita de Dios (God’s Face) – Ciudad de los Cielos (City of the heavens)
That’s how it looks here at the food market in Gamarra
What is the police protecting here?
Like always in Lima – Traffic jam
Whatever he is selling to the people, they seem to be captured!
A good snapshot – Everywhere in Gamarra you can see these street vendor and their random products.
So many people are making their way through the district of Gamarra
He was the only bearded man in Gamarra
Gamarra
Gamarra is a part of Lima which is ideal for shopping for clothes and walking across the food and spice markets. But there is a big difference between a market in Europe and these markets. For the better orientation of the prices: 1 PEN is 0,25 €.
I really love these markets and felt very comfortable there. Since now, I’ve visited Gamarra two times but I know, that I will be there more often.
For tumblr I decided to summarize all the influences, all the experiences, all the things I’ve seen in a stylistic way for the people that know me and the people that want to become acquainted with me. I prefer informational self-definition, keeping the users privacy data (hopefully) more private and finding an alternative to the odious network Facebook.
Two days ago I arrived in Peru to stay there for about six month to study for one semester in Lima. After this time I will do a little round trip to South America.
All in all I can’t wait to force this time – But unfortunately the last two days I’ve been kicked out due to jet lag. Today it is raining – And therefore the best way to rub up my blog and prepare my first entry here. I hope for a lot of informative, funny and unique contributions for all interested people.
Last but not least I want to thank all the people that enabled or helped me to realize this trip to South America. I also want to thank those people that never lost the faith in me.
