El Boleto Turistico - An Exercise in Incentives

Days 1 & 2

My flight to Cusco was scheduled to arrive around 5 pm on August 10, leaving me plenty of time to stave off altitude sickness, do some exploring around the famously beautiful Plaza de Armas, and get settled into my hostel. Unfortunately, as has now happened with 100% of my (two) flights out of that airport, it was delayed, so I arrived as the sun was setting. After a very pleasant cab ride with yet another Peruvian man 1) commenting on my ability to hold a moderately interesting conversation in Spanish, 2) asking me if I'm single, 3) trying to add me on Facebook, 4) and telling me that where I'm going is "safe during the day, but a bit dangerous at night, so you should always call a cab, here's my phone number and look, there's my house, it's very close to where you're staying," I felt uncomfortable enough that I chose not to venture out of the hostel after I arrived. It helps that El Tuco has excellent WiFi and comfortable beds! I spent a great night watching the beginning of Wet Hot American Summer: The First Day, which is hilarious and includes at least 80% of Hollywood's funniest actors.

As I was enjoying breakfast (bread with butter and jam, as well as a great selection of teas) and planning my day in the city, I made a hostel friend! Holger, a doctor from Germany who is traveling all over the world for five months, asked if I wanted to join him and David, a British citizen living in DC who is traveling for a few months before he and his wife move to the midwest, on their trip to the Pisac ruins. So, off we went to find the collective taxis. These are actually really nice vans which take advantage of the large volume of people heading from one side of a certain mountain to the other. They're very safe the ride each way cost 4 soles per person - a regular cab would have been over five times as much! When we arrived in the town of Pisac, we hired a taxi to take us up the mountain to the ruins for 10 soles each (we probably could have haggled this price down, for any future travelers). When we got to the ruins' entrance, we ran into a small snag: to enter the ruins, you have to purchase a Boleto Turistico, which serves as a pass to multiple sights throughout the Cusco area. These aren't cheap in a country where most entrance fees are less than $4 - the full ticket costs 140 soles, or about $45. Students can get half-priced tickets, so I was happy to have my J-Card with me! This ticket allows entry to nine archaeological sites throughout the Sacred Valley and seven museums in Cusco, and is valid for ten days. There is also a partial ticket for 70 soles ($23), which includes entrance to four of the archaeological sites and is only valid for one day. You cannot purchase entry to any one of these sites; the Boleto Turistico is required. Now, if you have time to visit all of those places, this is a great deal, and each site on the full-price ticket costs less than $3 for entry. As an almost-economist, I immediately had questions about this:

• When was this policy put into place, and has tourism changed since then?
• What are the most and least popular sites? What were the most and least popular sites before the ticket was put into place?
• What is the market value of entry into each of the parks? 
• How much money would the Government of Peru make if each park charged an entrance fee based on its demand for tourism?
• Does having free entrance into this many sites cause tourists who didn't know about this system to visit more sites? In other words, does it lower the marginal cost of going to any sites just enough that they get more traffic?
• What possible externalities, positive or negative, have arisen from this policy?
• How is revenue allocated among each site?
• How much does upkeep cost for each site?
• Do tourists prefer to have lots of options, or few? For example, I didn't know much about most of the sites on the ticket, and am feeling overwhelmed by the new information. Behavioral economists have done a lot of research on the paradox of choice - when presented with too many or too complex options, people often choose not to choose. Does this provide any insight into the Boleto Turistico system?

I'm going to send these questions to the guys at Freakonomics. Readers, if you have comments on these ideas, additional questions, or ideas about where to get funding to travel to Peru and write a paper on these topics, please let me know.

Enough about that, please enjoy some pictures from Pisac! The place is definitely worth a visit. The ruins used to be a large Inca fortress used to watch and protect against the incoming Spanish invaders. At first glance, it looks just like a small collection of old buildings. As you walk around, however, you continue to find paths to new outposts, tunnels, and thousands of stairs. We kept telling ourselves it was good practice for Machu Picchu. 

After hiking back down to Pisac, we took another collective taxi and went our separate ways in Cusco. Inspired by my Boleto Turistico, I went to check out the Museum of Regional History, a great little museum that covers Cusco's history from prehistoric fossils to independence. The museum had some artifacts from pre-Incan civilizations and many from the Incan era. There was lots of art depicting the Spanish invasion and subsequent evangelism, as well as the Peruvian fight for independence. Definitely worth the sunk cost of my Boleto Turistico! After a meeting with Wild Watch Peru and dinner with Holger in the hostel kitchen, it was time to pack my backpack for the Amazon and go to sleep. Stay tuned: next Thursday, I'll be doing my best to visit four sets of ruins and four museums, all before they all close at 6! 

Before I got in trouble for taking pictures inside the museum, I snapped this one of a giant armadillo skeleton (bottom) and the mural on the wall behind it. I'm hoping that these enormous sloths were real!

Cusco's Plaza de Armas (the central plaza), like most in Latin America, has a giant beautiful church. The difference with Cusco, however, is that it actually has two! This one is the second-most-important church. 

And this is the most important church in the city, La Catedral!

Day 3
After returning from the jungle, I had a full day in Cusco to try to get the most value possible out of my Boleto Turistico. I had a detailed plan to take a taxi to Tambomachay, the farthest walkable ruins, and to meander back to Cusco via the other three Incan sites along the way (Puca Pucara, Saqsaywaman, and Qenqo). After the ruins, I planned to visit the four museums left on my ticket (Modern Art, Popular Art, Qoriqancha, and Native Art). Instead, I got overly ambitious and tried to walk to Tambomachay, which should have taken about an hour and a half. On the way, however, I had at least three people tell me it was too dangerous for me to walk there. So, I gave up on Tambomachay and Puca Pucara and headed for Saqsaywaman (pronounced "sexy woman" by most tour guides looking for a laugh and a tip). The ruins, which were partially built by a pre-Incan culture called Killke and later expanded by the Incas, served as a fortress. The Wikipedia page for the complex is really interesting; check it out if you want to learn more!

Llamas roaming around Saqsaywaman

The fortress. Some of these rocks are twice as tall as I am - it's a mystery how the Incas managed to transport them all the way here! 

Qenqo is a short walk from Sacsayhuaman, so I headed there next. It's much smaller, but very cool, with an underground cavern used for Inca ceremonies.

Outside of the Qenqo ruins

The giant Cristo Blanco statue was on the way back to the city, so I stopped there for a quick picture and a look at the view.

                                               

I entered the city through San Blas, Cusco's historic district, and sat in the plaza reading for a little while. Right off the plaza, I found this little restaurant called the Meeting Place Cafe, which advertised waffles and milkshakes. I was a little skeptical (I usually don't like going to places where the signs are all in English), but hungry, and the place was really crowded. It was a great choice - I had the Monkey Business waffles (belgian waffles with chocolate sauce and bananas), which were amazing - and I learned that it's an entirely volunteer-run organization. All of the profits go to selected charities operating in and around Cusco, including an after-school program for children of single mothers. They also have a very friendly cat who came and sat with me for a while! I highly recommend this place to any future Cusco visitors. Another recommendation: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Despite the fact that it's quite depressing, this book is really good! (I'm apparently on a Pulitzer Prize kick right now. Has anyone read The Orphan Master's Son?)

Made a new friend!

After my brunch, I headed to Museo Maximo Laura (on the recommendation of my good friends Paige and Jenna, Cusco experts), just around the corner. It's a gallery featuring Maximo Laura's beautiful tapestries. There was a man weaving a tapestry on a loom right in the middle of the showroom, but I couldn't tell if it was Laura himself or not. Regardless, a very cool and intricate process to watch. Next up were the Museum of Modern Art and Museum of Popular Art, both very interesting. I tried to visit the Qoriqancha Museum (included in the Boleto Turistico) and ended up in the actual temple/church instead, a mistake I'm very glad I made! Originally, Qoriqancha was the principal temple in the Incas' principal city. When the Spanish arrived, they built a convent (Santo Domingo) on top of it, and the original temple was lost until an earthquake in 1950. The convent walls couldn't withstand the shaking, but the original Inca stonework could, so the ruins were uncovered! Now, it's a great museum and a convent (I even saw some nuns walking around), and the student ticket was only 7 soles (about $2, thanks to the continually improving exchange rate).

Qoriqancha/Convento de Santo Domingo. The original Inca stonework is the gray at the bottom, while the Spanish architecture makes up the bricks on the top.

I stopped into the actual Museo del Sitio Qoriqancha after this, where I ran into my Chinese family! They were much friendlier in Cusco than they had been in the jungle, and they were no longer wearing their mosquito net outfits. After discovering that the Museum of Native Art was, in fact, a nightly dance show and not a museum, I headed back to Plaza de Armas in search of the famous 12-angle stone. After grabbing a quick dinner and meeting with Bioandean Expeditions, my trekking company, I headed back to El Tuco to pack and get ready for my Salkantay Trek the next morning (updates to come soon)!

Apparently this is a very big deal.

Voluntary Isolation: My Eight Days in the Jungle with a Chinese Family

Day 0: The people from Wild Watch Peru come to give me a pre-trip briefing at my hostel (El Tuco, highly recommended). Luis Herbert, whom I've been emailing, introduces himself as Herbert. He hands me a printout that is exactly the same as the website and proceeds to read it to me verbatim. He tells me that I need to pay another $80 to visit the macaw clay lick, which is "always a highlight of the trip." I fall for it and shell out more cash, saying a silent prayer that this will be worth it. Herbert emphasizes the fact that I need to pack light, since it's difficult when everyone on the tour brings a giant heavy suitcase. I reassure him that I will only bring a small backpack. He tells me that I'll be on the tour with a Chinese family who lives in Canada, two parents and a daughter who is 20. I look forward to meeting my new friend. Herbert leaves after introducing me to Esau, the guide who will be going with us. Esau goes through the itinerary (again, on the website) and tells me they'll pick me up at 5 am tomorrow. I promise I'll be ready. I proceed to set my alarm incorrectly and pack my small backpack.

Day 1: Coco, the hostel owner, wakes me up at 5:04, saying that the van is waiting. It turns out my alarm was set to go off every Monday at 4:30 am. Today is Wednesday, so it did not wake me up. I scramble to gather my things and thrust my giant, heavy suitcase at Coco to put in storage until I return. I worry that he will break his back trying to drag it upstairs, but am being rushed out the door by the tour people. The van goes to pick up the rest of the group. We wait for everyone for twenty minutes. Along with my new Chinese family, there are two boys from Canada who are about my brother's age and a couple from Canada who are about 26. These guys are doing a four-day trip. We do introductions, and everyone immediately forgets everyone else's name. I am the only person who is not from Canada. Nobody speaks until we stop after about three hours of driving for coffee, where we all discuss our various travels. We hop back in the van for another four hours, stopping to eat lunch on the way as we proceed down a winding road, descending through the cloud forest to the banks of the river. We stop to look at an owl and some monkeys when we pass them. Everyone is chatty, and we all (except my Chinese family) repeat our names. Eventually, we get to the lodge where we'll be staying, and take a short walk before dinner. It's a very nice start to the trip. After dinner is done, we all start to head to our rooms for bed. It turns out that Esau has to sleep in the extra bed in my room, because apparently there isn't enough space for him to stay anywhere else. This is mildly uncomfortable, although it is a great way to practice my Spanish! We discuss zodiac signs (he believe in them, I don't) and life ambitions, and I eventually pretend to be asleep so that we can stop chatting and I can actually go to sleep.

First view of the cloud forest - we'll be descending all the way to the bottom of these mountains by tomorrow!

Some ruins we stop by on the way to Guadalupe Lodge

Day 2: Esau and I wake up early to walk around and see a few birds around the lodge. We join everyone for breakfast before heading back out to the road. After about an hour drive, we arrive at the port city of Atalaya, where we pick up our rubber boots and watch a beautiful cocker spaniel puppy walk around. This marks our departure from the four-day group, so we bid them farewell as we get on our own boat. I will miss them; my new family mostly speaks to each other in Mandarin, so it's a bit hard for me to participate in their conversations. We are on the river for seven hours, during which we see a few monkey troupes and approximately one billion birds. Peru has 4,000 species of birds. We see three: snowy egret, great egret, and white necked heron. My Chinese family is very excited every time we see a bird, even though they all look the same after a while. Every time anyone looks at any bird, Esau tells us what type it is. This is not necessary after about three hours of seeing the same three types of bird, but the consistency is soothing. We get to our next lodge, where I am sharing a room with Danielle, the daughter in my Chinese family. She spends almost all of her time in her parents' room, speaking Mandarin. It's okay, though, since I'm reading a great book - Turn Right at Machu Picchu - recommended to me by a Boston University professor who visited the Embassy this summer. It follows a travel writer who traces the steps of Hiram Bingham III, the Yale scholar widely credited with discovering Machu Picchu, and it's very fun! Before dinner, we go on a night hike, where we see a tree porcupine, nocturnal monkey, small opossum, some frogs, and a tarantula. I learn that my flashlight, which I thought was very powerful, is actually almost useless. It gives off a soft yellow light that barely illuminates anything. Luckily, Esau has two great flashlights, and my Chinese family has one good one. Back at the lodge, we meet the Others, another tour group made up of Danish people who are very friendly. After dinner, it's time for bed (there really isn't much to do in the jungle past 8:30). I find out that Danielle is very cautious about mosquito bites - she dismantles her bedding to ensure it is bug-free before crawling under the mosquito net, and spends all night waking up every two hours to do this all over again. It's quite disruptive.

A nocturnal, tree-climbing porcupine

Esau goes fishing for a tarantula, hiding in a hole right in the middle of our rainforest path

The first of many tree frogs we will see

And the second 

Day 3: We wake up very early to get on the boat and head to the Reserve Zone of Manu National Park, where tourism is restricted and the jungle is almost untouched by people. We aren't even allowed to wear bright colors in here, since it might disrupt the animals' natural patterns of life! The Reserve Zone is also home to "Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation," native tribes who do not interact with the rest of the world. They can apparently be quite dangerous, since they might feel threatened by tourists trying to catch a glimpse of them, so we have to be very careful. Before we can hit the road/river, my Chinese family demonstrates their ability to take ten minutes longer than they should to prepare for everything, making Esau slightly unhappy. He suggests that they try to pack the night before we leave next time. They demand that he wake them up earlier next time. En route to our next lodge, we stop at a small town called Diamantes where Mario's (the boat driver) in-laws live. My Chinese family is intrigued by the idea of people living in the jungle, and wants to see what it's like, even though these towns are pretty normal except for the lack of constant electricity and the billions of mosquitos. I really don't like walking around here; the people are clearly uncomfortable having their lives out on display. Unlike the town we visited in Iquitos, tourism is not a source of revenue for these people, so it's very awkward to walk around and stare at everyone just going about their everyday business. Luckily, there are lots of baby chickens, ducks, and pigs running around, so I occupy myself by watching them. We even see someone's pet saddle-backed tamarin and baby dusky-headed macaw, which are playing with each other! After another few hours on the river, we stop at Boca Manu, another town, to see how the boats we've been using are made. This town hosts lots of tourists, so it's much easier to walk around. There are lots of butterflies on the shore and I mention that I think they are pretty. Esau tells me they are attracted to minerals, which probably means a lot of people pee there. We see a bunch of kids playing with a boa constrictor that wandered into the schoolyard, which is pretty normal here. We also see lots of baby animals and watch part of a soccer game while we're there! We check in with the park rangers at the border of the Reserve Zone (where we see the Others) and soon arrive at our new lodge, where we (and the Others) will be staying for two nights (my Chinese family is very happy that they won't have to pack everything again). Our boat is greeted by a troupe of black spider monkeys, which is quite exciting. We take a short hike before dinner, where we see a few monkeys and some frogs, and climb a viewing tower overlooking a lake where a family of giant river otters lives. These guys can grow to over 6 feet in length! We don't see them today, but will be coming back to the lake tomorrow. Back at the lodge, we have a break before dinner. I want to read. Danielle wants to chat. I pointedly open my Kindle. She pointedly asks me how a Kindle works. I concede, and the conversation turns, as always, to our numerous mosquito bites. At dinner, we all continue with our typical conversation pattern: Donghua and Liyang (my Chinese parents) make tea for Danielle and complain about the water being too hot, all in Mandarin. They encourage her to eat something, but she isn't hungry (also in Mandarin). I jump in when there is silence to try to get everyone engaged in a single conversation that we can all follow, asking Esau a question about something we saw during the day. He answers and is cut off by Liyang, who asks a tangentially related question. While Esau is answering her question, Liyang begins a separate conversation with Donghua in Mandarin. Esau bravely keeps going with his answer, and I take the lead in carrying the conversation again. It's exhausting.

Mornings on the river - the mist makes it look almost like a beach you could find anywhere in the US! 

The beautiful lake that houses the family of giant river otters

From above, turtles (left) swim in the sun and Amazon birds (right) rest on a branch

Day 4: Another early morning! We hop on the boat and head to the trail that leads to the otters' lake, where we walk for about 20 minutes to arrive at the dock. The Peruvian government owns a catamaran that they rent out to your groups to use on the lake, so we hop on this boat and head out in search of otters. Mario and Cristian (his assistant) paddle us around. We see tons of monkeys, including a whole family of howler monkeys sleeping in a tree, and lots of interesting birds! No otters, though. When our time with the boat is up (the Others are waiting for their time slot), we hike around some more. At this point, we have had nothing to eat all day, and it is very very hot. I start to hate the rainforest. My head hurts from hunger and from the 98% DEET in my bug spray, and I have more cobwebs in my hair than if Spider-Man had given me a head massage. We see more monkeys. I barely care. I am nothing but a traveling bottomless brunch for mosquitos. We finally get back to the boat and are given snacks and juice boxes, and all is right with the world again. We arrive at camp and immediately eat breakfast even though we're not very hungry, then head out to hike again. This time is better and lasts until lunch. We even have a new inside joke - Liyang points somewhere and says, "Look!" When we all turn, she says, "I see a leaf!" It's funny because there are leaves everywhere, this being the rainforest and all. We use this joke at least six times during this hike. After lunch, we head out to the lake again, sitting on the dock and peering out with our binoculars to try to see the otters. Success! They're right across the water, fishing and heading into their burrow. Esau breaks my binoculars. This is actually a good thing, since I no longer have to feel guilty about borrowing his (which are much better). We hike for over an hour to get back to the lodge and have dinner. The topic of conversation tonight is Cristian's love life. It has been a day of walking and eating.

Our boat awaits our sunrise departure

Lake Salvador by sunrise

Howler monkeys snooze in the early morning

View from the catamaran

My family's mosquito helmet - interested readers can find this here: http://www.colemancanada.ca/product/deluxe-mosquito-headnet/2000010916?contextCategory=1410#.VdUtCFPF8bl 

If a simple helmet isn't enough for you, feel free to purchase the entire jacket (hood included, gloves not) here: http://www.colemancanada.ca/product/bug-jacket-medium/2000010919?contextCategory=1410#.VdUtDFPF8bk

Day 5: Surprise, we do not sleep in today. It's time to leave the Reserve Zone and head to Blanquillo Lodge, the nicest place we'll stay during this trip. To get there, we boat for eight hours, eating breakfast and lunch on board. We see about four birds during this entire stretch, a very boring ride. However, we enjoy another group inside joke! Christian is very nimble and climbs trees a lot, so Esau called him "monito" (little monkey) one day. After we translated for my Chinese family, they thought this was hilarious. We also taught them the word "bonito," which means beautiful, so we can call Cristian "bonito monito." Now, Liyang calls him Monkey and it is an endless source of entertainment. This is also convenient for everyone because my Chinese family does not know anyone's name, including mine. We arrive at Blanquillo Lodge and are blown away by the hot water and freshly laundered towels. I splurge by taking a shower before our afternoon hike and putting on a clean shirt, even though I know it will get sweaty approximately six seconds into our upcoming trek. The trek is very long (over two hours) and we see one group of bats and two frogs. Donghua is grumpy. Everyone is late for dinner, so I play cards with Mario while we wait for my Chinese family and Esau to get there. After dinner, Mario and I head to the bar (this lodge is seriously like a resort) to play cards with Angel, the guest services manager. Also, I finally have my own room! It's the best night for sure.

Day 6: After a later-than-usual 5 am wake up call, we head to the macaw clay lick about five minutes downriver. This is a long stretch of clay where macaws, parrots, and parakeets come to eat the clay in order to get the minerals it contains. We watch the birds socialize (they squawk a lot) for about three hours. They are all waiting for someone else to be the first to descend from the trees to the clay. Finally, the bravest macaw makes a move, quickly followed by three others. In a minute, the treetops are empty and the whole clay lick is covered with flapping wings of bright red and green. We watch them for over an hour, mesmerized by their interactions and choices - some macaws pick a chunk of clay to eat in a tree, some want to be as close as possible to fellow clay eaters, some just seem like they want to squawk at the other attendees. After lunch at Blanquillo, we head back to Hummingbird Lodge (from Day 2), officially marking the beginning of our return to Cusco. We settle in and embark on our hike. It has come to my attention, amidst the many transitions between lodges, that my Chinese family only has one set of outfits, despite dragging a giant, heavy suitcase everywhere. Sometimes, Danielle and Liyang trade denim jackets, but that's really the only thing that's changed about their outfits this whole time! I'm convinced they're carrying hundreds of bottles of bug spray around the entire jungle, going through 3 a day. This is in addition to the mosquito net clothing they wear every time we are not protected by window screens or the breeze on the boat. The evening at Hummingbird is uneventful; we take an evening walk and eat our last dinner with Mario and  Cristian.

Day 7: We spend all morning and afternoon on the river heading back to Atalaya, the port city where Mario and Cristian live. On the way, we see two capybaras! I've been obsessed with these guys for a long time, since I saw one on a episode of Zoboomafoo with the Kratt Brothers back in my PBS-watching youth. They're the largest rodents in the world! I also have a chance to finish my book, More Than Good Intentions by Dean Karlan (which mentioned lots of papers I've read for classes, making me feel like a real fledgling economist), read a very bad mystery novel that I must have downloaded for free onto my kindle (it's about a football player-turned-lawyer solving a murder case involving the Russian mafia and diamond smugglers, and there is a happy ending due solely to the main witness's willingness to perjure herself), and start All the Light we Cannot See, which has been recommended by many people and is starting off great! Saying goodbye to the boat guys is really hard, especially Mario, who has been incredibly kind to me for the last few days, making sure I never feel lonely. We hit the road and arrive at Guadalupe Lodge, where we stayed the first night. We walk around a creek and cave for a bit, where we see lots of tailless scorpions (unclear how they are scorpions without the stinger, but I'm okay with it) and fruit bats (which are surprisingly cute)! We are joined for dinner by three birdwatching students from Switzerland, and we learn about the (tedious) intricacies of professional birding.

Capybaras hanging out on the river bank!

Day 8: We get to sleep until 6 today, a record for us, and have a relaxing breakfast of pancakes with mango and papaya syrup (chef Luis must be showing off for our last day). I get a little impatient with my Chinese family; after Liyang says that "Peru should be a very rich country" because of its natural resources and because "China changed everything in 10 years, so 100 years should have been enough," I launch into a list of many factors that have contributed to  Peru's history of less-than-ideal development. I don't think it's fair to compare any country to China, especially without having any concept of what the country is like besides an 8-day luxury tour through the rainforest. I have grown very attached to Peru since being here, and felt very defensive after Liyang seemed to imply that Peruvians lacked the knowledge or willpower to make the reforms necessary to grow economically. I also hate the idea that there is one ideal for development, and that every person should eventually live in a town that has exactly the same characteristics as every other one. One of the absolute best things about Peru is that it is so diverse; tourists flock to Cusco and its surrounding ruins, Quecha communities raise giant corn and guinea pigs in the highlands, Amazon tribes seek to avoid contact with the rest of "civilization," and busy office workers sit in traffic for many hours a day in Lima! Of course the government should be doing everything it can to provide all of these people with the opportunities to live the best lives they can, based solely on their abilities and not a fluke of geography or infrastructure, but the implication that a one-room schoolhouse in Paucartambo is necessarily inferior to a large middle school in China really rubs me the wrong way. Anyway, I'm back in Cusco now, and ready to take on the Boleto Turistico tomorrow (more on this in a few days)!

Fruit bats hanging out 

A beautiful waterfall we stumbled across along the road back to Cusco!

Pirhana 3D

Hi friends, it's been a while! I hope the last few days of July are treating everyone well. Here in Peru, we just celebrated independence day (July 28th marked 194 years of independence) with a five-day weekend and pisco on a plane!

Astrid&Gaston
Since the Peruvian government had Monday through Wednesday off, the Embassy did too. Three of the interns (Noelle, who went to Huaraz with me, and Jenna, who goes to SAIS, and myself) decided to use the break to head to Iquitos, way up north in the Amazon jungle. We left Saturday morning on a two-hour flight and came back Tuesday night. But first, I went with two other interns (Enrique and Gabby) and Enrique's friend Tripp who was visiting to Astrid & Gaston, number 14 on the World's Best Restaurants list. We had a 30-course meal with wine pairings, and it was AMAZING. I've never been a to a gourmet restaurant of this caliber, but I think it's something that everyone should try at least once in their lifetime. The food looked like the dishes they make on Top Chef, with intricate presentations and endless surprises. The building, meanwhile, is a beautiful colonial house with many rooms and the coolest bathroom I've ever seen (I didn't take a photo, but it was a giant column in the middle of a room with four individual wedge-shaped stalls inside it). Photos below!

This is a fried bread-type thing, which is used to dip into the egg yolk, seasoning, and chicken mousse in the bowl to the right. We thought it seemed like the type of thing a Top Chef contestant would make in an "upscale comfort food" challenge.

One of many cool chips with delicious food on it, served on a really interesting plate.

This is called cuy! It looks like a macaron, but there's guinea pig meat in there. 

A spoonable pisco sour. Those puffs are egg whites with bitters on them, and the powder is sugar and some sort of flavoring. The waitress then poured the pisco on top, and we drank them with a spoon. One of the best pisco sours I've had!

Razor scallops with a beautiful flower and delicious sauce. Also, these things really are sharp - Enrique cut himself on one!

A crazy dessert that looks exactly like a raw egg! This is a cake covered in passionfruit glaze for the yolk, with a sugar eggshell. 

In conclusion, if you're in Peru and want a delicious tour through local cuisine (our menu was about showcasing the region of Lima), Astrid&Gaston is a great place to go. Bonus: Astrid and Gaston are actually a married couple; Gaston makes dinner and Astrid makes dessert!

Getting to Iquitos
Back to the jungle: Jenna, Noelle and I flew to Iquitos on Saturday morning. After a bit of delay at the airport, we landed in the jungle and were immediately assaulted by the heat and wowed by the jungle foliage! We were met at the airport by Max, who works with the tour company Llaquipallay Expeditions, and drove to the office to pay for our jungle tour the next day. After we discussed what we'd need for the tour the next day, we headed to Hospedaje Florentina to get settled in for the night. It's in a really good location near the main plaza and river boardwalk, has air conditioning, and was very nice! I recommend it to anyone going to Iquitos. Then, we went to wander around and get pizza at Antica, which was the best pizza I've had in Peru so far! One fun thing about Iquitos - there are no real taxis. Instead, people get around on mototaxis, which are half motorcycle/half rickshaw.

Mototaxis all around

Plaza de Armas in Iquitos

Into the Woods
The next morning, we got up early to head to the Amazon lodge with the tour group! Along with the three of us, there were two British guys and two guides, Fabian and James (who are both just great people). It was an hour and half car ride to Nauta, a port city from which we hopped on a boat to head out on the river. We arrived at the lodge, right along the river and luckily heavily protected by mosquito netting, and then headed out to go pirhana fishing! Tony, our local guide who lives in a house along the river and works with Llaquipallay, brought his six-year-old son Danny, who was the first in a series of adorable beings we got to meet along the way. We saw egrets, herons, macaws, and even got to stop and watch a group of monkeys play around along the shoreline for a few minutes!

One of approximately a billion egrets that joined us along the river.

Tony and Danny in the front of the boat, leading us along the river!

I caught this pirhana! Small but with terrifying teeth.

At the end of our (moderately successful) fishing expedition, we got caught in a torrential downpour! Even though it's currently dry season, it still rained quite a bit during our trip. Luckily, it stopped in time for us to go searching for caimans on our way home to the lodge.

Tony spotted this caiman in the pitch black darkness along the river, and then decided to catch it with his bare hands. We brought it back to eat for breakfast after taking a vote within the group, so Tony tied it up in the lodge before we went to bed. It escaped overnight, though, which admittedly made us pretty happy (except for the idea of a loose caiman wandering around the lodge while we were sleeping)!

A tarantula we found in the lodge during dinner. We set it free far away.

After spending the night surrounded by the sounds of jungle animals (and one of the British guys, who has apparently started to make very loud and obnoxious animal noises in his sleep since he arrived in Peru), we woke up with the sunrise to head out on a jungle hike. Tony showed us many different plants, and we got to try some various fruits (none of which were my favorite, but still very cool to try) along the journey.

Tony cuts the bark from this important tree, which has red sap and is apparently used to restore strength after major health shocks (like giving birth). He took some of the bark to give to his wife, who has been feeling weak lately. We saw her later that day, though, and she seemed fine and wonderful, so it looks like the tree works!

Tony weaves some branches to make a cover from the rain - the one on the left is already done, and the one of the right is in progress. 

After the hike, we headed back to the lodge for breakfast, and got ready to go visit Monkey Island (where a bunch of monkeys live, close enough to humans that they're accustomed to us giving them food and thus come play when people visit) and Pablito the sloth's house!

Monkey hanging out on our boat! We all liked this one, but it brought a friend who is apparently quite aggressive and bites people when it doesn't get its way. 

This is James, our guide (a volunteer from Spain), holding Pablito the sloth, who is holding his afternoon snack. Pablito lives in the roof of a house along the river with two other sloths, Juan and Rita, and has grown so accustomed to humans that he hugs everyone and enjoys it! 

My new friend, who lives in Pablito's house and loves selfies!

After the amazing experience with Pablito, whom we almost kidnapped, the boat took us to visit Tony's village, where we saw what it's like to live along the Amazon river with no roads connecting you to any other cities, and where the closest city with stores and hotels and mototaxis is a three hour boat ride away. The main impression was that people are very close to each other, and all support each other. There are also hundreds of chickens and ducks running around the place! Unfortunately, it was then time to go back to Iquitos, so we hopped back on the boat with Max (who came to pick us up) and spent the next five hours traveling. After dinner at Restuarante Fizcarraldo (where I highly recommend the maracuya frozen, one of the top two I've had in Peru), we headed back to our room at Casa Bendayan. The hotel is owned by Marcel, who owns Llaquipallay expeditions (and is really quite strange - he does a LOT of drugs and was drinking and smoking every minute we were near him, as he shared many stories of people who had ripped him off by writing bad Trip Advisor reviews, etc.). Aside from Marcel, though, the place was great!

A Day in Iquitos
Another early morning in the jungle! We headed to Belen Market at 6 am, because everyone told us that all the stuff would be gone if we went later, and that we were least likely to get robbed early in the morning. That's probably becuase there were not that many people there! Everyone we've talked to has said that Belen is the coolest place, but it seemed like a very large market with a lot of dead farm animals and bananas around every corner. We were told that there are monkeys and other cool jungle animals (both for sale as pets and for sale as breakfast), but really didn't find any of them. It was still a good thing to see, though! Also, it was pouring rain the entire time we were there. Torrentially pouring.

Bunches and bunches of the best bananas.

From Belen, we mototaxied to Puerto Bella Vista, where we got on a private speedboat to Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm. The place started as a butterfly farm 20 years ago, founded by an Austrian woman who planned to sell Amazon butterflies to museums and zoos throughout the world, but has morphed into a rehabilitation center for animals that have been rescued from poor situations. They have sloths (two- and three-toed!), a bunch of different monkeys (some of which are free-range and so funny), a jaguar, an ocelet, a baby tapir, macaws, and a ton of butterflies! The place is amazing, and our tour guide from Michigan knew so much about the animals and the proper way to treat them: basically, leave them in the jungle.

Butterflies growing and hatching before our eyes!

Our final activity in Iquitos was a visit to the manatee rescue center, where we got to see many more rescued Amazon animals, including MANATEES! They were SO CUTE and we got to hang out with them, play with them, and feed them. This place, also, is doing amazing work, and I'm so glad we had the chance to visit both rescue centers.

Hi buddy!

With only seven more days at the Embassy, my time in Lima is coming to a close. I'll try to send some (shorter, sorry this post got so long!) updates before heading to Cusco. Keep in touch, friends!