a fantastically indulgent wednesday

i had a really great day yesterday. it was relaxing and indulgent and filled with new friends, great food, fantastic drinks and shopping.

since my sister and i have been doing a lot of walking and hiking in the last few days, our quads have been a bit sore. so we decided to start the day in the jacuzzi and sauna in our hotel. for two hours, we had private access to them, which were in a room at the top of the hotel with a fantastic view of cusco. she spent most of her time in the jacuzzi, while i scampered back and forth between the jacuzzi and the sauna as my whims dictated.

after the relaxation, we headed out to do some shopping, armed with our gift lists. i ended up finding a few things for people, but indulged in mostly shopping for myself. i bought a beautiful cream alpaca sweater that has a turtleneck so large it can also be used as a hood. i found a cute black and white and green hat and scarf set. and a cool gray hoody with incan patterns by a local designer. and some insanely cool beaded earrings. let me just say that i really need to stop spending money here, sor i won't have any left for buenos aires, and that would be a serious tragedy.

after our day of shopping, we had some down time at the hotel before heading to dinner at a restaurant called cicciolino, which had a menu of tapas and other mediterranean-influenced dishes, along with a fantastic latin american wine list. (now, let me take a minute to digress. i've had some pretty damn good food here in peru. the vegetables and fresh fish in the jungle, choclo con queso, superb steak, alpaca, piranha, cuy, amazing potatoes, even good chinese food. but the meal i had last night blew the rest of them away. seriously.) we started with a salad of smoked trout, manchego cheese, roasted wild tomatoes with a mustard dressing, which was fairly good (though the dressing was more oily than mustardy, which made me a bit sad because i love mustard.)

cicciolino

but my entree. oh, my entree... i ordered a seared tuna dish with a sauce of various chilis that came with mashed potatoes filled with huacatay, which is a lovely local herb. the tuna was perfectly cooked. the sauce was spicy and smoky and complexly flavorful. the mashed potatoes were substantial but not hard or lumpy, very creamy but not too rich. it even came with a garnish of a toffee candy filled with caraway seeds. ridiculous, i know, but fantastic and it complimented the potatoes rather well. i know my descriptions don't do it justice, but, trust me, it deserves to be at the top of list of 'the best dishes i've had in peru'.

so f-ing good!

after that, we had planned to head to a small bar in our neighborhood called siete angelitos, where they have live music every night. we ended up chatting with a couple from the yukon in canada on the way, and they joined us for a drink. we had a great conversation with val and danny, but they were tired, so left around 10:30. we stuck around, because the music was just starting. the band played mostly covers of old punk songs, and my sister had a fantastic time on the dance floor. (and leave i t to her to find the one person in the bar who was also from chicago.) i was content with chatting with my new friends at the bar. i met a spanish guy named jesús, a jewelry designer who has been living and traveling in south america for five years, and he in turn introduced me to all the people who work there, walter, amelia and antonio. there were shots of pisco involved, and even some jameson on my part. it was a nice night to meet new friends, and even see old ones! i ran into my friend brian, whom i met my first week here. he had just come back from sand boarding in ica (which i may need to do when i come back to peru for my last week here.)

danny, val and my sister, jamie

walter and amelia

jamie on the dance floor

baco, the guard dog at siete angelitos

all in all, it was a really great day. and we have another great one planned for today, too! we are going to the post office so i can send home this really cool picture frame i bought the other day. (i'm going to turn it into a mirror.) then we're hiking up to sacsayhuaman to see the ruins. and dinner tonight will be at another highly recommended restaurant called tika bistro, followed by dancing. it's shaping up to be another falling in love with peru kind of day...