Still in Peru?!

Trekking in Peru

 One of my fellow trekkers in Peru just uploades the above picture on Facebook. Immediately takes me back to this marvellous country. In fact, I wonder if I ever returned completely, at all.

Last Sunday I was on a Tianguis (street market) with H., and passing the corn vendor, I claimed that I'm really not so fond of "choclo". She gave me nothing more than a questioning look.

The reason? Choclo is the Peruvian word for corn, but in Mexico you say elote (if it's on the cob) or esquites (if it's prepared kernels)... ah and in Spain it's maíz (so much for "with Spanish you can travel all of Latin America"...).

Still slightly stuck in Peru. And from time to time funny things come to my mind, for example:
Peru is less developed than Mexico but...
... Peruvian toilet paper is so much better (don't ask me in which moments I'm thinking this).
... Peruvian supermarkets stock so many products and it's so much more international.

And I also have to think about the likeable Peruvian characteristics. For example, if you ask for the way and it turns out your destination is somewhat far away (by Peruvian standards, though), people will indicate you this distance by pronouncing the words looooooonger as well:

"Caminas de freeeeeeente." (Go straaaaaaaiiiiiiiiight).

One thing I will definitely not miss: You have to be really careful with forged money. Even if it's the real deal, but slightly damaged, many businesses will refuse to take it, and so should you. In Mexico, this is also an issue, but much less severe.

Talking of Mexico: Considered the weekends here in Mexico City, which are filled with exciting activities, I'm definitely not in Peru anymore. Last weekend included:

A visit to a contemporary dance performance on Friday. The show itself was a bit tiring (or "very modern" to express it in a more positive way), but H. and me were glad to see the sunset after the run. First a beautiful rainbow, and then this spectacular view:

Ah, no wait - I was talking about the sunset:

On Saturday, two German friends and I were strolling around Coyoacán's viveros, that is the tree farm were most of the plants for Mexico City's parks are raised.

And as you can see, there were not only lots of trees, but almost as many squirrels. Cute, but with an undeniable aggressive tendency...

At night, I went to a cinema with H. and we watched "Guten Tag, Ramón" ("Hello, Ramón"), a Mexican-German coproduction set in Wiesbaden. The German phrases were subtitled, but actually H. caught some sentences and as she seems to be eager to throw around expressions in my mothertongue, she asked me to tell her some more vocab. This has the amusing result that despite being in Mexico City with a Korean girl, I get to hear a lot of Klingt (nicht) gut (sounds (not) good), eins, zwei, drei (one two three), ja (yes), nein (no), Hunger (what you think it is).

To be honest, my efforts to get a grasp of the Korean language keep within clear limits. Especially when it comes to food, Korea and Japan have a lot of similarities. So, as I know the terms in Japanese, I'm actually too lazy to remember the Korean bungeoppang if I can express the same with the Japanese taiyaki. Or the Korean Bokkeun konggaru instead of the Japanese kinako.

But no matter in which language, it always will relate to something downright delicious. Whereas, waiting for the movie to begin, the nearby convenience store once again reminded me of how much of a Vegetarian's paradise Mexico is:

The standard sandwich selection: Ham, Ham, Ham, Ham, Ham, Ham....

On Sunday, H. and me first went to the aforementioned tianguis (street market) and then headed to an exhibition in Mexico's Museum of Modern Art. Free on Sundays (and for students like me free on every single day).

For dinner we went to my "homebase", the Condesa district, where you never have to walk a lot before finding some nice place to eat. We had lots of fun...

... and despite a tight weekend "schedule", I was apparently not the only one who felt pleasantly relaxed:

Oh, and to end with the most important, worldshaking news of all: After two months of indulging in "la dieta T" (the T diet, referring to the typical street food like tacos, tortas, tamales, tostadas, tlacoyos...), I begin to miss vegetables and started cooking again. And even for tasty treats which don't require any cooking, here in the capital I finally find all the necessary ingredients without any long shopping runs:

After more than one year, finally all the ingredients for one of my favourite treats: Cottage cheese with maple syrup and tahini. Yummy!