2025 Year End Trip: Day 13 - Arequipa

Day 13 - The Reset

This is roughly the halfway point of the trip if we're counting the four working days in Cuenca where I was only a part time tourist while managing being a (75%) full-time worker. We should count those days, as they were great and cool as hell. Anyway, for the halfway point, the main goal was to see as much as there is in Arequipa before we had to head to our flight back to Lima (leading to a flight to Rio, which is the real start of the second half). There isn't a whole load to see in Arequipa, meaning that this task wasn't all that crazy and eminently realistic. At the end of it, I think we checked all of it off our list.

**quick aside, saying there is but one day of tourism to do isn't a knock. Many places have one day of things, plus Arequipa's primary value from a tourist concern is the access to the Colca Canyon, which isn't something you can just brush aside**

After having to take my second to last call of the year at 9:00am, we left to walk down to the old town, which is really nice, essentially flat 15-min walk. I call out the flat part because the city is definitely not flat. I don't know what contortions of the land allow for this area to be so, but bless it. Walking into the main square, we were greeted with more or less as much life and merriment as we saw the night before, if less glitzy. That all these smaller Latin American cities have a main square like this (some, like Oaxaca have multiple) is one of the better lasting leave-behinds from Colonialism.

Our first step on the tourist circuit was the Cathedral that lines the north end of the square - interestingly oriented with the entrance on one corner of the square and the alter roughly on the other end, but the two columns being essentially going north/south within the church (I realize I butchered this explanation... let's move on...). The church is open 7-10am for prayer (and morning mass) but then closes 10-5 other than guided tours every thirty minutes. This all seemed a bit annoying but in the end, the tour was well worth it. The basilica was lovely by itself in its simplicity at times (no fancy frescoes and paintings in the main area) but brilliance at others, from the giant organ, to one of the more ornate, wood carved pulpits. There was also a fascinating little back room or two with old sconces, chalices, crowns, etc., made of real gold, silver and tons of jewels. One wonders both what the true value of those pieces were, and how profligate Catholicims is if this basilica in Arequipa is so loaded.

The final part of the tour was checking out the roof, ringing the bells, and seeing from probably the best vantage point in Arequipa proper the double peaks of Chachani and Misti. I've been to cities with prominent peaks in the backgrund, be it Salt Lake City, Calgary, otehrs, but for some reason I don't know if any have worked as well as Arequipa did.

Anyway, after that fun start we headed over a few blocks for some shopping and walking and pictures, to our lunch spot of ceviche and chaufa at Puente 92, a fairly reputable middle-scale spot in Arequipa that serves super fresh seafood at super affordable (for foreigners) prices. This was maybe our single most rustic joint meal during our trip so far (e.g. not stuff I rodered on uver eats) and it was still quite good. Both dishes weren't as good as their version at Lobo De Mar two days back in Lima, but Arequipa is not Lima. This was still really nice, including some chewy old seafood thing that didn't fit nicely into any traditional seafood slots, but was still quite excellent.

From lunch we walked another ten minutes or so to the Santa Catalina Monastery, which is a weird place - it for sure is a great tourist site, but also one that is easy to underlook in case you have either a map or an ability to get lost there for a few hours. The monastery held cloistered nuns for hundreds of years before being essentially shut down, before being opened as this museum in the 1970s. The first few couryards were painted with bright pastels, tons of beautiful flowers and some standard-fare depressing as hell cloister rooms. That all seemed like an ok site, but one that I had a hard time believe anyone would spend hours. Well, then down one alley off the third some courtyard, you get lost into a sea of cobblestone lanes, more interesting living quarters, more vibrant colors and great gardens. The monastery becomes effectively an old city at some points, with named streets, tunnels and more. They offer guided tours, which we passed up, but to be honest not sure how a guided tour could take the one hour they claimed, when our unguided "let's just roam around, take photos and read every other plaque" took an hour itself. Whatever the answer is, this was a great site.

Nearly as good was our last bit of tourism, at Mundo de Alpaca (Alpaca world). Run by the Michell group, and old pioneer in the Alpaca game, Alpaca world is a deft way to eventually sell you some quite pricey alpaca stuff by disarming you with facts and cuteness. First, you walk down a laneway with a few expositional posters on say the difference between Alpacas, Llamas, Vicunas and Guanacos (super helpful) or the migration of these types of animals, starting with their common ancestors (also the common ancestor of camels). Then you reach a courtyard with an area with basically one of each of the types we jst saw there to feed, pet and take pictures of. They were all cute, but especially so two of the eight, one being a truly brilliantly fluffy alpaca (though a bit moody, the only one that didn't come over to get food) and then a baby alpaca or llama that was just the cutest thing. Given admission is free, and feeding teh animals is free, it almost compels you to buy something, to which I did.

That was our last stop, getting back to the AirBNB in time for me to take my final call, us finish packing, saying goodbye to our brilliant view of Chachani and Misti and head to the busier than I expected airport (though I shouldn't be - again, this is the second biggest city in Peru, with a population of 1.2mm). The flight sadly took off after it was too dark to really see the mountains, but also was able to give us incredible views of sunset and the last rays of purple as it descended into darkness. 

The layover in Lima was quicker than a four hour would make you think, what with LATAMs one-hour early boarding process and having to do immigration. There are surprisingly few restaurants in the large new Lima airport, but the food was actually quite decent at one called copper, which served a fairly good pork belly sanguche (for an airport), but anyway, that and one last craft beer from Lima (not sure which one) got me full and tipsy enough to get as good a sleep on the redeye as possible. Brazil, and the second half of this trip awaits, but what I expected to be a fairly low key day in Arequipa ended up exceeding expectations and closing out the first half quite well.

2025 Day Trip: Day 12 - Colca Canyon

Day 12 - The Fright of the Condors

The Colca Canyon is the primary reason to visit Arequipa from a tourist perspective. Much like Cusco (the 3rd biggest city in Peru) is the entry point to Macchu Pichu, Arequipa is the entry point to the Colca Canyon part of the Andes, extending up from the 9,000 ft elevation of Arequipa, to about 20,000 in the canyon. To continue the comparison between Arequipa and Cusco, they are both quite far away from the cities they are meant to be the entry point to. This is why the Colca Canyon is usually advertised as a multi-day trip (two day tour, or 4-5-6-7 day trek). To do it one day is not fully a fool's errand, but does come with one significant catch - the tour starts around 3am.

For a couple days, maybe you think this is a joke and it will be revealed tehre is a typo or something, but no it was "you will get picked up between 3:10 and 3:20am". Indeed, the larger-than-a-sprinter van picked us up on the quiet main road at 3:19, where we were snuggled into the back row (limited window access) as we were the last people to be picked up. Luckily for us, three of the people on the van were starting a multi-day trek and were using the van more as a transport, so by the time we needed window access, they were gone.

Anyway, 3am is rough, but it helps that the tour proper begins three hours away, with a 6:30am breakfast in a little house / hall of a quecha woman and family. The food was basic (intentionally so) of inca-style prepared bread and truthfully really good scrambled eggs. There was also some really interesting warm juice. Overall, it was a nice pit stop as daylight just starts to break, even if there was another hour or so of driving until we really started the tour. That hour, though, had some amazing scenery - this part being the Colca Valley, where we are driving about halfway from the lower plateau of rivers and farmland below, and the peaks above. The mountain-faces were mostly all converted into supremely well manicured terrazas (small farms), it was all just a stunning sight that I had to contort my phone behind the sliver of window available to capture.

Anyway, after that hour drive, we left the Colca Valley for the Colca Canyon, the main difference being the level the road is at, now well above the river / gorge below, with teh terrazas being replaced by clean rock faces and crags. Canyon, for an American, evokes the Grand Canyon, and while the Colca Canyon probably wasn't as awe-inducing as the Grand Canyon, it was certainly close and probably more interestingly laid out (e.g. not just a long cantilevered walkway). The only real hike part of the day then commenced, weirdly about five hours into the tour but still 8am (unrelated: after this I am further convinced those "I get up at 4:30am to crush, bro" types are just insane). The hike was about two km, mostly flat with just stunnign view after stunning view.

The only real disappointment of the tour was taht the Colca Canyon is the home to hundreds of soaring, awesome Andean Condors, birds so ominous and impressive that they retained their place as one of the primary god figures for those ancient peoples. We were told early on by our genial, humorous, supremely billingual (if a bit too much given the pace he switched back and forth from English to Spanish) that this part of the year is when the condors usually leave for slightly cooler areas for mating and what-not, and that there are probably only a handful instead of the normal ~200. This was definitely disappointing to hear, but then allowed for a fairly uplifting communal moment when we did see one of those giant beasts soaring through the air.

Anyway, after the hike, we took the drive back towards the valley (us getting better seats with teh three trekkers now gone), and the views continued to just astound - to be honest, the valley is the more memorable, picturesque part of the tour scenery - even if not as awe-inspiring as the canyon was. The next real stop was the hot springs deep in an offshoot of the valley, a river with a natural spring heated up to 70 degree C, creating little pools of 30/40/45/50 C. That all was fun, and I'm sure for a few of the tourgoers was the real highlight of the trip, but the little accoutrements made it all the better. The first was on the ride there, where we stopped at stand where we could taste sankey, a sour cactus fruit taht visually looks like a kiwi. More than taste it, we could have "Colca Sours" which is a Sour made of sankey-based liquor rather than Pisco, and if anything it was better - though the elevation and tiredness may have been a part of that opinion.

The second added bit of fun was my Dad and I doing a zipline down to the hot springs (while all the other cowards just took the van down). The zip-line was in two parts, one 600m, the other 450m - they were both fast and thrilling, but also far higher from ground than any zipline I had done. Not against admitting the fact I was terrified, but it was still a thrill. The hot spring pools were a nice way to calm the nerves down however.

From there, the tour became a series of pit-stops on the four hour (extended to five because of those) drive back. First we had a stop at the highest lookout in the Colca Canyon National Park, at 4,910m (16,108ft, slightly higher than the lodge on Cotopaxi), which was interesting to be that high but to be honest the views from slightly lower (e.g. the main canyon hike) were better - being too close to the top of the higher peaks makes everything feel a bit smaller I guess. Then was a stop at an alpaca and llama preserve, meaning more pulling over to the side of the road where a farmer let his alpacas and llamas roam free a bit. They were incredible adorable - truly some of the most picture-perfect fluffy alpacas I have yet to lay eyes on. In the middle there was also lunch, which was a more impressive than I expected buffet at a simialr type stop to where we had breakfast, including three different preparations of alpaca, one of them being the Arequipa staple of stuffed pepper. All in all, the Colca Canyon tour was a crash course of an area that probably justifies further exploration than we were able to give it, but nonetheless a great time.

Back at the AirBNB, we were fairly well rested given the amount of sleep you can accrue on this tour, and therefore headed fairly quickly into the old town after watching teh glorious sunset from our AirBNB - with a perfect view of the two main mountains of Chachani and Misti that provide Arequipa cover. Truly, this was a mesmerizing view, going through all teh sunset shades are reflected and enhanced by these peaks.

The old town also was quite nice - maybe not as Christmas-y as Cuenca, but not too far away from my self-titled "Christmas Town, South America". Their main square had two LED christmas trees with some lovely graphics on either corner, and the main cathedral that takes up the north side of the square had one of the best cribs I've seen, both reverent to what the holiday is but adding a whole host of local flourishes in fauna, and flora (the offerings / gifts were real potatoes, tubers, corn, etc.). The whole square had a really nice energy - a town Arequipa's size has far more locals taking this in than tourists and you can tell they are living a good life at this Christmas time of year.

Dinner was at Chicha, a Gaston Acurio restaurant, which means something as Gaston Acurio is still the Godfather of modern Peruvian cuisine, from his namesake restaurant in Lima (still hanging on the Top 50 lists) and the whole host of other restaurants he's brought to life, and of course the chefs he's inspired or built the foundation to succeed off of (i.e. Virgilio Martinez of Central credits Gaston, his former boss, for still making Peruvian food be taken seriously). The food lived up to his reputation, graet presentation without being overly tweezery, and just amazing taste. We split five dishes, probably 0.5 too many, but better try it all.

The highlight was probably little cuy (guinea pig) taco that was a starter / amouse bouche for my dad and I, the guinea pig being the best form of pork belly in crunchiness, fat and taste. Other highlights included a great "Alpaca Frites", with Alpaca cooked in a way that far mroe resembled a high quality steak than the more gamey (if still tasty) preparation last night, and a tiradito - the only one we got in our time in Peru (I'll admit, still don't 100% know the difference between tiradito and ceviche). Even the desert of a lucuma ice cream adn creme brulee encompassed by a chocolate sphere that gets deconstructed at your table was exceptional - even if it was the same dessert I ate at a Gaston Acurio restaurant in Cusco in 2016. To be honest, it might have been Chicha (which exists in Cusco), but if anythign this was a credit to his legacy. Chica was great - there is a tasting menu if you are so inclined but it is just selections from the alacarte. In the end, we were happy with our five dishes, including my favorite which was a duck confit with red curry sauce, but the elements of red curry switched to Peruvian equivalents (their main pepper vs. thai pepper). The sauce was truly incredible, adn the duck cooked just right as well.

I did force my parents to visit the 7Vidas taproom a block away, mostly a combination of us needing to get down to business and plan a bit our time in Rio (which was currently way too lazy for my liking) and wanting to try craft beer in Arequipa. We did go there, and the place was lovely, if a bit empty on a late Monday night. I tried half pouts of a double IPA (really great), a mango IPA (too much fruit flavor - my mistake more than theirs) and a porter (excellent). From my various trails at craft beer in Mexico or South America, it is clear to me that they consistently do stouts incredibly well. 7Vidas was a nice way to end a day that started at 3am, ended at midnight, with a whole lot of amazing in between. This is why we travel.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 10 - Lima

Day 10 - Lobos de Mar

The last time I traveled internationally with my parents was our trip to Victoria Falls and Cape Town in 2023, a wonderful trip where I got the great fortune of seeing them experience Cape Town and all its brilliance for the firs time, me being the proud parent in a way showing of my child, Cape Town (yes, I know that analogy broke down a bit). The rest of the trip (Victoria Falls, Chobe Park) was great as well, but there was a certain pleasure in seeing them fall in love with Cape Town. Despite them having been to Lima, as mentioned it was twenty years ago. This is a changed city, one I'm far more familiar with from my trips, so once again it was a lot of fun seeing them start to love Lima the way I do.

That all said, most of the day was taken up by something neither of us have done, taking a yacht tour of the Palomino Island (and other islands) that lie off the coast of Lima, the main draw being swimming with the Sea Lions. These half-day trips are very well run adn coordinated, starting with a check-in process in the port of Callao (technically it's own city where the airport is housed and the main port of Lima lies). In about twenty minutes we were on the main boat, a nice yacht taht can comfortably seat probably 20 (we were 12 with two crew), off on our leisurely boat ride out towards the islands. The main island, closest to Lima, is visible from every part of Lima's coast (including our hotel bedroom), and is deserted given no vegetation grows on it - currently it is used by the military. But after that we ride around it to its back side, where the other islands in this area lie, and the real fun begins.

The first real island of note is covered in white, covered in guano (bird shit) which the main tour guide didn't dance around. The smell wasn't awful, but notable - but the birds of all types from cormorants to gulls to a few vultures, made up for it. Wave after wave of gulls took off from the island, hugged the water and back, in coordinated routines. On that island sat also a couple Humboldt penguins, the real star bird of the tour. As always, those flightless fluffballs were amazingly cute, though on the first island all we saw was one juvenile by itself (with I hope its parents close by). The next island had a few more penguins, including groups of 4-5, hopping up and down the craggy edges of the island. Soon though, the attention turned to the sea lions.\

Loud, boisterous, smelly, the sea lions were everything and more. There are hundreds if not thousands of them on tow to three islands. A few were swimming far away from their main home island (Palomino Island - the island giving the tour its naem), bobbing their heads up above the water a few times for our pleasure. When you get closer to Palomino you see that the waterline to about 10 feet above is just filled with them and their lound noises. Gneerally more adorable than not, the biggest issue was teh smell. Well, when you get into the wetsuit, jump off the yacht and go into the water, the smell becomes less of a concern.

The real MVP of the tour was a lady back on shore who was selling waterproof phone cases for like five dollars. Yes, there was a huge risk the five or so of us that bought one and went into the water took but by God did those cases work wonderfully - not only keeping the water out (the minimum expectation) but also had light enough plastic that there was no issue touching and using the screen. It allowed for some great pictures fo the sea lions up and close. In the water, they're just adorable, inquisitive, half coming close to understand what the hell we are and half jumping, splashing, diving and rolling to impress us. I think the actual swimming with Sea Lions part of the tour lasted like fifteen minutes, but it felt like forever in a great way.

The ride back to shore was less eventful apart from a few last stray sea lions to lead us back, but soon enough we reached the shore promptly at 1:30, three hours after the tour began. On the whole, the Palomino Island tour ran like cloclwork, gave us such amazing views, a dash of penguins (not expected on this trip) and then an exprience of a lifetime to swim with sea lions. That said, I've called them sea lions, but beacuse of their constant howl, in Peru they're known as sea wolfs (Lobo del Mar), a name that at first didn't mean much, but coincedentally the name of the Ceviche spot we went to for lunch.

Cevicheria Lobo del Mar is in Miraflores, a fairly mid-size ceviche spot with normal prices and crowded lines of locals and foreigners. I found it actually on Google Maps trying to find a place to get takeout yesterday (Friday), but couldn't figure out how to use their main delivery ap (PedidosYa). The name, and its reviews, stuck and I'm glad I took us there, as for once this wasn't Lima at its most expensive, it was Lima at its local cuisine best. The line moved quick but was still indicative of the quality. We split a Ceviche Mixto where the seafood was incredible softly cooked and brilliant from squid, octopus, shrimp and sea snail (oddly, the best), and a scallop chaufa which had just amazingly cooked scallops and flavorful rice. I wish I knew what categorized Chaufa as so uniquely different than just standard Chinese fried rice - it's probably the chilies and maybe a more ginger-focused sauce combination with that and soy sauce, but it was amazing.

Following a little R&R at the hotel, we set out for the last touristy bit of the day, which is a walk down the Malecon, this time starting at the Larcomar and walking southwards towards Barranco. We started at the Larcomar, which had a nice craft fair on its road-level, and the requisite amazing pictures. Lima is notable cloudy all the time (though never really rains), but we got amazingly lucky today with n early cloudless skies - this was amazing for the boat ride, but equally meaningful now with clear sky photoes of the Pacific behind the Larcomar, or then multiple angles on the Malecon.

Once again, there had been some upgrades in two years, this time the "Puente de XXXX", a new bridge connecting the Malecon in the Miraflores area spanning over one of the crevasses that has a roadway connecting Lima proper with the beachfront highway. In past, this required about a 20 minute walkaround to get back on teh Malecon, but now that was cut to five picturesque minutes on their modern pedestrian bridge. On the other side as we head into Barranco, my parents got slack-jawed at what I had in past, which were the amazing cliff-face front apartment complexes, all modern, sleek and assuredly expensive, but super impressive nonetheless. 

After a requisite pause at Dedalo (somehow avoided the urge to buy anything, but did get a nice coffee & hot chocolate, and another place my parents were impressed by), we continued down the Malecon ending the Puente del Suspiros and headed in to Barranco proper at effectively dusk, getting similarly great views of the bohemian neighborhood at its best. They left back for the hotel as I picked up a couple half-pours at Barbarian, which remains my favorite Lima craft brewery (an underrated aspect of Lima is its strong craft beer scene). I was able to get back to the hotel in time for a shower and then we headed out to the main event.

I talked about enjoying normal-priced Lima food for lunch. Well, Lima is still great when you go a few steps pricewise above that. Dinner tonight was at Maido, the restaurant just named the World's Best by the Top 50 folks after a solid decade being in the Top-10. Is it the best restaurant in the world? Probably not, but it is damn good and remains absolutely brilliant. To be perfectly honest, I think the meal I had at Maido in 2023 was better, but that's not all a knock on Maido, but a credit to them for changing every single course in that timeframe and still being truly excellent. More than me still liking it, seeing my parents love it also was agreat. This was actually their combined birthdays and mothers/fathers day gift (that was actually at first supposed to be a concert at MSG, which got cancelled). They loved Maido, I love Maido. Yes, it is expensive, but I don't think you leave feeling like you paid too much. No, you feel damn content with some amazing Nikkei food that each time I come becomes more and more Peru focused and less traditional Nikkei focused (to its credit).

After the three hour dinner, my parents were too tired to join me for my nights events, which fair enough. I headed back to Carnaval, after thiinking of a quick dalliance with another San Isidro cocktail spot that I'll save for an almost assured future trip to Lima in teh next 18-24 months. Carnaval was even more crowded than yesterday, but luckily had a spot at the bar available, and I enjoyed my 2.5 hours there trying a few different cocktails from their old classics to new ridiculous ones, to one off of their limited Christmas menu served in lovely santa/snowmen cups. Ending a night at Lima with a night at Carnaval is never a mistake. Truly, nothing today was, about as good as our one full day of tourism in Lima could have gone.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 9 & 11 - Lima

Day 9 - A Lima Crash Course

I've been to Lima three times prior, in 2016, 2022 and 2023. I love the place, as I've written about a few times, more than just a tourist destination, but just a place to get lost in. My parents have been here once previously, but it was in 2005, on a trip with their friends - without my sister and I. Because of this, they had seen Lima, but really hadn't - for two reasons. First of which, not really sure what Lima itself was in 2005, and also they were there as very tourist-focused tourists, staying nearer to the old town and far away from Miraflores and Barranco and the places that make Lima sing these days. Suffice it to say, as we woke up in the AC Hotel in Miraflores, with a view of the Larcomar, the Malecon and the foggy Pacific (as always in teh morning), they realized this would be a new Lima.

As they felt that the 20 year gap made the places they did see the first time around places that they really didn't see all that much, my parents spent that first day mostly in the historic district, touring the Plaza de Armas and various churches, monastaries, cloisters and government buildings surrounding it. I was even able to get them to visit the Larco Museum, one of my favorites. All of this occured when I was working, my last real working day of the trip. 

The plan was for me to wrap up work around 3:30 (ended up being 3:40) and meet them at some point on the Malecon north of the Larcomar Mall (where the hotel was), and walk back towards it. The Malecon is one of those things that really just defines modern Lima. In the end, that plan worked out perfectly, as they took longer at the Larco Museum than I expected (enjoying it fully) and we met at Red Cerveceria for a quick half-pint, and then walked back on the Malecon about 1.5 miles from the edge of Miraflores and San Isidro towards the Larcomar.

The Malecon, as mentioned, just well defines modern Lima - taking a natural advantage, these beautiful cliffs that separate the city from teh beach, and turn it into something amazing - a glorious mini-park every few hundred meters, some more sculpture heavy, some more flower heavy, one area with clay tennis courts, others with little cafes and crepe shops (random). All of it is excellent, with the glorious Pacific just staring you in the face on the other side, and few visuals of paragliders above and surfers below. I've walked even more of the Malecon than this, but I too found the experience fun trying to ID what new they had built, primarily upgrading the concrete paths in many parts of the Malecon, and adding even more flowers and greenery. As you approach the Larcomar at the end, it becomes even sad that we leave this untouched parkland for a fairly touched / commercialized mall - even one that is beautifully carved three levels down into the cliff face. As always, the Malecon hit the spot, and greatly impressed my parents.

What impressed my parents even more (and me as well) was our dinner at Merito, the one super high rated Lima tasting menu spot I hadn't been to before. Nestled in Barranco, a block away from Central (talk about a crazy two-block area), Merito is Central in style, featuring Andean ingredients and brilliance but doing so with I would say more sour / citrus forward dishes that match the head chef's background from Venezuela (the head chef was at Central for years). Merito worked perfectly, an amazing first impression for them (and me, in this case) to Lima gastronomy.

After a quick walk through Barranco to give them some experience of the vibrancy - from busy streets, to old houses turned bars/clubs/lounges, to a lovely nativity scene and tree in Barranco's main square, the bohemian area of Lima was out in full force. We left then to Carnaval, my favorite cocktail spot in Lima - and I still think fair to say Lima's favorite. Carnaval does a lot of things similar to Cause Effect, one of my favorite cocktail spots in the world, and a spot I know my Dad enjoyed. Figuring so, I assumed he would enjoy Carnaval, with the zaniness of the drink preparations combined with teh great drinks themselves. They did enjoy it, until they got tired and retired back to the hotel for the night, leaving me to get a couple more at Carnaval, and then head to Miraflores to Bizarro.

If any place didn't hit the higehst of marks on the first night, it was Bizarro, which had its one room playing techno and the other playing reggaeton - the techno room not as good this time as it was in 2023. It wasn't bad - it was actually really well sized, crowded adn the drinks were cheap and flowing, but for all of Lima's greatness, EDM clubs may be outside its strengths still. I didn't get the perfect cherry on top with how the night ended, but god damn the sundae itself was great.

Day 11 - The Old and the New

There is one sight in Lima that eluded me to date - the Huaca Pucllana ruins in the heart of the city. Why I haven't been able to do it before is a bit of a mystery, only made greater so by how easy it was to go this time. I think on my 2023 trip I went there one day and was told it was sold out and I should've bought tickets online. Fair enough, I guess. Except I remembered that and then found it impossible to actually buy tickets online in advance prior to this trip. That little bit of uncertainty was not ebbed by it being really hard to find anything certain online. Luckily, though, in the end, it seems you just walk up and buy a ticket for the next available tour, which they run an English one once an hour, and Spanish twice an hour.

In the end, we waited about 10 minutes for the tour of about 30 of us to begin. The Huaca Pucllana is a fairly large temple complex dating back to the time of the Lima people of the 500s or so, a good millenium before the Inca. It takes up about a 5x3 city block of what at first seem like randomly strewn aroudn walls, stones and open areas. Apparently, when the Incas showed up there were dozens of these types of temples that were strewn around Lima, some in complete ruin that were largely further destroyed, and some, like the Huaca Pucllana, that were abandoned as previous dynasties were chased away. It's nice that this complex dated to a time well before the Inca, and even the little areas where they have some figurines molding clay tiles, working on textiles, working on the farm, etc., were all from the Inca, Huasca or other peoples prior to the Inca.

The tour of the Huaca Pucllana took about an hour, it was well paced going around the various areas, with nice tours of Andean flora and fauna (in more detail than normal - got to see what a Huacatay plant actually looked like after eating it a bunch), climbing up to the various pedestals of the temple, getting a sense of Lima around you. Hard to believe I hadn't done this before, but also glad I did. Given so much of the sites in Lima, or in Peru in general, or from the time of the Incas or later, it was nice to go to a site like this that memorialized and celebrated the pre-Inca people that roamed these lands for a millenium.

From there, we took a walk from the Huaca Pucllana with the end destination of the two parks in the middle of Miraflores, the Parque 7 de Junio, and adjoining Parque Kennedy. Before those, we went throuhg a large street that housed mega-complexes of souvenir and handicraft stalls. Most of theme were fairly normal street-fare level souvenis, similar to the La Mariscal market in Quito, or many others. But deep inside some of these complexes you get some interesting stuff, like for me at least a store selling wooden home goods (serving dishes, spoons, etc.), some stone-ware shops, some art shops. Having been to Lima muleiple times in past, and having picked up random wares, I wasn't planning on getting anything, but from a little stone llama that can fit in our crib, to a couple butter-knives from the woodworking store, you always find a few useful things if you know where to look.

Lunch was a ten minute walk from Parque Kennedy, at Xoma, an up and coming restaurant in Lima's ever growing fine dining scene. They offer a tasting menu for dinner, along with a-la-carte for both dinner and lunch. Given no one was in the mood for another tasting menu, we sampled three dishes at this fine establishment. The best was probably their take on cabrito (baby goat) which was so perfectly cooked smothered in a mixture of orange and green sauces - well that or their play on Chinese duck tacos, with an amazing duck leg confit, more great sauces and little masa crepes. The place was fantastic, and if I do make it back to Lima in the coming years, will definitely check them out. The place also looked quite magical and thoughtful - as you would expect from Lima. This was effectively the last thing we did in Lima, before heading abck to the hotel, checking out, and making our last goodbyes on teh drive out to the airport.

We were met with the departure end of Lima's new terminal, which was quite nice but takes also the modern trend of having no shopping or restaurants in the gate area, only all in one large common area upfront. Not that I wanted anything before our quick flight to Arequipa, but it still feels a bit hollow. The flight however, did not feel that way, as I snagged a window seat which was great as most of it was over various levels of Andes valleys and peaks. Arequipa is situated just to the West of the largest / highest parts of the Andes (as is Lima, further West) so it wasn't a bunch of snow capped peaks, but more just brilliant contours.

We landed at Arequipa as the sun was setting, which was perfect timing to see the purples and reds and oranges of the sunset shine on the two large mountains that look over Peru's second largest city, in Mt. Chachani and Misti. As it was Sunday night, it was a bit of a quiet drive from teh airport to our really nice AirBNB in the Yarahuana neighborhood (just west of the historic city area), and after a quick check-in and unpack, we were on an uber into the old city to grab dinner and try to sleep as early as possible as our tour starts with a 3:10am pickup the next day. 

There was enough time to enjoy a really nice dinner though at a really nice spot - Victoria Museum Picanteria, a block north of the main square. Picanterias are the names of the eateries in Arequipa, but Victoria takes it to an upmarket level. They offer 4/5 course set menus, but its just a selection of their classics, of which there are a lot. They split their menu by time period, from prehistoric recipes, which are mostly grilling meats or fish on a slab of rock along with tubers with just the most insane charcoal flavor - for this we got Alpaca, which istself isn't the greatest cut of meat but with that smokey flavor it worked. As did our other dishes of a graet langoustine (river shrimp being a delicacy product of Arequipa) and a fillet of beef cooked perfectly and served over this strange but awesome aji amarillo based rice, corn and potato mixture that looked kind of nothing but tasted amazing. Even the drinks were excellent - all being inventive creations of local flavors. This is the type of place I wish we tried a bit more, but if anything was a great introduction to Arequipa, along with a reminder that the great food of Peru doesn't end in Lima.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 5-8 - Cuenca

Day 5-8: Christmas Town, South America

Ecuador was added to our trip for a couple reasons. As I explained earlier, it was somewhat due to cost that there would be this extra week. Why that week became Ecuador is because it is a place that my parents went to right before Covid started, in the Feb of 2020, and loved it. They went on a lark, on the suggestion of their financial planners who have some financial investments in the country (yes, fairly random connection from my perspective), but they sang Ecuador's praises, and more than that, Cuenca's praises quite a bit.

As mentioned in my previous post, the arrival into Cuenca was a nice little amouse bouche of what was to come. It was late on a Sunday Night so barely anything was open but we went for a little walk near our AirBNB, which is situated nicely a block away from a row of cafes and a giant park (with a supermarket on teh other side), a block away from the main thoroughfare cutting through the Southern (more modern) half of the city, and a ten minute walk away from the Centro Historico (old town) area of Cuenca. That first walk of idyllic bliss, with a calm breeze befitting Cuenca's 8,000ft elevation, without a care in the world proving right the cab driver who told us repeatedly how safe and peaceful Cuenca is, and you can tell this was indeed a special place.

I was working during the day, so I don't think I really saw everything of Cuenca to make a real determination - certainly other than walking around and taking in the life, I didn't do any proper "sightseeing." Not that there is a bunch of traditional sights - some of the best seem to be some small, but well curated archaeology museums, the Cajes National Park (a day trip) and their multiple churches and cathedrals, that all close way too early. Anyway, despite that, I too can't really sing Cuenca's praises enough after spending about 3.75 days here. 

First off, my word do they take Christmas seriously, in teh best possible way. There are lights and trees and deconarations and everything else everywhere. Now, there is a sad tinge to this because it seems part of the reason is that the mayor of Cuenca really loves Christmas, and took it as some personal mission that he make Cuenca into the best Christmas town/city in South America. Having not seen the rest of them, I can probably still say he is at least medalling in that competition. The more modern part has lights and mroe stores have done some decorations (many going full out snow animals and snowmen and stuff that will never appear naturally here), and the main thoroughfare has rows of Christmas Trees lit up in its center. But that's nothing on the old town.

The main square in teh middle is basically South America's rockefeller center. The large face of the cathedral on one side is lit up. The middle has a giant Christmas tree and a gazebo that is playing carols roughly 80% of the day. Every three has lights strung on it. The northern face of the square has large department store style buildings with Christmas decorations all over their facade, includ9kng a saks-type store in the middle with LED screens of santas and gnomes and what not. From that stores rooftop you get a glorious view of the square below you, the lights everywhere, and also the breadth and magnitude that is Cuenca. Each alley too off of the square similarly has lights and lit snowflakes, and little courtyards with more trees. It is a bit overwhelming, but you can't help how charming it is.

The old town as a whole is like that, with just pleasantness and joy radiating outwards off of its main square. My only knock is they don't have the best handicraft game in Cuenca (or really Ecuador in general), as a couple of the boutique stores I looked up were either too clothing forward or expensive (still, give Cafe Yongoe a try) and then the rest were markets that were probably a notch fancier than the Mariscal one in Quito. In the last one, on our last night, before we had to head to dinner, I finally, randomly found a remarkable stone statue of a turtle leaping from a rock for 20 bucks. Like an oasis in a dessert, I found what I wanted.

The old town is lovely, but its the newer South side that really showcases Cuenca's strengths. It's amazing how modern some of the areas of Southern Cuenca are. The street surrounding our dinner spot the second night (Dos Sucres, will come back to it) was glistening with modern cafes, restaurants, bars, built in a way you could be in a Nashville, or Melbourne. There were 3-4 of these little stretches of commercial areas in the Southern half, mixed in with modern office buildings, banks and a ton of college buildings. Cuenca's town is teeming with education.

Truly the Southern half of Cuenca had anything you would want for a place to live - including a great craft brewery Golden Prague, which despite the name didn't only sell Czech-inspired pilsners. In fact, I don't know if they had a true Czech beer on tap. I had a mix of a Belgian dubbel (awesome), and IPA (good, not great) and a blueberry porter (shockingly great). The place was also decked out to the nines for Christmas, and was fairly full of locals on both Monday evening and Wednesday. Golden Prague, a five minute walk from our AirBNB), is just a perfect little microcosm of what makes Cuenca awesome.

A macro-cosm (if that was a word) of the same effect is the food. Cuenca is a foodie paradise in what i'm learning is an underrated foodie country as a whole. I should've realized something special was ahead when my first meal was fairly good versions of staid dishes in a hotel setting. That could've been a 3/10 meal, and it was a solid 6.5/10 or 7/10. The other meals where all considerably higher, even the lunch I uber-eats'd from a local Peruvian, which served an excellent chaufa. But really, these were about the dinners (whose leftovers begat my other lunches).

Each dinner I think showcased a little bit of different aspects of Cuenca brilliance, the first being a mom-and-pop seafood spot (Capitan&Co), the second a tried adn true mainstay of Cuenca brilliance (Dos Sucres) and the last being something similar, but a little more upmarket with some European influence (El Mercado). All three were great in the end.

Capitan&Co started auspicously with the mom of the mom and pop taking about 30 minutes to take our order. She expressed apologies through her older daughter (who is part time cook, part time student) saying that they make everything to order and right before we came in had a party of ten put in their mains. As we got our food about twenty minutes later, three fish or seafood dishes cooked in a kitchen helmed by the pop ("El Capitan") it was clear how true that freshness statement is amazing. The sauces were rich and heavy (and amazing, in general) but that seafood was out of this world. The freshest langostinos charred so beautifully. A giant loin of robalo (a South American version of snook) that was just incredibly flavorful and soft despite being thick to the point I would butcher it into a rubbery mess. The sea bass cooked as good as I've had it. This place knows seafood. More than that, with it being literally mom-and-pop (and two daughters), and its loud red and green colors, it truly was the South American version of Cape Town's Miller's Thumb. Cuenca a place after my heart in ways it probably doesn't even realize.

Dos Sucres was in one of those trendy eatery areas, but it itself was built into a house and served some great stuff, from a truly wonderful octopus starter, an insane lamb croquette dish, and two just unreal mains. One was a "lamb curry" which more than that was a large piece of lamb braised for seemingly a week in a beautiful sauce of apple, rosemary and lamb stock. The other was even better, a chicken leg served confit in another unreal sauce - marrying crispy of crisp skin with juiciest of juicy skin. Again, just marvelous. Dos Sucres was excellent.

And then, arguably, El Mercado was even better. Housed in a spot right at the end of the old town, with the back of it being a large floor to ceiling window overlooking the river (and the more modern south Cuenca behind it), El Mercado was special from a vibes and ambience perspective. The food met that challenge as well. Our starters were a really great amberjack crude with a brilliant emulsion sauce, and then a really inventive crab roll, with the roll being sliced avocado, all in a delicious coconut and corn broth. Our mains were maybe the best tongue dish I've ever had, another great fish dish (seafood is excellent here it seems, despite Cuenca not being near any real source of seafood), and then a mind-blowing pork rib dish where they, much like Dos Sucres did with the chicken the day earlier, combined a deep fried / crispy outside with ridiculously fall-off-the-bone middle meat, all with some great pickles and sauces. On the whole, El Mercado was a brilliant way to go out.

At the end of it, I was quite sorry to be leaving Cuenca, leaving Ecuador. I will be back - I don't know when, but whenever I do, I will make sure to come to Cuenca when I'm either off, or on a weekend, and can at least get to experience the sites. In some ways, Cuenca is very much like the Ecuador version of Oaxaca - lovely old town, streets and lanes of brilliance, culinary excellence, all in a plateau town that doesn't have nearly the problems and challenges that much of its country around it do (drug-related crime, essentially). I know some may not think "the Oaxaca of Ecaudor" is a complement, but it damn sure is. Goodbye Cuenca, and see you again soon - and can't wait to see what you replace all your Christmas decorations with in other times in the year.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 4 - Quito

Day 4 - Quito in a Flash

This day would end in Cuenca, a charming little town (I kid, it's the third largest in Ecuador, but is quaint on all the right ways). There was a lot of internal debate (e.g. my talking to myself the pros and cons) on whether we should take an early flight to Cuenca so I could see the city during the day (which I won't be able to do given I'm a gainfully employed adult working Monday through Thursday while there) or should we take a later flight so I get the day in Quito. When we decided to do the Cotopaxi tour on Saturday, which would basically take the entirety of that day, the decision became easy.

That said, I didn't see everythign Quito has. Yes, maybe that is partially because I only got up at 9:45 and left the hotel at 10:10, but also because there is quite a lot to see, most things close by 4 or 5, and it's always nice to leave a few things to see on a second visit. Yes, there will be a second visit. Don;'t know when, because as good as Quito has been I would still rank Lima, Rio and Santiago ahead of it when it comes to great South American cities - but Quito vs. Buenos Aires is definitely a debate in my mind. Let's get back to today though, and worry about rankings later.

My first stop was halfway between our hotel in the northern half of downtown Quito (the more commercial, professional area) and the historic city center. The place was teh National Museum of Ecuador, which is a fascinating building still very much in construction. Basically there lied an old brick and stone museum that they are turning into a glistening modern building, with still the old stone floors of the old. It's about ahlfway complete, so half the museum was closed and it was free. That said, the part I did see was quick, efficient and excellent, first three rooms focusing on pre-colombian art from 10,000 BC through the Incas. The second floor was all art from a famous Ecuadorian artist Irene Cardenas. Her art was modern, with bold colors, sharp angles and geometry - the type of art I adore I've come to learn.

That was a quick stop, allowing me alos some time to walk through the large park next to it - this area of Quito is open, green and lovely. Other parts are lovely too, but this is so unexpected in what is a city defined by narrowness and hills to have an area so relatively flat, open and pristine.

That said, let's not say that openness is better, as I would learn. It took a while for an uber to take me into the historic city center, my first stop being teh Basilica of Our Lady of Mercy, a chirch first built in the 1500s. In the end, I got out of my uber about five blocks away and walked the rest (eight minute walk vs. 12 minute drive - some one-ways skewing that slightly). The alleys and life turned from caucophony where I was dropped up to pristine old-world charm by the time we got to the plaza around the Basilica. The Basilica itself is painted a white of a brightness that is hard to describe. I would soon learn this seems to be just a thing in Quito. The inside however was stunning in its oldness, paegentry, gold - it was typically South American as i've learned from visiting other old main cathedrals in Lima, Santiago - but this one might be my favorite. There is a large, giant gothic Basilica in Quito as well - but I saved the relative newness of that one (1800s) for this old gem.

Didn't hurt that two blocks away is the main square / plaza - like all great Latin American cities. The Quito one is notable to me as it was easily the best combination of grandeur and life - the grandeur aided by that same shade of white that was painted on every buikding from another church & convent, to the Presidential Palace (sadly, closed), and the life aided by the bustle of people, christmas decorations, music and general merriment. Sime places like Lima only have the former. Others like a Oaxaca are only the later. Santiago I guess comes close. Random aside, but I do dislike the fact I so quickly turn to these comparisons. 

My next plan was a quick walking tour of the historic city center, from teh Plaza Grande to the equally impressive, equally white Plaza San Francisco, which houses the Church & Convent of San Francisco. Sadly, the church and adjoining museum closes every day from 12pm - 3pm, which wasn't ideal when I shwoed up at 12:15. Either way, I had other things on my list, from walking through a few of the more ntoable alleyways in the old town, to the final stop of this visit - a trip to the Casa del Alabado Museum of Pre-Colombian Art. 

The museum is housed in an old house (hence the name) which has been converted into a really great museum showcasing Ecuadorian artifacts, art, statues, and beauty from the same 10,000 BC or so up to the Incas. Much like a very similar museum in Santiago, it is also similar in style, with the galleries being the sides of the house with a lovely open courtyard in the middle. The museum isn't as large as the Santiago one, but then again - Quito is smaller, narrower and quainter than Santiago. For this place, it fit - and it raelly had some unique pieces in what seemed to be a really well curated museum - mostly some of the more intricate, ornate and lovely figurines of old gods, shamans and priests.

This took longer than I expected, so really after that only had time for a quick lunch, to which I went to Casa Warmi, a notable restaurant in the Floresta district (which, to once again dip into my comparisons, could easily be a neighborhood in Lima or Santiago) known for its seafood-focused sharp cuisine. 

Before we get to lunch, a quick look back at the city center. it is bustling, and the roads are packed and crowded leading up to it, but in a weird way, I find that whole area better than say Lima's. There is a sense of life, of common people just living their lives and having fun. Even the lanes aroudn it are paragons of middle class-ness in a way you don't feel in Lima where their Plaza Mayor is arguably prettier and more well built up, but also more staid and lifeless, or targeting the bottom of the barrel, rather than Quito, where I feel I was almsot intruding on real world rather than visiting a place built for people like me.

I first got a starter of fish corviche (little manioc balls with fish inside, this time topped with other fish and onion) which were excellent, if too many (six of these little croquette-type things), and then a truly inventive as hell ceviche of octopus, squid and fish, with the leche being guayabo, which as a perfect combination of funk and tart for a ceviche. It was just excellent - as was the setting of Casa Warmi, which doubles as a handicraft store on the side. This was more or less my last real thing in Quito, but a good one (this was a late lunch).

From there, headed back to the JW Marriott and went off to the airport - a drive that was quicker than we had mentally anticipated leaving us more time in the airport than we wanted. But not really, since Avianca boards 60 minutes ahead of departure for domestic flights. This is the last flight of the year for me on a Star Alliance carrier - so in other words the last flight where I have any sort of status. Tough life for me I guess.

After a 45-minute flight, we descended into Cuenca. I'll ahve way much more to say about Cuenca, but as a way of knowing how much of a smaller place this is than Quito, it was a relative ghost-town. Granted, many places are come 8:30pm on a Sunday. For dinner, I had picked out one of the few places near our AirBNB that was open late on Sundays - this being the restaurant in teh Tryp hotel named Zircus. It has quite good reviews for it being a hotel restaurant, and the food showed why. We split a "Bisque de Mariscos" which was more just a seafood soup, but it had a ton of seafood and the brilliant idea to put plantain chunks in the soup (inspired!). For my main, I got a Ribeye with a onion, tomato and pepper sauce, which was way, way better than I expected from a hotel restaurant on 9:30pm on a Sunday. Cuenca may be quiet, but made a great first impression. Adding to that impression was the safety of the place letting us go for a little walk after dinner, adn the christmas tree lights dotting their main road.

As mentioned, I'll have more to say on Cuenca, but to wrap up Quito, I don't think I could've had a better experience. Cotopaxi as the centerpiece tourist element was unbelievable, and the weather Gods really shone on us on that one. The city itself met its mark in every way as well - from the restuarants (the cheap lunches to Ukro as a great tasting menu spot) to the craft beer to the cocktails. The sites were good and there's still a good days worth at minimum I've yet to cross off for my next trip here. I don't know when that will be, but I continue to be drawn to this continent, and Ecuador's capital added to that draw tremendously.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 3 - Quito / Cotopaxi

Day 3 - The Altitude Gives and Takes Away

I've done many hikes in my life. Most are at places where I am already at some sort of altitude to begin with, be it outside of Denver or Salt Lake, or even less known "altitude" places like those in the Arizona desert outside Phoenix. Well, I can confidently say that none of those hold any candle to what I went through, (barely) breathed through today, even if it was all so worth it.

Before getting to all of taht, the day started at 7am getting up to board a tour bus at 7:15 to head to the Cotopaxi National Park for the day. This is one of the premier day-trips from Quito - taking you right up quite a bit high up the Cotopaxi mountain/volcano peak, the one that looms over Quito (though requires a clear day to see it from the city), a magical mountain with glacier & snow capped top. The mountain tops out at 19,.357 feet, with the snow and glacer starting around 16,500. I'll get to more elevations later, but that isn't the point for now. 

Like most day trip tours, there are other stops and merriment along the way. The first, once you get past the traffic exiting Quito (which isn't all that bad compared to many other cities, but still everpresent) you pass some amazing views of the valleys and mountains that line the PanAmerica Highway. Seemingly every other mountain is a volcano, either active or dormant. The view of it all was quite mesmerizing, and allowed for a ton of great photo opportunities - one so good the bus driver pulled over and let the seven of us (eight including the delightful Diana who was our tour guide) a chance to snap them from a set position.

The first real stop was a rest stop, which allowed for a really nice, strong black coffee, and mingling around a shop. Nothing jumped out as a must-buy, but it was a nice twenty minutes to stretch your legs. The first real stop was after taking the road off of the highway towards the Cotopaxi Park, where we ambled over to a small shack on the side of the road where an old Ecuadorian women sells coca tea. Like most things in Ecuador so far, it was authentic, cheap and excellent - another great way to stretch your legs, but in this case your mind and I guess your lungs as well. In theory it helps acclimitize (Quito is 9,350 feet, the park entrance area is 12,000, and the hike begins at 15,100). More than that it was just nice to have some tea.

The next stop was a little museum & store right at the park entrance, which encompassed both an opportunity to pet and feed two little baby alpacas (adorable) and get a crash course on the history of Cotopaxi, in terms of the park itself, its flora and fauna, its hsitroy and where it sits among all the various volcanoes that lie in this part of Ecaudor. It really is so weird to be in an area that looks like Patagonia but is 10,000 feet or more above sea level, adn at the equator. The mind doesn't really get it. During the quick museum trip (about 30 minutes across six or so rooms / exhibits) Diana taught us this cute littel song and dance written about a weird wobbly bird that roams Cotopaxi. The song was suppsoed to bring good luck. Little did we know how right this was.

As we left there, entered the park proper and the long winding drive to the Cotopaxi mountain, suddenly the cloudy skies started to open up. Cotopaxi Park is notorious for fickle weather taht can turn on a moments notice, and more often than not the peak is envoloped in clouds. This is true like 80% of the time, and was true as we entered the park, when Diana gestured to a cloud-covered area and assured us Cotopaxi is behind it. Well, as we drove across the park the clouds parted and we got a stunning, truly mesmerizing view of the mountain. This required another pit-stop where the bus pulled over, and a bunch of group photos and selfies and much more. It was truly stunning.

The clouds continued parted through the 45 minute drive up switchbacks from the main park level to the parking lot which sits at 15,100 feet. From there, we went on the hike - it is just 800 feet up to the "Refuge" (Lodge, effectively), but as I would learn this would be the hardest 800 feet of elevation gain I've done. The "hard" route is a straight incline that goes that 800 feet in one KM. We would descend that route which was terrifying enough as you were essentially skiing down the sand. To go up, there is a side route that is a series of fairly manageable switchbacks all the way up. In fact, from a tiredness in the legs perspective, this hike was easy. From a breath, actual how I felt, it was pain to no end. 

But damn if reaching the top didn't feel amazing. The lodge at the top is small but historic - with flags of so many countries, hang up by people from those countries who made the same trek. The three of us who made it to the top also enjoyed a really great cup of coca tea (one of teh best "man did that hit the spot" beverages of my life). It was a lovely time, and before we knew it we were in that sand dune skiing back down, and just as that happened, the clouds started to envelope the summt (a good 4,000 feet above us). The picture-perfect conditions we got, the later sets of hikers wouldn't be so lucky. The Cara Cara song worked.

Back on ground, the last stop was a lagoon that is the glacier runoff of a separate volcano, that also had great views of Cotopaxi, other volcanoes and mountains, and some great fauna (birds, mostly). From there we went to a local restaurant for a "menu of the day" simple meal of a lovely potato, plantain and cheese soup and then pork (a bit tough) with pickled veggie salad (excellent) and rice. Better than the lunch was the backyard of the restaurant, which was a mini farm with two llamas, a calf (so cute), chickens, ducks and guinea pigs. Just lovely overall as a way to end the tour.

Back in Qutio, we had just enough time to head to the La Mariscal Artesenal Market and do some souvenir shopping before our dinner at Urko. The market was one step above mormal tourist trap nonsense but probably one step below true "artisanal" stuff, which was perfectly fine for what I wanted - a nice llama / alpaca wool hoodie and knit-cap, and some other random wares. One half of the nine rows of shops all in close proxixmity of each other seemed to be more clothing heavy, the others more handicrafts heavy, a nice conbination taht made a fairly overwhelming market quite manageable.

Dinner at Urko was excellent - easily seen as Ecuador's best restaurant, the 10-course tasting was excellent from start to finish. As with my other recent trips, and I mean it this time, I'll do a write-up of all the tasting menu spots (six in total) at the end. After dinner, which ended in the exact two hours they predicted, I went to within the Floresta neighborhood (seems to be an upmarket spot) for first a brewery - Django Laboratorio de Cervezas - and then a speakeasy - Codigo 86. The speakeasy was the better of the two for sure, but the brewery deserves a quick mention. They brew fairly unique stuff and the two copas I tried, one a cold IPA (probably their most traditional from a flavor / ingredient perspective) and the other a mocha stout, which was sublime.

Also sublime was Codigo86 - apparently I missed there's a password taht they release if you send them a DM - but the person at the front laughed about it and did let me in after jokingly giving me a hard time. Inside, Codigo is fantastic - they have four parts of their menu - first seven specific homemade concoctions, of which I tried one which was a gin fizz type drink with a bunch of Ecuadorian ingredients. Second was their take on a bunch of classics - like a Martini with Guayaba, or a Negroni with the bitters being all Ecuadorian flavors - I got two of that set. The third was just a bunch of standard cocktails, of which I'm sure tehy do great. And fourth, like any good speakeasy, you can just given them some flavors or ideas and they'll figure it out. On the whole, Codigo86 was excellent, from the drinks, to the decor to the vibe of the place - the cocktail bar version of Sinners from the night before. On the whole, even if there's no true EDM/Techno club as far as I can tell, Quito met its mark from a nightlife perspective.

2025 Year End Trip: Day 1-2 - Journey Down & Quito

Day 1 - The Journey...

We started planning this end of the year trip more or less after it was clear my parents were selling their house (and becoming nomads) and the new one wouldn't be ready until late January. The trip took many iterations. First was Europe for a bit, then centered on South America. There was a brief dalliance with Asia as my parents may have had to go to India, but when that fell through, it became a pretty set view that it was to be in South America. For a few reasons - we all love the continent, and most importantly, given the lack of any change of time zone, I could work there next week (starting Monday, Dec-15), allowing me to fly down earlier when it as still affordable.

That said, even when it became South America, it took many different iterations. I think from the beginning the only constants were New Years in the Atacama desert, and that first weekend in Quito leading me to work in Cuenca. The in between was always in flux. First was Galapagos, but despite how amazing I'm sure it is, none of us were all that thrilled by it. Then it became Patagonia, which my Dad who runs hot and cold on wanting to re-do places, wasn't a huge fan of. In the end, it became a zig-zag trip across South America, as after Cuenca we head to Lima for the weekend, then Arequipa for a few days, then Rio for most of Christmas Week (their first time to Brazil, my second time in ten months after never going before), adn then Atacama and wrapping it up with that last weekend in Santiago. Complex, it took a while of plannign on flights, baggage, hotels, AirBNBs, tours, restaurants. And then it got complicated.

I was supposed to fly with my parents to Houston last (Wednesday) night, before we all fly to Quito Thursday afternoon. Instead, due to needing to go to Quebec City a bit last minute, that all got complicated. They followed that initial itinerary (which only needed to happen in that way because I was supposed to work in Houston on Thrusday), and I had to take a rare three flights in a day - first Quebec City to Newark, then Newark to Houston and then the red-eye to Quito. Somehow, despite at times a disastrous year with United in terms of delays (mostly all because of Newark) this one went off without a hitch.

I had 3.5 hour layovers in both Newark adn Houston. In the Newark one, after a quick chicken sandwich lunch, I had to work for most of it, but when the flight took off around 5pm, the vacation started in earnest, with me ordering my scotch tucked into my middle seat (problems when you have to change bookings last minute). Houston airport was odd where every restaurant and bar seemingly closes at 9pm, but restaurants seemed to extend that to 9:30 (I arrived at 8:52), and bars to 10:45 or so. Anyway, by 11:50, I was tucked into my seat for the red-eye, of which I got about my normal red-eye sleep (not a lot), and before I knew it, we were landing way too quicky on decent - one of the first experiences with Quito's infamous elevation.

Day 2 - ... and the Payoff

I've never been to Ecuador. I've never been to Colombia either, but my parents went to Ecuador (ironically, right as Covid was starting) and loved it. Seemed a natural place to start the trip, and even on the drive from its fairly modern (if a bit small) airport, through its well maintained roads with manicured sides, I was immediately impressed. Granted, I'll probably not be able to give a real judgement on Quito the city until Sunday when I explore the central area sites, but the first impression made me feel it was the equal of Lima in terms of development (though that may be a slight exaggeration). 

After as quick a day at work as I could possibly get away with (two hour nap when I got to the hotel, was able to log off at 2:05). That left me time for really one touristy thing to do in Quito, but it ended up being the thing that gave the country its name - visiting the Equator, and the Middle of the Earth park & museum. Of course, you could go anywhere on the equator and say the same thing, but what I love so far about Quito is you don't get the one worst part about being at the equator nearly anywhere else: heat, humudity and jungle. Here you happen to be elevated in a valley of one of the world's great mountain ranges, which just happens to be at the equator.

Before visiting the Middle of the Earth, the driver I hired (same company fo the uber that took me from the airport) took me to a nearby mirador overlooking the Pululahua crater. Now, in reality it is just a sprawling landscape of peaks with a valley of farms and lush greenery in its middle - but it takes you a minute to realize that farmland and lush greenery is the crater. This is just a new world.

The Middle of the Earth area itself is well maintained in what in theory is an outer suburb of Quito. There is an official monument park, which other than a fairly regal sculpture/tower in the middle, with "N", "S", "E", "O" om its four fouces and a bright yellow line drawn out on the ground on the "E" and "O" sides (the 0 degree latitude point), was fairly staid. The real gem is the museum next door named the Museum de Sitio Intanan, of which the 0 degree latitude line also in theory runs through. The museum is half an immersive history of Ecuador itself, with some really nice exhibits on their history with coffee-making, their flora and fauna, their burial rituals and the like. The other half though is a delightful traipse around the 0 degree line with various science museum type exhibits, first showing how in theory there is no shadow cast on sundials during the equinxo, to how easy it is to tell time, to how difficult it is to walk in a straight line with your eyes closed (not really sure why that one was there). In all, ti was a great time, and yeah there is a cool feeling being on the equator.

Back in town, we rested up at the JW Marriott Lounge before ehading for an adventurous dinner at Cire. The adventure being the restaurant is in Cumbaya, anither suburb of Quito which has become a new hip spot with its own charmign little old town (something of a mini-Oaxaca). The drive took a while as we descended roughly 800 feet down from Quito proper, but got to see first the stunning lights of the suburbs in the valley below Quito, adn then the imrpessive Cumbaya itself.

Dinner was excellent - Cire is a well reputed restaurant that takes authentic Ecuadorian ingredients, flavors and proteins and remixes them in fascinating ways - like a local type of clam served in just a brilliant Japanese-inspired broth, to a duck confit with the skin mixed with sichuan-spice. The best dish may have been their charcoal grilled octopus, which is probably the best octopus dish I've ever had. The desert too of creme brulee with mango and ginger ice cream was also tremendous. On the whole, Cire was an excellent experience and a great start to the trip gastrominically wise.

So was the way the nigth ended, in the La Pradera district, a boisterous little 2x5 block area which was nicely near the JW (though slightly far enough to warrant an Uber back out of caution). I spent most of the night at Sinners Microcerveceria which truly was one of the best microbrewery bars I've been to in a while. They had a good set of beers and all I tried were excellent, including two stouts that were excellent. IPAs were good to. Best part though was the vibes - the place was packed with a bunch of other beer enthusiasts, and they played a great mix right out of my Spotify with a mix of classic rock and 90's/00's rap. Overall, posting up at Sinners was a great wy to spend a few hours, have some great beers in a beautiul "Copa" size (300ml) which means you finish it before it gets cold.  Can't recommend Sinners enough, and realistically, can almost say the same about Quito as a whole.

My Top 20 TV Shows of 2025: #5 - #1

5.)  Alien: Earth  (Season 1, FX)

Halfway through the season, I mentally had Alien; Earth pegged higher up. It hit all the notes for me - Noah Hawley (of Fargo) at its centerpiece. Great acting performances, from Tim Olyphant to Sydney Chandler (Kyle's daughter) at its centerpiece. Just enough weirdness and mystery to keep you guessing but not too much to make it all silly (liek what happened with another more ill-fated, to me, Hawley product in Legion). It took legendary source material and twisted it with enough wider world building for it to work excellently on the small screen. And then it became clear that Sydney Chandler's character Wendy could essentially communicate with and seemingly order around Xenomorphs. This seemed to upset a lot of people (granted, people who have more a connection to the Alien franchise than I do), and it did make me pause a minute, because the ramifications of this are so big. Furthermore, where this takes place in teh larger Aliens universe timeline doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It begs a lot of questions, I'm saying.

But despite all of that, hell if that wasn't amazing television for ten episodes. The action scenes with teh Xenomorph adn the various other crazy creatures Hawley drew up (the spider with many eyes being the best) were just incredibly haunting. These were scenes that were worthy of something based on the genius of Ridley Scott and James Cameron at their best. The whole storyline of capitalism gone to its most extreme and awry - while on the nose of course, did work in teh larger setting. The whole idea of what synthetics are in this world seemed, truly, as interesting as it did in the grand reveal in the initial Alien film. The season ends in a weird note, with the Lost Boys breaking free and it clearly seeming they have a Xenomorph fully in toe, and I do think Hawley will have to deal with the wider raminifactions of this decision in the context of the Aliens franchise (Hawley is nothing but ultimately reverential to the source material - see Fargo), and for whatever questions we have about those decisions, I can't help but wait to see where Wendy and the Lost Boys go next.

4.)  The Lowdown  (FX)

A few years ago, I made one of the weirder Top-5 picks, naming The Good Lord Bird my #3 show of 2020, a period piece where Ethan Hawke plays a crazed version of the abolitionist John Brown - a show that reinforced how great an invested Ethan Hawke is as an actor, and how telling a story around race relations isn't always preachy and dour. Well, five years later, Mr. Hawke was back at it here - even if less overtly so, with his performance of Lee Raybon (modeled after Tulsa newsman and race relation historian Lee Roy Chapman - even if the comparison is fairly thin). But even more than the Good Lord Bird, this show sung not just because of Hawke's earnest, zany, brilliant portrayal of a dastardly noir newspaperman, but because of how rich the rest of the story was - which brings us to the real star: creator Sterling Harjo. I've never seen Reservation Dogs, but after watching this, I realize how much of a hole that is in my viewing history.

The Lowdown was full of brilliance in all its characters, from Lee's daughter (a star-making performance by Ryan Armstrong), to the various forces of evil and slightly less evil he came up against (Kyle Maclachlan, Scott Sheppard, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Tracy Letts, and so many others in a show filled to the brim with great, if still understated, TV actors). The story got fairly complex, but at its heart was aroudn race relations and the way the evangelical South as they got more and more powerful took advantage of the native americans, but it did it again in a fairly deft way (making that the sideplot to the larger murder/suicide mystery) that it wasn't heavy handed. The show taught us a lot, while still being entertaining, captivating at times (great thrill scenes) and way more funny than it had any right being. Seems like Ethan Hawke should just put out a graet period piece every five years from now on. 

3.)  Andor  (Season 2, Disney+)

I'm not a Star Wars guy. I have watched the original trilogy quite a few times and realize it is incredible. I never watched The Rise of Skywalker or whatever that last film was and never will. I find Rogue One quite good, lost hope on the Mandalorian and honestly will hope the idea of new films goes away forever. With all that said - believe me this ranking is in no way influenced by it being Star Wars IP. No, on its very own merits, Andor Season 2 was one of the best things I've seen in years. Sure, the connections to Rogue One at the end was thrilling, and the various allusions, and by the last quartet of episodes ouright performacnes by known film-verse Star Wars people was great, but what this was is a story of showing how the Empire was built, how that dictatorship was created on the ground. It did a far better job of explaining the dominance of the Empire than any lore-building shit Lucas tried in taht prequel. If you want to make The Empire a villain - show them the three parter where they systematically false-flag their way to raining hell on Gorman. That whole section could as easily have been Game of Thrones, or, hell, our own government. That was magical television, if harrowing in its wider context.

What I really loved about this season though was how its 12-episode format - really played out as four three-part movies - gave it some room to breath. Yes, not each three-part installment was as good as the other, but in a world where all TV shows, if especially so IP heavy ones, are trying to figure out a way to live off of giving us six episodes every two years, here Andor gave us twelve. It gave us the magic that was the wedding rituals in its first act. It gave us some great family dynamics in its second. It gave us Vader and the link to Rogue one (the link to the prequels) in its final. And of course, gave us that third set of episodes with the riot of Gorman, a weirdly now seminal moment in Star Wars canon. This is the show that IP should be creating. Andor after its first season, full with the prison break-out episodes, was already living a world well above its IP imitators, but this season capped Andor for good. I think it is clearly obvious to say that Andor is the best IP related TV show to ever come out - be it Marvel, Star Wars, DC. The hit rate is so, so low, but Andor showed that you can make great television in this world.

2.)  The Rehearsal  (Season 2, HBO)

I was hooked when he made HBO build him a replica of IAH Airport, specifically a part of the airport concourse I know quite well. I was further hooked with his amazing Paramount as Hitler spoof (which seems even more prescient now as I write this when they are trying a hostile takeover of HBO). I was out of my mind when he cosplaying as Sully, put those headphones in and blasted "Bring Me Back to Life" recreating the Miracle on the Hudson. And of course, I was shellshocked when we watched him fly a fucking 737 and land it. The Rehearsal season 1 was a great concept with some amazing moments that took a weird turn at the end when it became a bit awkward thinking if he adversely impacted a kids life. The Rehearsal season 2 was what that show, and truly Nathan Fielder himself, was put on earth to do - take a weird idea ("Does lack of Pilot Communication cause crashes") and do as Fielder does which is take it to every extreme. None better than when we learned he trained himself to be a pilot, realized almost immediately why lack of communcation is prevalent, and then, of course, flew a fucking plane load of real people.

I think a lot of focus on the show as a legacy piece will focus on that finale, and secondly the Sully episode, where he farcicly recreates Sully's life centering around why the CVR goes silent for 30 seconds before Sully says "we're landing in the Hudson". And yes, seeing Nathan get HBO to build him a giant bedroom set for him to recreate being Sully as a baby was perversely funny, but him piecing together what assuredly is a ludicrous Evanescence theory was captivating in the best way. By the time he put those headphones on, well hell I was ready to believe it. But anyway, the best part of the show to me is the earnestness of his underlying theory - that power dynamics causes a lack of communcation which leads to many crashes. Not sure it will go anywhere, but beyond all the zaniness, the introspection, the brilliance that Nathan Fielder brings to the world, as always lies a kernel of truth and if this show can make flying safer - as someone who does fly on a plane ~90 times a year - then we're all the better for it. All I know is that we're all better for Nathan Fielder existing and continuing to put out masterpieces like this.

1.)  The Pitt  (Season 1, HBOMax)

For the second straight year, I watched a show that premiered early in the calendar year and thought to myself fairly immediately that "yeah, this is my #1. It will be nigh impossible to top it." Last year, it was Shogun, which aired in March. This year, it was The Pitt, which aired first on January 9th. 15 episodes - as close as we'll get to an old school TV season (not-broadcast division). Fifteen episodes, fifteen hours of the rawest, most emotional, most ethereal, most dramatic television you will ever see. The Pitt was brilliant for many reasons, from the acting including me discoverin Noah Wyle (I never watched ER), to the dramatic beats, to its deft take on so many issues from abortion to trafficing to gun violence. But two aspects set it apart - the realness and the way it respected its viewers. The concept of a hospital drama is far from a new one, but no show took it to this extreme. This was to hospital dramas what The Wire is to cop shows, and that is the best compliment I can give any show.

Much like The Wire packed the show with cop parlance from day one that normal people would have to take notes to keep up with, The Pitt did absolutely the same thing with medical terminology, and more than that medical procedures. The way it spared no damn expense in showing us the gore of emergency medicine, but the glory of its practictioners as well. It respected its audience. and paid that respect back by giving them a truly eye-opening view of what medicine is. More than that, we got to see competent people act competent. So much of TV is about lampooning the opposite. So much of our world is mired in the opposite, where seemingly dumbness is rewarded - or more pointedly, expertise is maligned. Well, The Pitt showed the world why that view is dumb, that highly trained people can do amazing things. Of course though, it was also human. The way it could craft some crazily meaningful and more than that lasting characters while all this zaniness was happening in the course of a day is mystifying. I'll never forget everything to do with Dr. Santos and Whitakers dynamic, or seeing Dr. Jahvadi stand up to her Mom, or seeing Dr. Langdon spiral downwards but then revive himself, and of course anything to do with Dr. Robbie. Few shows create this many indelible characters over seasons, let alone in theory one shift of work. The Pitt was truly something amazing, and easily was the best thing on TV in 2025.

My Top 20 TV Shows of 2025: #10 - #6

I don't know if this is true, but truly this might be the best set of a Top-10 yet. I'm sure if I actually looked back I could find a year to rival it, but more than anything what I love about my Top-10 this year is how damn all over the place is - from sitcoms to dramedies to dramas to whatever the hell it is Tim Robinson and Nathan Fielder are doing. Anyway - let's get to the Top 10.

10.)  The Righteous Gemstones  (Season 4, HBO)

On the one hand, this was probably outright the most "drama" or "story" heavy season of Gemstones yet, culminating with that incredible staged shootout at their summer estate. But when taht shootout also involves and already shot Jesse and Judy Gemstones are crawling across the floor to reach chekov's gun? Well, you've still got yourself gold. I did like that the season went to the root of how the Gemstone dynasty was created - from of course ex-Civil War turncoats and robber-barons. It also explore a lot around adult depression, loneliness and loss. The show was always more intrested in exploring religion and psyche than it was given credit for - none better than the alternating raunchiness and sadness around Eli's relationship with Lori. Also - of all the guest stars, my God was Sean Williams Scott brilliant as Corey. He is someone that needs a second career at this point, a good 25 years on from Stiffler. And of course, I can't leave this without talking up Baby Billy, which remains one of my favorite sitcom characters ever, and the role that even more than Boyd Crowder that Walton Goggins was born to play - hearing him say about his nanny that "we're not paying her to put on fashion shows. We're paying her to nan!" will remain with me long after this show has now left the air. Looking back, I appreciate that the early seasons were actually far more interesting about the question of if these churches are good or bad (there was more pro-church stuff than people will remember in those early episodes) but ultimately, mega-churches suck, but man as Gemstones showed, are they lampoonable.

9.)  The Chair Company  (Season 1, HBO)

I don't know if I Think You Should Leave is ever coming back, but if Tim Robinson has graduated to stuff like this (which combines the outright lunacy of ITYSL well with the serialized nature of The Detroiters) than I'll forgive him for it. The Chair Company was at its best when it didn't really know how close to ITYSL zaniness it should get - the best part being that conflict playing up mostly in Tim's own character - balancing a perfectly funny but staid sitcom type family life with a ITYSL everything else. Episodes like the fifth where we go to the bar and all hell brakes loose starting with the guy with a hole in his head. Like most best ITYSL stuff, writing plot points and siliness in text is a fool's errand to describe just how amazing it all is. What really impressed me though about the season was the mystery aspect. Yes, on its face Ron thinking there is a grand conspiracy against him because his office chair broke on stage is ITYSL stupid, but damn if he didn't figure out a way to make it compelling noir-type theater, from scary phone calls to voyeurs to actually revealing he was to some degree right about it all (after the brilliant drug-smuggling red herring). The season ended setting up multiple potential mysteries for Ron and daughter Natalie to explore with the other bunch of zany characters, and God I'm already smiling thinking of what ridiculous nonsense Tim Robinson will stuff into this crazy world of midwest Ohio. 

8.)  Dept. Q  (Season 1, NETFLIX)

We go from a noir played for comedy with just enough noir / mystery brilliance to keep you coming back to a noir played for dark as fuck topics, with just enough verve and fun to keep you coming back. Department Q flew way under the radar when it came out, but from word of mouth it grew into a surprise NETFLIX hit. In recent years, NETFLIX has done so well co-producing English/BBC stuff (Bodies, Adolescence) but Department Q may have been the weirdest to really succeed. The Wire meets Veronica Mars (though, to be fair, not as good as either), the show really showcased some small moments so well, while exploring PTSD, racisim, biases and so much more ailing police work around the world. The idea behind it was fairly novel, but its approach of putting a gruff leader-type managing a team of wackos wasn't all that novel. Either way, it combined to something special (and a graet theme song to boot). By the end of it, when it revealed just how dark the plot at its center was, it almost washed over you, focusing us all more on the success of this ragtag group actually cracking the case. Few characters have been more captivating than Matthew Goode's Carl Morck. Really curious where this show goes - flash of pan shows like this that get renewed have a mixed track record, but there are so many more cold cases to explore, so many more weird randos to run into in the weird world of Scotland, that I'll be happy to be along for the ride. Just maybe next time no holding humans hostage for years on end.

7.)  The Bear  (Season 4, FX)

My #1 show in 2023 deservedly fell on the list quite a bit last year in its misbegotten Season 3. It wasn't bad, but was way up its own ass, and truly not all that funny. Well, it's fourth season was an amazing return to form - from the comedy, to the heart, to the lack of famous chefs who can't act (a very annoying part of its 3rd season). It seems clear that Christopher Storer realized what made this show special in its first two seasons, and what made it a bit of a mess last year, and stripped it back. This was the restaurant being fairly normal and successful (apart from computer's countdown clock) but focused back on the core group off characters - from Carmie's realization on his self-destructive streak turning away Claire, to a brilliant Richie storyline of him coming to terms with his ex re-marrying and sharing affection for his daughter with her new stepfather, to even the nice storyline of the beef window being the only real profitable part of the company. The season set its sights so far more narrow than bringing in Thomas Keller types as guest stars - focusing on The Bear, making it finally a working restuarant worth visiting, and just given the characters an air of professional competence that allowed us to better appreciate their personal incompetence and failings. It may never reach the singular beauty that was its second season, which had still the best character-showcase episodes, but I'm heartened how much The Bear's creative team seemed to learn from the poor press its third season got to scale it back and sharpen it back to something so lovable. The fourth season ended with its best cliffhanger yet, with Carmie ceding the restaurant fully to Sydney and (reluctantly, of course) Richie, but we know he's coming back for something great, much like the show will itself.

6.)  It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia  (Season 17, FX)

Alan Sepinwall recently released his list of his 10 best TV shows of the year. The list shares some overlap - three of my Top-5 were on his list, including a shared number one. Surprisingly, he had Sunny rated higher than I do. Not sad in any way - if anything I love it - the show deserves it flowers. It's great reassurance that I wasn't crazy thinking how insanely good this season was. I'm honestly not even trying to grade them on a curve given the show is 17 years in and no other live action sitcom other than Curb has come within a decade of them season wise in a while. What was so incredible about this season was the consistency - there were no bad episodes. Hell, there were no average Sunny episodes. To me, they ranged from above average (e.g. Thought Leadership: A Corporate Conversation) to all-timers (Mac and Dennis become EMTs). The finale focusing on Frank finding love on the Golden Bachelor was also just a truly brilliant episode mixing normal Sunny sophomoric hilarity (Cock Chewah!) with poignancy that has been present often for Sunny at its best in recent years (Frank pouring his soul out to Carole King!). Between that, we got Mac and Charlie at a dog park, Frank as cake, a weirdly great Succession riff, their whole journey at Abbott Elementary (which worked perfectly despite me not watching that show), to Rob and Charlie accosting Cricket about if he ate a dick. This was Sunny distilled into something brilliant - to me their best 8-episode season yet (Season 14 to now). Technically, they're contracted to do an 18th and seems certain that such a season will exist. It's a bit of an unknown after that. One day this show will end, but it's clear at this point when it does, it will be because Rob, Charlie and Glenn chose to stop it, not because they lost an ounce of their brilliance.