Variety at Mistura 2012 Peruvian Food Expo

8 September 2012

Julie and I went with friends to...

the national food expo.

This "portable" bakery...

was in in full swing

Potatoes originated in Peru...

some 7,000 to 10,000 years ago (sorry Idaho)

There are over 3500 types of potatoes in Peru.

They are not as pretty as Idahoan potatoes...

but a lot...

more...

interesting.

Yes ... these are potatoes

NO ... these are NOT potatoes.

Out in the jungle these grubs are roasted for eating.  We were told that if eaten raw they did not taste very good.  Imagine that!

Jungle carrots, NOT potatoes.. 

Not food ...

but very interesting flowers.

Chocolate comes from beans grown inside cocoa pods.  The cocoa beans are fermented for a week or so, roasted, ground and then mixed with other ingredients, refined, smoothed, tempered and molded.

  Then the chocolatiers get creative. 

This restaurant roasted about 30 pigs a day over Eucalyptus logs for about 4 hours.

We counted about 150 people in line waiting for a taste.   

Making stuffed rocoto peppers on a large scale.

Beef heart is a national delicacy.

The flavor isn't too bad and the texture is similar, but not as bad as liver. 

A small sampling of many types of corn in Peru.

Exotic fruits

Aguaje

Tomatoes that grow on trees, not bushes.

Nuts that tasted similar to almonds.

The cotton in Peru grows in several natural colors and is the softest in the world.

This band was dressed to look like pottery

typical of Ayacucho, Peru.

Traditional dress from Huancavelica

and

other

Regions

 

 



 

In Utah for the Weekend

Labor Day Weekend, Aug 30-Sept 4

 

After almost 2 months of being apart, I finally got to go to Utah to be with Julie and meet my new grandson, Spencer. 

It was great to be with family.

Natalie taught us to play "Ninja", a game from Girl's Camp.

Grandpa got to read stories to Dax.

Luke and I put casing and baseboard around in the basement.  Dax shared his "shop" with us but did not like the noise of the big saw.

On Sunday Tyler blessed little Spencer at Church.

Plenty of time to kick back and bond.

There's always time for games.

This kid is TOO happy!

Spencer meets cousin Ainsley.

Dax in between jumps.

Dax and Grandma at Bear Lake.

 

Luke, Tyler, Natalie, Lindsey, Spencer and Claudia (Luke's Mom)

Paddle Boarding on Bear Lake
(yes, I did stand up but Julie was the instant pro)

Julie at the Brigham City Temple open house.

 

In and Around Machu Picchu

22 June 2012

We hiked the better part of 4 days to get to Machu Picchu...

 but hundreds of people ride the bus up the switchbacks every day.

From below you can not see any of this...

just like you can't see the ruins at the top of Mt. Huayna Picchu in the background, some 1,100 feet above Machu Picchu.

but when you are inside looking up you only see rock...

and when you look down it's all grass.

The peaks of the buildings ...

replicate the surrounding mountain peaks.

In the middle of everything straight...

is one rounded structure

is what they now call the Temple of the Sun Temple, or Torreon, meaning "tower".  The winter soltice sunrise casts a beam of light directly through the window on the right and the summer sltice casts a beam directly through the window on the left.

They say that where the two beams intersect once stood a gold statue of the INTI, or sun god.  The story goes that the statue was taken to the city of Cajamarca in northern Peru to pay ransom for the life of Atahualpa, the Inka chief, who was being held captive by the Spanish conquistador Pizarro.  After the Inkas filled a room once with gold and twice with silver the Spanish killed him anyway.

Underneath the Torreon was some kind of ceremonial room with shelves, steps and alters cut into the rock.

The perfect cut and fit of the stones is mind boggling...

especially for a culture with only bronze tools and rock hammers.

Hiram Bingham, who brought Machu Picchu to the public eye, called this the "most beautiful wall".  True, the stone work was the best in the entire site.

The Temple of Three Windows

The stones in front are part of some unfinished construction.

From the spot in the upper right (man pointing) of the Intiwatana Pyramid the acoustics are perfect and your voice can be heard over the entire city.  A great place for the Inka (chief) to make public speeches.

The trapizoid was the shape of choice throughout the Inka kingdom.