Peruvian Fruiteria

Welcome to the Fruiteria around the corner from the office.

To get there, we have to pass by The Embassy of the United States of America...which is just across the street. After I shot about five rounds, the local yokeros crossed the street to tell me not to photo the Embassy. I told them..."Soy Unidencia y Soy de donde Estados Unidos."  They didn't care..that I was an American and from the United States.


It is a windy day, but if you look close at the next photo, you can see the outline of the Andes in the background....










Has anyone out there ever tasted a CHIRIMOYA?
It is big, green, and ugly...but when you cut into it, the color is creamy white.

Its flavor is like nothing you can imagine...but I will try to describe it for you...
Ten times sweeter than a ripe pear.
Smooth and creamy as an over-ripe banana.
Smells like clover honey.
The flavor is like mango, guava, pineapple, banana, and apple all in one fruit.
It is the favorite fruit of Chileans...


Hola! My name is Carmelita and I work in the Fruiteria...  "Please, let me cut some fruit for you?"  She is thinking..."and because you are a gringa....I will charge you TEN TIMES THE PRICE!"

NOT TODAY....
 My Incan princess was watching out for me!










Here she is cutting what my Incan princess calls "JUNGLE FRUIT." She does not know the name of this, but it was differnt...white, juicy and sweet.

I think I have seen these in the martkets that cater to Central Americans in Houston.

Next we have the Granadilla...

It smells very much like a mango, but when you pick it up, it is light as air.

When Jennifer opened it up with her fingers, inside there was a pulpy, seedy center. Each large seed was surrounded by an even larger, clear gelatinous pulp. Jennifer couldn't tell me in English how I needed .to eat this, but she motioned with her fingers...indicating by stroking her throat that I should just suck it out of its container and then let it slide on down...not chewing the seeds. The seeds are good for digestion, so she said.

OK....DOWN IT GOES! 

Hmmm....  Unusual flavor...  The Peruvians mash this watery pulp to give their babies for colic. Interesting...  So far, I have eaten at least five of these fruits off the breakfast bar. Not dead yet...

Next I spied a lemon! The one this I could recognize. This is not the standard limon cevichera that I have seen before. This beautiful lemon is like a squatty peach...dense, but mild.

Here is another fruit I have never seen before...a husk cherry.

It is bittersweet....but would make good cough syrup! UGH! Phew phew....

I will write more on the fruits of South America. There is the mysterious Guanabana, which will be in season this coming January. As I discover, I will post. It is only fair!



Santiago Tour 1 - The End

My legs are suffering today after my FIRST tour of Santiago with the girls from the office. It was a good Sunday to walk our legs off to our hips just to see central Santiago. So much to see...so little time. The girls have promised to go again! YEAH!
My tour guides....Lead Project Controls engineer, Paula Torrent (R) and our lead estimator, Loreto Deney (L).

In this photo, they are taking a snack break at the end of our long day. We are on the top of Cerro San Cristobal, an 880 meter foothill ridge just inside the city limits of Santiago, where a large statue of the Virgin Mary overlooks the city.



Many professional bicyclists ride the hill getting ready for the Tour de France as the uphill climb is torturous. Loreto insisted that we have a typical Chilean snack called Mote con Huesillo as an end to a perfect day.

It is pronounced..Motay con Wheyseeshyo.

Mote con huesillo is a traditional Chilean summer-time drink, known as the “refreshing national drink.” It consists of a sweet, clear, nectar like liquid made from dried peaches (huesillos) cooked in carmelized sugar,water and cinnamon, and then once cooled, it is mixed with fresh cooked husked wheat (mote) that sinks to the bottom of the glass. They give you a spoon to eat the trigo and to fish out a couple of dried whole peaches.

Un vaso de Mote...
My estimator kept telling me today, when I asked if he liked this...
"It is Ref-freshing...Ref-freshing."








Here are few pics of the Virgin Mary. She is a big girl.
I took this first shot from the deck area where people can buy souvenirs, mote, and snacks...

 I made it! You should see the view!

This was taken as I walked up steep stairs to the platform.









See what I can see from way up here?

This is the hour called "The Pink Time", when the sun sets and turns the snow on the Andes and clouds shades of pink....








After walking all day, we decided NOT to walk to the top, which would have taken about 3 hours. Instead we stood in line to ride the "Funicular", which is a hillside tram that was built in 1925. To get to the tram, we had to enter the "Castle". But it was an entertaining 30 minute wait by the troubador who played, hoping for money tossed into his old floppy hat...see photos below...

The Castle of the Funicular...
Mwah ha ha ha...I vant to dreeenk yor vlood....

The old large blooming trees in the park were lovely...

I picked this photo off the internet to show you what it looks like in winter...

The Troubadour

The tram

It is a steep ride up.....

and down....

The view through the top of the cars.








But even when you get to the top of the Funicular, you are not at the top of the park.
You have to climb many sets of steps. Here is a pic of a guy pulling his way up! I know how he feels...

About 3/4 the way up the climb, there is a chapel that overlooks the city. Many weddings take place here. I took a photo of the gargoyles sitting on the edge of the roof...

And this is the park below the platform where the people collapse after walking up the stairs...

The park zoo is about half way up the cerro. It is precariously perched on the hillside, where the tram stops to let off the children. Maybe next time I will get off and tour the zoo....

More pics to come...perhaps I will start at the beginning of the tour next time! 

Bloody Tuna

Once again I have made another trek to Peru. It has been an interesting visit so far. In Chile and Peru they have a cactus that looks very much like our South Texas prickly pear. The fruit of these cacti pears, commonly called cactus fig, Indian fig or TUNA in Spanish and are deliciously edible. I have enjoyed this seedy, sweet fruit at many hotel breakfast buffets....not knowing I was eating prickly pear fruit!

Until I was invited by my new friend/office assistant to go on a lunchtime tour of a Peruvian fruit market around the corner from one of our larger offices, I was totally ignorant. There are so many wonderful fruits in South America. How could I refuse? She is very proud of her country (Peruvian Pride = "orgulloso") and wanted to show me what Peru has to offer.


Please allow me to introduce my Incan princess  Jennifer Valera. She is standing in front of the market we are to visit.
I am humbled by her knowledge...
She has a Masters Degree in Project Management and works for Jacobs Engineering in Lima, Peru. She is also tri-lingual in Spanish, English, and is working on fluency in Korean, as she loves to read Korean love novels.



Here are a few pics of the "tuna" I chose from the buffet this morning...and what it looks like after I have peeled it for my afternoon snack.

Most of the tuna in Chile is green, so my estimator, who traveled with me this time, wanted to know what kind of tuna I had. He was intrigued because he had never seen a red tuna before.
So, I made up a name and called it "Bloody Tuna!"

If you ever see this on a buffet...TRY IT!
"Bloody Tuna" is delicious...if you don't mind the seeds!