Eating Abroad: It's a Crapshoot

I traveled, I ate, I got home, I got sick.

Let's back up... There are more than a few "been there" dots on my travel map.  My first big trip abroad was to Egypt.  I thought I knew The Rules of eating abroad, but I wasn't experienced enough to really think them through.  The rules are: Cook, Boil, Peel, Seal.  Don't eat any meat that isn't COOKED, don't drink water unless it's BOILED, don't eat any fruits or veggies that you can't PEEL, and don't drink any beverages that aren't in a SEALED bottle.  Easy enough, but when you live in the US and you're used to eating almost anything in sight, you take that ease for granted.  I was staying at the Four Seasons so I figured I was going to be fine.  One evening I ordered up some hummus.  In hindsight: mistake.  Hummus isn't cooked, it's made with rinsed chickpeas.  I'm sure I may have eaten something else in the meantime, but a couple days later I was cursed with Mummy Tummy.  I felt so sick that day that I didn't want to eat anything heavy, so I ordered a salad.  D'oh!  Salad is raw, and the contents are rinsed in water.  And I had soda with ice.  Made with local water.  Let's say I learned my lesson after that trip.  I was well enough to work through my itinerary, but I was so bloated for 2 weeks I looked like I could birth a baboon.

A year later I was in England.  I drank bottled water, and I think I followed the 4 rules, but I didn't worry too much more about the food because we were staying in someone's home, and eating across the street at the pub.  Yummy, delicious, savory British pub food.  Nom nom nom... I digress.  Unfortunately my visit was timed with the worst outbreak of Norovirus that country had ever seen, and the entire village was sick before I even got there.  Needless today, I got it, too.  Not from food, but just from the air and a houseful of people.  It happens.  You see it every day in the winter, riding mass transit, sending the kids to school, or being in public.  Unless you're quarantined, you're likely going to get sick, too.  It was bad.  Not send-me-to-the-hospital bad, but bad.  Quick, though, just 36 hours turnaround and I was back to steak and ale pie in no time.

Insert Southeast Asia 2010.  How can you go to Thailand and NOT eat street food?  I went nuts.  Pad thai, street meat, grilled this, stir fry that... I ate nearly 3 meals a day on a sidewalk.  Literally popping a squat on a curb with a bent fork and a beat-up plastic plate that was washed in a bucket of suds.  Two weeks of street food in Thailand and Cambodia and I was in heaven.  Still, I followed the rules.  I could see the meat being grilled, the noodles were cooked, the water I purchased in bottles and checked the caps, the mangoes were peeled, the tea was piping hot.  And you know what?  Not a hint of any problems.  The rules worked.  I'm not sure I could have gotten away with much more, but I wasn't about to test it.  Success!

Next up: South American Adventure 2011, Peru and Easter Island.  The plan was the same: follow the rules, wash hands, but have fun.  And so we did.  We had alpaca, guinea pig, mystery street meat in Easter Island cooked out of a makeshift grill, ate at small family establishments, and the #42 best restaurant in the world.  Eating "different" food doesn't mean you'll get sick, it just means it's different.  As long as it's cooked, boiled, peeled, or sealed, I don't much care what it is.

When I returned to home, the very next day my stomach was a hot mess.  It went on for a couple weeks until I visited my doctor, she wrote out a Rx, and I thought I was all cured a couple weeks later.  Until last Monday when all hell broke loose and the illness made a mean resurgence.  I'll spare the gory details, but I was in the ER for 8 hours on an IV, pain meds, and anti-nausea meds until they deemed it safe to release me into the wild.  Turns out that the Peruvian stowaway in my stomach could have been from water (but see explanation below), or some jerk in a restaurant didn't wash their hands before handling my food (sez my doc).  Turns out that's the most likely explanation.

Carrie and I recounted where we ate and when.  That mystery street meat in Easter Island?  We both ate it, and she's fine.  Heck, she's BEEN fine this whole time.  We both brushed our teeth with the same tap water.  We shared entrees.  Ordered a lot of the same food.  The only occasions I can think of is a couple times when I ordered some pasta from a couple different restaurants.  After all, who handles spaghetti bolognese with their bare hands?  It was cooked, Rule #1.  I should be covered. 

The point is, you can follow all the rules, but sometimes there are other factors involved.  Hell, I'd be MORE prone to eat street meat next time because at least I can see it being prepared, cooked, handled, and straight into my mouth.  Get in my belly!  It turns out that what I had/have is pretty common and can be picked up easily in the US as well, although I was one of the special ones to be rewarded with doting at the hands of some handsome doctors. We know not what lurks on the hands of humanity and if it was smeared all over your delicious sandwich.  Or spaghetti. 

Was it worth it?  Hell yes.  I'd do it all again.  Pass the salt.

Peru and Easter Island Pictures

A few pictures.

Easter Island: Once in a Lifetime

Inside the Gran Hotel Bolivar

We checked into the Gran Hotel Bolivar in Lima Centro. It's like a cross between the Palmer House Hilton and the lodge in The Shining.  It was so old I was giddy with picture-taking.  Although old, it was silent, and exactly what I needed for a full night's sleep.  Yesterday we explored the catacombs of San Francisco church.  It was gorgeous, but it made me uncomfortable to see all the silver and gold go to waste in altars and crosses for the illusion of wealth and power.  But the catacombs were neat. We caught the tour in Spanish - no idea when the English tour was - so I was able to translate some, but Carrie was great in catching the gist of things and reading some English translations.  She's done an awesome job of picking up some Spanish here, if even understanding.

Iglesia San Francisco

Our next flight was to Easter Island with an overnight layover in Santiago. I managed to catch a few Z's here, but hell, it's a cold airport.  And it's winter. Luckily Easter Island is more tropical so we stepped off the plane to sunshine and warm weather. It's a small airport, with no gates, just the tarmac and a small terminal with a grass parking area.  After checking in to our hotel and some lunch, we a rented a little Jeep. There is on town on the island, and it has a frontier feel, very sleepy. It also has a Polynesian feel, with some locals  sporting island features, native clothes, and we overheard some rapa nui language.

Driving. Best idea ever.  And I love to drive, so this would be fun.  On Saturday, our full day of sightseeing, we were able to stay ahead of the tour groups and be independent.  We got up and out early and started at the nearest volcano to own.  Volano! It was dormant, but at the top was the ancient ceremonial village of Orongo, and the rocky outcrop offshore where men would lie in wait each year to claim the first bird's egg. This was the birdman ceremony.

Next we skirted the southern coast, stopping at select Moai, and definitely pictures of the ocean crashing against the rocky black shoreline. We only had the jeep until 4pm so we had to be selective in what we saw, but we knew what the "must see" places were, so we had a plan. At Ranu Raraku we stopped to see Moai in varying state of quarry, and it's the image you see most often of the heads nestled into a grassy hillside.

As we rounded a turn, we saw the 15 Moai lined up at the site known as Ahu Tongariki. When we drove up and stepped out, we realized we were the only ones there! They were toppled in the 17th century, then in 1960, a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Chile pushed them further inland. When a Japanese businessman saw the administrator of the island say they'd restore the monuments if they had a crane, the businessman organized a team to lead the restoration.  Now they stand majestic, 15 in a row with the ocean to their backs.

 Further up the road was Anakena beach.  Tall palm trees, green grass, bring blue ocean, black volcanic rocks, and fine white sand.  Postcard picture perfect with a row of Moai and some wild horses.  This had to be the most remote beach on the most remote island on Earth.  I wish we had another day to lie on the beach and relax.

Lastly we began our final drive into town. The windows were down, sun shining, and we were slowly dodging cattle and wild horses that were lingering on the roads. In some cases, those roads were just dirt paths.  Cruising along in 4th gear, approach a gulley, downshift quickly, and attempt to navigate around craters and trenches. I was really a lot of fun despite the jolting. It felt more like an adventure, even when we were the only ones in sight on those roads... Er, cow paths. We saw beautiful vistas of the expansive sea, and hillsides covered in purple and yellow flowers, and eucalyptus trees with that minty aroma.  It was perfect.

Sadly we had to return our trusty jeep. Afterward we explored an area of the village we hadn't visited yet, and we heard was the hub of local activity.  Near the harbor was a soccer game with the obligatory hecklers on the sidelines.  At the harbor, children were climbing on fishing boats and the mooring ropes. We bought some street food from two ladies that were grilling up some meat and veggies on a skewer our of a makeshift 55 gallon drum turned into a grill.  And old man nearby commented that it was delicious, especially with a beer.  We held off on the beer, but when the meat was done, we sat on a curb facing the harbor and the lady handed us a large skewer, a plate, tore off some chunks of bread, and gave us a bowl of sauce/salsa for dipping. We tore into it with our fingers, watching the kids play, an team prepare their outrigger canoes, and the soccer game across the street.  It was marvelous in its simplicity, as one of the ladies shoo'd away dogs waiting for our scraps. We completed our snack by stopping for some ice cream (Carrie) and fresh squeezed guava juice (me).

We walked to a nearby playground where we sat on a bench by the water and watched the sun set and the surfers offshore.  A perfect end to a perfect day. Our flights back to Lima would be the next day.  As I complete this entry, we're between Santiago and Lima, leaving Easter Island behind. I can't wait to sleep in, send out some laundry, find some more ceviche for lunch, and perhaps more street food for dinner. Two more days in Lima to relax, recover, shop, explore, and eat before heading home.

South America: The Agenda Ahead

When I'm on the road, I'll blog as often as possible about our adventures so I can keep the details fresh and down on record before details of the memories begin to fade.  When I'm home, I blog only every few weeks, but I love writing on the road.  I often look back at my own entries from years later and I'm flooded with memories and smiles, and sometimes the slightest scent riding on a breeze of where I visited.  So if you're interested in following along with my travels, subscribe with your email address at the bottom of the page, and/or look for updates on Facebook.  Our itinerary is outlined below in case you're interested in some of the sites we'll be visiting and know when to look for updates.

May 24-26: Lima
We'll hang out here for a couple days, just to settle in.  We won't explore too much since we'll be kicking off the trip pretty quickly the next day, but it'll be good to rest up before we head inland.  Per my friend Nancy's recommendation, we'll be staying in the Barranco neighborhood, just south of Miraflores.

May 26-28: Cusco
Cusco, the capital of the ancient Inca empire, is where we'll be camped for a few days in order to acclimate to the altitude, approximately 11,000 feet.  As an asthmatic, I've been training my lungs for months to get into shape and be able to breathe better.   I hope it pays off, because at just 9,000 feet in Breckenridge a few years back, I experienced some struggles with the altitude.  A few days at the B&B with free oxygen tanks, some coca tea, and we should be good to go.  We're also pretty excited about visiting Awana Kancha, a llama and alpaca sanctuary outside Cusco.  Samantha Brown visited during one show and with Carrie's enthusiasm for llamas, and as much fun as I had at the elephant sanctuary last year, it'll be nice to get out of town and into nature, up close and personal with the animals.  Here the animals are sheared, and local women dye and weave it into blankets, ponchos, hats, and whatnot, then the proceeds are returned to the surrounding villages to support schools and welfare.  I'm a fan of conscious tourism (or as much as I can be conscious of what I do and visit), so this place appeals to us on a few levels.

May 28-29: Machu Picchu
Well, there it is, folks.  My only fear here is encountering fog.  Rain I can handle.  Fog that obstructs the view... well... Let's cross our fingers and pray to some Incan god for sunshine.  It's supposed to be the dry season, but the 10 day forecast shows rain in Cusco.  We shall see.  As Samantha Brown did, she should have just waited it out and she'd see the ruins just fine.  (And no, we did not plan this trip around Samantha Brown.  She just happened to visit a lot of places that were great reference material for our trip)  We'll be taking a taxi up to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley, from where we'll catch a train to Aguas Calientes/Machu Picchu Pueblo, then find our B&B for the night.  The next day we'll be up at 4am to catch a bus up to the ruins, and climb Huancaya Picchu to watch the sun rise over Machu Picchu.  They only allow a limited number of people to climb the neighboring mountain and ancient trail per day, so we want to be among the first.  If I've learned anything in my travels, it's this: If someone tells you that getting up at the crack of ass to see the sun rise is worth it, you do it (see also: Cambodia/Angkor Wat).  After our visit, we'll hop a 3hr train ride back to Cusco.  It'll be nice to settle into some big cozy seats for a train journey through the Andes.

May 30-June 1: Nazca
This is where it gets interesting.  Riding a bus through Peru.  Disaster stories abound.  At least we picked a reputable bus company so I hope I don't have to envision us plunging to our deaths over a Andean cliff, pushed aside by an overtaking chicken bus (or is that in Guatemala?).  It's a 6 hour journey to Nazca, and I may be more excited about this place than Machu Picchu (but only slightly).  On the 31st we'll go to the local airstrip where we'll board a 12-seater (one of the larger planes) to view the Nazca Lines.  My wristbands and Dramamine are packed.  The lines can be seen best from the air, as they're lines carved in the hard desert ground thousands of years ago, in the shapes of men, monkeys, spiders, birds, and other figures.  It's still a mystery why and how they were created, but fascinating nonetheless.  I was obviously leery of boarding a tiny plane in rural Peru, but after some FAA research and advice from very reputable travel agents, we settled on a tour company that contracted through the best airline for this treat.  And thanks to Allison's pilot dad, he helped me overcome my fear of flying so one day I'd be able to do this!

June 1-2: Lima
Upon leaving Nazca we'll board another bus for the 8 hour ride back to Lima along the Panamerican Highway (which runs from Alaska to Ushuaia).  Back in Lima we're staying at a hotel that has been reviewed as "tacky", "horribly gaudy," and "old" that we couldn't resist that kind of charm and character.  Plus it's in an old palace in the heart of the city so at least for a day we'll be exploring a new neighborhood.  Carrie located Iglesia de San Francisco where we'll be visiting the catacombs below.  Bones!  Also in this area is where we'll find the national soccer - er, football - stadium so it'd be fun to try to catch a game.  Someone just has to warn us what colors NOT to wear.

June 2-5: Easter Island
Reality still hasn't set in that we'll be visiting Easter Island.  We even took horseback riding lessons a few weeks ago to prep for this leg of the trip, since it was my bright idea (to Carrie's protests) to rent horses for an afternoon to explore the moai around the town.  However, for the next full day, we'll likely be renting a Jeep so we can get around faster and keep the horsies to a minimum.  There are no hotel chains or "brands" on this island of only 105 square miles, so our "hotel" is actually an private cabin outside town, by the water.  I don't know what else to write about Easter Island, since information is scarce even on the internet.  However, that doesn't make me any less excited!!

June 5-8: Lima
This is where we relax and wind down for a few days.  Maybe some salsa dancing.  Some ceviche by the Fisherman's Wharf.  Some shopping.  And after San Pellegrino released their annual list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants, we secured a reservation at #42: Astrid y Gaston on our final night.  We'll take these 3 days for some R&R before we head back stateside.