Staying refreshed in South America

Following on from our earlier post on the drinks to unwind with/get a bit tipsy on in South America, this post looks at the hot and soft drinks that you should try (or avoid!) while travelling across the continent.

1) Coca Tea
Prolific in the high Andes, Peruvians and Bolivians swear by the properties of the coca plant (yes of cocaine fame) to prevent altitude sickness, for pain relief and to suppress hunger. 

Being vegetarian in Bolivia

We’d been told in Peru from travellers coming north that Bolivian food was rather underwhelming and that there was little choice for vegetarians. I’d had quite an easy time in Peru and so was bracing myself for a month or so of nothing but rice and omelettes.

However, while it was true that Bolivia is less foodie than Peru, there were some good veggie options and I only ate about two omelettes in almost two months. (And they were nice omelettes.)

We did have more time to cook for ourselves, so that helped, but even in our homestay, the family didn’t seem to have too much trouble cooking vegetarian.

And there were some great veggie options both at the street stands street and in the restaurants, particularly in Sucre.

So what did we eat and where?

Highlights of Sucre

The main square in Sucre

We spent 3 and a half weeks in Bolivia’s constitutional capital, Sucre. Independence was officially declared in the town and while most of the administrative functions of Bolivia have moved to La Paz (with the exception of the Supreme Court), Sucre is still officially the capital, according to the constitution. It is considerably smaller than La Paz though and you can get to know it, or at least the central area in a matter of just a few days.

Lima - Part 2

On our second day in Lima, we headed to the Centro Historico to take in the sights of the old town. We started in the main square, with its very impressive Cathedral and Government buildings. In the square and surrounding streets there are also a range of other imposing buildings from the Spanish colonial era, many sporting a typical Lima-style balconies.

In recent years, the mayor of Lima has established an ‘adopt a balcony’ scheme, encouraging businesses and individuals to invest in saving these balconies. This has helped restore over 100 of these historic balconies.