The beach at Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Toluca on December 24th!

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Downpour!

By the time you are reading this, we will be somewhere up in the Peruvian Andes. We are being picked up at 4:45am for a 3 hour bus ride to the trailhead for the Laguna 69 hike.

This is a popular hike that leads to a turquoise glacial lake located at 15,000 ft elevation. Are we ready for that? Not sure, but I guess we'll find out today!

And because of that, Monday was a day of rest. We didn't even leave the apartment until after 1:00pm despite the fact that it was a beautiful morning.

And by the time we did leave, it was starting to get a bit cloudy. We walked to the central area and found the Scotiabank to get some cash. Then, we made our way to one of the many "Chifa" restaurants.

Chifa is a culinary tradition that mixes Chinese Cantonese foods with Peruvian ingredients and traditions. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a large wave of Chinese immigrants that came to settle in Peru. 

We had seen a lot of these restaurants and decided to give one a try. I chose one based on google reviews. When we arrived at close to 2pm, there were only two empty tables.

We decided on the duck with vegetables, and a chicken rice dish.

Lots of veggies... with a few pieces of duck.

Not a whole lot of meat, but it was good nonetheless.

Chicken rice.

By Peruvian standards, it wasn't cheap. This was one of the higher quality places though. With a 1/2 jug of juice, the bill for the two of us came to 39 soles ($15.65 CAD, $12.00 USD).

Not bad, and it definitely filled us up.

Towards the end of the meal, I could hear some noise outside... like rain. Really heavy rain.

And that's what it was... what a downpour. The street outside the restaurant was flooded.

Well, it is rainy season!

We made a grocery stop to get some snacks for today's hike on the way back to the apartment. We were lucky that it was only spitting by that point and we didn't get wet at all because it rained on and off for another couple of hours after that.

Looking forward to showing you how our day went today! You could always check in at our facebook page and maybe we'll be able to update you there.

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Record low price on the Bushnell Legend Ultra HD Roof Prism Binoculars. They're great, this is the set we carry around in the motorhome.

And in Canada...

Halloween Candy Variety Pack

8 comments:

  1. Hope your boots are water proof and have rain gear to wear. My daughter bought me most of my hiking/camping gear from REI. We slept in 25 or less degree weather at foot hills of the Sierras and woke to frost on ground. I was toasty in my tent, cot, and sleeping bag that take minimal space in car and tent. I waited until the sun hit the tent before climbing out LOL The sleeping bag is so light yet rated at zero degrees...I could actually backpack it if need be.

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    1. Yes, we have waterproof boots and rain gear with us!

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  2. That plate of chicken rice was a generous serving! Hope you don’t get too much rain while you’re there.

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    1. Yes, it was very big and so was the stir-fried vegetables and duck. We shared a bit of each and it totally filled us up.

      We are at the start of the rainy season so I am sure we will see rain each and every day but hopefully our hikes will be done before the rain starts. It seems to rain mostly in the afternoon and only for a short an hour or two and then it is done.

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  3. Chifa is a popular dish in Ecuador too! In Ecuador they consider it cheap food. I loved it and ate it every chance I got. And as you said, very filling.

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    1. We had never heard of it before this trip. The place we went to was a bit pricey by Peruvian standards but the helpings we were big and the dishes we had were delicious.

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  4. It poured for hours here too (Ottawa). I went for my power walk anyway since I'd been sitting in front of a screen all day. Part of my route goes through a park and it was interesting how different the rain sounds when the grass is almost totally covered with leaves.

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    1. Yes, we had read that Ottawa had another huge downpour the other day. Glad that it didn't stop you from getting out and doing your power walk. If it is not raining hard I like walking in it too and listening to the different sounds it makes.

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