A deck of cards breaks the boredom on our guardian gun boat in the Amazon. Photo: Steven Richter
8.05.09 Flights confirmed today on LAN, airline we took 2 Sao Paolo in June. Classic old fashioned service & slide down beds long enuf even 4 Steven
8.05.09 They can't scare me and my guy off our fancy Amazon River Cruise this weekend in Iquitos Peru-bandits, panthers, tarantulas, mosquitoes, mud
8.06.09 Into countdown now for Peru. If I get kidnapped, hope they'll send Bill Clinton to rescue me. Gore okay for 2nd choice
8.07.09 Off to Peru tonight. Amazon cruise on again even after bandits robbed passengers twice...police cudnt see them in fog. Are we nuts to go?
8.07.09 Packing for Peru. Steven is trying to decide what camera he can afford to lose to bandits. Cruise people say navy will protect us. No jewelry
8.07.09 If I am kidnapped by bandits and Bill Clinton is not free to negotiate, I hope we can afford to hire Bill Brattan
8.07.09 Travel agent says no one was bound or gagged in the robbery. I have been bound but never gagged. Wish I were younger.
8.08.09 Landed in Lima 6 a.m. Slept like a baby on Lan's great stretch all the way out bed with big white quilt. Slept thru snack. That's serious
8.08.09 Country Club Hotel loan us suite 2 shower & strip bags of valuables for Amazon cruise. Steven deciding what camera 2 risk losing 2 bandits
8.08.09 Buffet breakfast $18: soft omelet, perfect bacon, wonderful tamale, midnight strong coffee, no All Bran. Got to take malaria pill with food
8.08.09 From Peru: Still worried about tarantula-chasing whistle will attract panthers in the rainforest on our excursions from the Aqua cruise
8.11.09 Just back from Amazon cruise on the Aqua. No tarantulas, no bandits, no panthers, just remarkable food, great guides, astonishing sights
8.11.09 Steven caught a piranha then threw him back. mimosas at sunset on the amazon with banana chips. guides have their own rock band
8.12.09 W/ armed navy trailing, we took skiff every from good ship Aqua to see birds, huge family of squirrel monkeys moving swinging in trees
8.12.09 Lima Peru: Flying 2 Cuzco this morng then driving 2 Sacred Valley, to visit villages while acclimating 2 hi altitude, then train 2 Machu Pichu
8.12.09 Thrill of the morning, better than breakfast, a special summary of the Times at the front desk of Country Club Hotel
In the Cuzco Market: bread that celebrates the new baby or its baptism. Photo: Steven Richter.
8.12.09 The Inkaterra Hotel guide took us 2 a fabulous market in Cuzco. Tropical fruits, breads, Brugel scene, lovers sipping tropica juice, sighing
8.12.09 Father eating sheep's head soup, three spoonfuls for himself, one for his toddler on sitting on his lap, eating, making faces. Eating Peru
Rain predicted but we got sun instead at Machu Picchu. Photo: Steven Richter.
8.13.09 Just back f/Machu Picchu, climbed more than expected w/my creaky knees. Steep angled mountains covered with mossy green
Interlocking stones leaning inward are the building code at Machu Pichu. Photo: Steven Richter.
8.13.09 Steven a mountain goat as always, shooting. Surprised by exceptional lunch at Sanctuary-local products, contempo technik, dazzling look
Behind these donkeys threshing grain we can see snow-topped Andes. Photo: Steven Richter.
8.14.09 Peru: Lovely yng stewardess & porter do alpaca fashion show on train f/ Machu Picchu, changing Ponchos in bathroom. 2nd woman with braces
8.14.09 Visited ancient flats and huge pre-Incan terraced farming site in noonday sun. Retreated to car, reading last week's New York mag
8.14.09 Here in Peru, I see we've missed kill Thomas Pynchon week. No allowances for productivity in his 70's? Scary
8.14.09 Lunch at Lima overlooking main plaza in Cuzco. Peru has 2000 varieties of potato says guide, amuse is fried potatoes w/3 dipping sauces
8.14.09 Friends want 2 know what I'm doing in Peru. Drinking coco tea for Cuzco 9000 altitude. Cant tell if I'm foggy from altitude or from being me
8.14.09 I just took the guinea pig plunge. Deep fried, crisp enough to break a tooth. Not like your pet guinea pig-big & plump. Pleasant but too dry
8.15.09 Cuzco Peru, All Bran & yogurt breakfast @ Inkaterra al Casona just like home only gorgeous. Then mysterious Inca ruins and Temple of the Sun
8.15.09 Cuzco. Had to try guinea pig again. Was tender & moist at Illariy in Hotel Monasterio. Grilled alpaca rare..delicious too.
8.15.09 We were all by ourselves for tea at our Cuzco hotel. Banana cake, nut cookies and coca tea. Staff fuss spoiling us, even peeling apples
Villagers celebrate the special Day of the Madonna in Cuzco Valley. Photo: Steven Richter
8.15.09 Celebrations of the Madonna have tied up traffic in Cuzco today. Each church has a procession. Fireworks sound like gunshots
Townspeople of Oropesa in Cuzco valley dance in parade as devils and angels. Photo: Steven Richter.
8.16.09 Cuzco: In Cathedral, Peruvian version of "The Last Supper" where Jesus and disciples are eating pomegranate, papaya and guinea pig
8.16.09 @ergagit Guinea pig is a real delicacy to the Peruvians I've done my share by discovering it doesn't have to be fried to a crisp
8.16.09 Had spicy hot pepper stuffed with meat & vegetables & great potatoes on terrace @ much-loved Pacha Papa, but pork stew too tough to chew
8.17.09 Back in Lima, supposed to be a great food town. Pisco150 maker Guillermo Ferreyros promised he would show us the best starting tonight
8.17.09 We were both whoozy from Cuzco altitude today so it's good to be breathing again and in our Lima base, Country Club Hotel w/wifi
8.17.09 Discovered a Peruvian drink I love too much--algarrobina: carog, egg yolk, milk and Pisco. Like a Brandy Alexander or Egg Nog. Happy New Year
In the Cuzco valley, Oropesa’s many dozens of bakeries work on Sunday. Photo: Steven Richter.
8.17.09 Yesterday stopped in a small valley town filled w/ bread bakers. Next town: everyone does guinea pig al forno, 3rd cuchifritos capital of Peru
8.17.09 Symbols of la dolce vita at La Casona (Cuzco), colonial antiques, heated floors (marble and wood), CNN, victorian bathrub big enuf 4 Yao Ming
8.17.09 Locals bundle up @ 50 degrees as if it were 20, but it's spring 2 us. Can't stop the maids f/ putting hot water bottles into the bed @ night
8.17.09 From Cuzco just toured the Museum of Precolombian art..Amazing work with shells, copper, silver. Early sculptures, coveted a few bracelets
8.18.09 LIMA, Peru. Highlights of tasting dinner @Gloria las nght. Uni & scallop tartare w/apple-seaweed salad; rarish duck on beer-cilantro scented rice
8.18.09 I'm getting a pisco sour habit. Restaurant Gloria's bartender famous for his pisco sour asks sweet or tart? Tart, of course, tipsy in 4 sips
8.18.09 Lima food writer AnnaMaria Cornejo took me to impossible-to-go without-recommendation Chez Wong for classic flounder seviche & octopus too
8.18.09 Send out for dinner so you can watch Bravo Top Chef Masters $100,000 finale tomorrow night at 10. I am so sad to miss it here in Peru
8.19.09 Lima, Peru. Larco museum has treasures from 5000 year history of Peru, acres of exposed objects in storage and infamous erotica collection
8.19.09 Chef Pedro Miguel's top-rated Malabar. World class ways, crusty, juicy suckling pig on eggplant-plaintain puree
8.19.09 They sed Lima was a major food town--so far just dipped into the feast. Wish we had time for more meals. I can't eat 4 times a day anymore
Bananas are piled ten feet high at Lima’s wholesale fruit market. Photo:Steven Richter
8.20.09 Lima's sprawling fish mkt 6 am w/chef Pedro Miguel, then wholesale fruit mkt, bananas piled 15 ft high, 25 varieties, strawberries $1/2 kilos
8.20.09 Newest hottie in Lima, avant garde Central by gungho chef Virgilio Martinez, pretentious plating, coca bread, wasabi gelatin, exhausting
8.20.09 Met Lima's enterprising Zagat, Maria Rose Arrate, cheerleader for food and torrid aura of Central in Miraflores. Does annual Peru guide
8.20.09 Had mostly wonderful lunch at Astrid and Gascon, Lima stalwarts, sea urchin and baby goat again, both wonderful, fine dessert tasting
8.20.09 When Barry Wine sed Guillermo Ferreyros, maker of Pisco 100, wud show me gourmand path in Lima, I cudnt have guessed his savvy & dedication
8.20.09 One more guinea pig adventure today in Lima. Crispy skinned with jicama ribbons and hoisin sauce in purple corn crepes Beijing duck style
8.20.09 We're packing to catch LAN's midnight flight to JFK. I plan to read an old New Yorker till ambien kicks in & sleep in full stretch out bed
8.21.09 A shock to land in this New York heat after the precious cool of Lima. Thrilled to see Bruni's 4 stars for 11 Madison Park. Nice farewell
8.21.09 @ergagit I don't need ever to eat guinea pig again. Baked whole head on teeth showing, they look like giant rats coming out of oven
8.22.09 What did I miss most in Peru? Tuna fish salad, summer corn & TCMasters finale. Put all 3 together last night, found the finale very moving
8.22.09 Peru is proud of its corn, I especially liked purple corn pudding & corn purees but there is nothing like the delicate sweetness of corn
8.24.09 Defying Amazon bandits, snakes & tarantulas on the good ship Aqua in Peru. Eating rainforest cuisine. Read my BITE