Review of Dollar Tree's Peruvian Hat

I believe this was a very lucky find on my part. I don't remember which Dollar Tree store I found the hat in. One annoying thing about the Dollar Tree chain is the inventory can vary from store to store. I remember this being true with a waiter's cork screw I searched for. You couldn't find one in the Laurel or Jessup, Maryland stores but, they had them at their South Lyon, Michigan store (I was visiting my Dad at the time).

The hat as far as I know, it does have a Peruvian design. A label on the hat says it's made in China. Annoyingly, I can't find a label saying what it's made out of. A true Peruvian (as far as I know) would be made out of baby alpaca or alpaca wool with baby alpaca being softer. I know this from when I did an absolutely awesome tour of the country years ago. I very much doubt the hat is made of alpaca wool though I can't prove that.

The hat does a good job of keeping my head warm and, it has flaps that come over my ears covering them as well. It had cords on the side that if need be, you could tie though you should't have to. The hat looks nice in my opinion.

Overall, I consider this hat to be a great find at whatever Dollar Tree I found it at. Sadly, I've been to 8 or 9 different Dollar Tree stores and, I only found this hat at 1 forgotten store. I wish this hat was more widely available as I think it's a really good deal for folks who want a good hat to keep their head warm during the winter. For a $1, it's an absolute steal. I give this product 2 big thumbs up! Stay warm all!

Belle Sole Grilled & Marinated Asparagus Review

Back in February, Living Social offered a great deal on a BJ's Warehouse Club membership. Because of that, I decided to take the deal and join BJ's. As I had no idea what they had, I walked around their Columbia, Maryland warehouse club and discovered Belle Sole Grilled & Marinated Asparagus. As I really like asparagus, I decided to buy a jar of it and see if it was any good.

I found the asparagus thanks to the marinade has a really nice flavor. Thanks to Belle Sole not overcooking the asparagus, the asparagus still has some crunch left in it. I don't care for limp asparagus. Belle Sole also earns points with me in that they tell you how much dry weight i.e. actual asparagus you get in each jar (1 pound .75 ounces) which weighs 2 pounds 2.2 ounces.

Price wise, BJ's offers this fine product at what I think is a very good price i.e. $6.99. I liked the price so much, I went back and bought 4 more jars of it.

Another interesting thing to me personally is the product is made in Peru. I have fond memories of Peru from my Globus Legacy of the Incas tour there. That the product in Peruvian made another point with me.

Overall, I was really pleased with Belle Sole's grilled & marinated asparagus. It has good flavor, the asparagus is crunchy and, BJ's offers it as a very good price. It can serve as a nice side dish to a meal or as a nutritious snack. This is one product I'd definitely recommend if you like asparagus. I give this product a big thumbs up. Bon Appetit!

Update: Yesterday (June 5, 2015), I visited the Columbia BJ's and to my great displeasure found out the BJ's there no longer has this product. I don't know where else you may find it as I've never seen it at Sam's Club or Costco. I would recommend this product if you can find it.

Update: June 7, 2015: I decided to drive out to the BJ's at Owings Mills, Maryland to see if they have this product. To my delight, they do however, if you want to buy some, you may want to move fast as they don't have many jars left. I don't know if they'll be putting out any more.  I discovered another nice thing about this product. It has a long shelf life. According to the use by date on the lid, this product stays good for something like 2 years!

Inca Kola Review

On a train trip from Ollantaytambo, Peru to Aguas Calientes, Peru to see the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu, I got to try Inca Kola for the first time. My tour director Mauricio told me it's the national soft drink of Peru. I found it different. To those of us in the United States (U.S.), Inca Kola is VERY different from what we're used to cola drink wise. All colas in the U.S. are black in color. Inca Kola is bright yellow. Also, Inca Kola has a some what sweet taste and, folks in the U.S. would say it tastes like bubble gum or club soda. To me, it tastes like bubble gum.

After my Peru tour ended and, I returned to the U.S., I stumbled upon Inca Kola at a Shopper's Food Warehouse (SFW) supermarket. As I'd an awesome time in Peru, I decided to get a bottle of the soft drink. I found I still like the stuff. Price wise, Wegmans sells a 2 liter bottle of it for $1.79 while SFW sells the 2 liter bottle for $1.89. However, SFW offers a greater range of the product. They have it in glass bottles, cans, plastic bottles and the diet version. Wegmans only offers it in the 20 ounce and 2 liter plastic bottles in the regular flavor i.e. no diet version. Inca Kola isn't found in the normal soda section of either store. You'll find it in the International Foods sections of each chain.

In preparation for this post, I did a little further research into the soda and, I discovered some interesting facts about the soda. The reason it is so popular in Peru is because it originated there and, the company based a lot of its appeal on Peruvian nationalism. Inca Kola is interesting in another way in that they are one example where the local brand beat out the International brand. Coca Cola tried to beat Inca Kola in Peru and lost due to better marketing on the part of Inca Kola Corporation and its parent company Jose R. Lindley Corporation (source: http://marketing.blogs.ie.edu/archives/2008/09/inca_kola_the_s.php). Sadly, Inca Kola decided to sell out to Coca Cola in 1997 for $300 million dollars though they got to keep the rights to the product in Peru as well as take over the distribution of all Coca Cola products there. Coca Cola in turn promised to promote the soda throughout the world and apparently has done so some what as it is available in the U.S. One last note though on the downside is that the U.S. version of Inca Kola may have more caffeine that its Peruvian version. According to a poster on the source webpage, the U.S. version may have 2 or 3 times the amount of caffeine than Coke (shades of Mountain Dew Batman). I wonder if Coca Cola decided to try to have the product compete with Mountain Dew in that way as they are close in color.

Overall, I like Inca Kola though others may not. I'm not crazy about the high level of caffeine in it but, I do like the taste and, it reminds me a lot of Peru when I enjoy a glass of the soda. Also, it isn't that much more expensive and than other name brands in the U.S. If you haven't tried Inca Kola and, you think you might like a soda that tastes like bubble gum, you might want to give it a try if you can find it. Happy drinking all!

Mega Chicken Laurel Maryland

I drive and ride on Maryland-198 a lot. As a result, I've passed by a restaurant called Mega Chicken (address 3485 Ft. Meade Rd i.e. Maryland-198) a number of times. The restaurant claims to sell charcoal cooked chicken Peruvian style. As I have fond memories of my Globus tour of Peru, I've been wanting to try out their chicken for a while. Today, I decided to treat myself to some. I bought their half chicken meal for $7.25 which comes with a small standard salad (iceberg lettuce and shredded carrot pieces) and a choice of either rice, standard french fries or yucca (sweet potato) fries. Also, they include 1 small cup each of an unidentified yellow sauce and an unidentified green sauce.

The salad was nothing to get excited about and came with a small cup of a salad dressing I couldn't identify. As I wanted to try something different, I went with the yucca fries and was glad I did. I didn't find them very sweet but, they were pretty good. I enjoyed them more than having the standard french fries. I dipped the yucca fries in the 2 different sauces. I found the yellow sauce all right and very mild. The green sauce reminded me of a dining mishap I had in Peru. During my tour there, on our way back from Paracas, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. They served a salad with the meal I ordered. There was a slice of what looked standard green pepper. I promptly stuck the whole thing in my mouth and munched it. I found out very quickly that was a big mistake. It wasn't your standard green pepper. It had plenty of zing and, I had tears coming down from the fire in my mouth. I'm pretty certain the unidentified green sauce is made with the same green pepper I had in Peru. In regards to the chicken, I found it tasty and tender. It readily came off the bone and, it was easy to eat.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with Mega Chicken. Parking was good, service was prompt and, the food was pretty good (better than good). I thought it was reasonably priced too. I particularly liked the yucca fries which is something you can't find routinely here in the U.S. I saw on the menu they offer fried plantains which I've tried once in St. Lucia and, I'd like to try again. Also, they sell the national soft drink of Peru i.e. Inca Kola. They offer it in 16 ounce plastic bottles for $1.25. This isn't the best deal as down the street at Shoppers Food Warehouse, you can get a 2 liter bottle for $1.59 I believe. I like Inca Kola but, I will warn soft drink drinkers, it tastes VERY different from your standard cola drinks (more like bubble gum). If you would like to try some Peruvian charcoal cooked chicken, this place is worth checking out.

Uros Indians

One of the most interesting groups I got to learn about while touring Peru with Globus this January was the Uros Indians. The indians history goes back centuries. They were living at Lake Titicaca when the legendary Incas rose to power. The Incas conquered the area and, they demanded the Uros pay either tribute or in labor. The only tribute the Uros could give the Incas was salt which they refused. The Uros refused to work for the Incas so the Incas kicked them off the land. For centuries, the Uros would live on the lake on house boats. Then, at a time where the water was low on the lake, apparently some reeds grew through some lake soil. When the waters rose again, the soil with the reeds floated. These pieces of floating land would form the basis for the Uros man made floating islands which over 1,000 of them live on today as you can see in these pictures. The first pictures shows how the Uros build their islands. They constantly replenish the reeds on the islands so their islands don't fall apart. The second picture shows the colorful dress of Uros women. Men typically wear colorful hats as seen in the first picture. The last picture shows a uniquely Uros way of raising guinea pigs which are raised for food. In this case, the Uros built a small island within their main island for their guinea pigs to live. Presumably, the guinea pigs can't swim so the water makes a very effective gate to keep their guinea pigs in one place.

Lake Titicaca

Another stunning natural scene I saw during my Globus tour of Peru was Lake Titicaca. The lake is unique in that it is the highest navigable body of water in the world. It's located at 12,500 feet! The lake is over 50 miles long and, I believe over 30 miles wide at its widest point. It's over 900 feet deep at its deepest point. The lake is shared by Peru and Bolivia. While visiting the lake, my tour group got to visit 2 different indians groups that live on it. I'll tell more about them in later blog entries.

Nazca Plain Drawings

One of the most fascinating mysteries of Peru are the famous Nazca plain drawings. The drawings can only be fully seen from up in the air. Some of the drawings stretch for miles. While there are a number of trapezoids (shown above) and lines, there are also drawings of a hummingbird (shown above), spider, monkey, dog, whale and an owl/space man as well as others. The drawings were hacked out of the parched soil and because the area gets very little rain, they've endured for centuries. The last accepted theory that I heard as why the drawings were made was that they were appeals or offerings to the mountain gods. The ancient Nazcans believed it was the mountain gods that provided the needed water that they used to grow their crops. All the water in the region came from the mountains.

These pictures were taken in an airplane I flew on out of Pisac, Peru. The plane flew to the Nazca Plain and descended to 1,800 feet. The aircrew would bank left then right so passengers on both sides of the airplane could get pictures of the various drawings. Due to the tight banking, the airplane ride could be one exciting ride. Still, it was well worth it as it was really something to see these famous mysterious drawings. This was part of my Legacy of the Incas Globus tour which I did in January 2011.

Lima Cathedral

This is a picture of the national cathedral in Lima, Peru. The cathedral was built during colonial times. One particularly noteworthy item about the cathedral is this is where Francisco Pizarro is buried. Pizarro is the man who conquered the Incas and brought down the Incan empire. He did it even though he was horribly outnumbered. He would become richer than he could ever imagine and was made a marquis by the Spanish king. He founded the city of Lima, the city of kings on January 18, 1535. He was assassinated on June 26, 1541.

Sacsayhuaman

One of the first examples of Incan engineering I got to see in Peru was the remains of the Inca fortress Sacsayhuaman. The fortress was located above the city of Cuzco which was the capital of the Incan empire. The fortress is famous for some of the MASSIVE stones that were built within its walls. Some of the stones weigh over 100 tons. As you can see, the stones were expertly carved and placed to where they interlock perfectly. Keep in mind, the Inca did this with stone chisels. The precision they achieved is incredible. The site of the fortress sadly is but a shade of what it would've looked like in Inca times. After the Spaniards conquered the fortress, they used it as a quarry for stone used in buildings in Cuzco so a LOT of the fortress was torn down over the years. Still, what remains of the great fortress can still impress visitors and give an idea of some of the incredible things the Inca did during their all too brief period of empire.

Machu Picchu

Above is a picture I took of the famous lost Inca city of Machu Picchu. I took the picture as I was coming down from a hike to the Sun Gate. The Sun Gate was one of the primary ways the Incas entered the city of Machu Picchu. The gate is located 990 feet about the city and has stunning views of the city and the valley below. Our local guide Rudy asked how many intrepid souls wanted to try the hike up to the gate. I was 1 of 8 crazies who decided to do it. It was one heck of a hike. It took us at least 2 hours and, I was never so glad to see the top as when I FINALLY reached it. The thinner air really kicked my butt. Still, it was neat doing the hike and, it gave me another memorable adventure on this incredible tour I took of Peru in January.

Peru Tour

I promised to post blog entries on here about my Globus tour of Peru but, I nevere got around to it. Part of it was time, I didn't have time to post long blog entries on here. Any readers I have who want to read about my Peru tour should check Globus's Facebook page. I posted daily short entries there. After I got back, I posted 5 pictures I took from the tour.

In regards to the tour itself, it was fantastic. Machu Picchu was incredible. The Incas didn't have metal pipes. They used carved stone instead and, the stones were placed so tightly together the water didn't leak out. Four centuries after Machu Picchu was built, the stone plumbing the Incas built is still working. The Nazca plain drawings were fascinating as well. Lines and trapezoids that stretched for miles. There incredibly drawn creatures you could only see from the sky. Lake Titicaca was stunning. It is the world's highest navigable lake and, the largest in South America. It sits at an altitude of 12,500 feet! While there, our group got to learn of the Uros indians who live on man made islands. The islands were fascinating. They are composed of reeds. Three feet of the reeds are compost while another 4 feet of reeds are in the process of composting. The indians continually add to the reeds. I visited one such island. All totalled, it had over 7 feet of compost and reeds and was floating over 45 feet of water. Every step you took, your foot sank a little. Incredibly, over 1,200 Uros indians live on 50 of these man-made islands. The indians have lived on these islands since the 1950's. Before that, they lived on house boats for over 4 centuries.

Lima was interesting city. It had stunning hotels and appalling shanty towns. It had modern shopping malls and pre-Incan adobe pyramids. It had a yacht club not far from where local fishermen sold their catch on the beach. It had an indian market where you could buy stunning hand made crafts and, McDonalds, Burger King and Pizza Hut. It seem quixotic in my opinion.

One thing I will warn travellers who are going to go to Peru is the thin air at the higher altitudes. It isn't a joke. It will affect you. Any kind of serious exertion will leave you sucking for air until you get adjusted to it which may take a month. A number of hotels we stayed at offered free oxygen because of this problem. Also, travellers could buy bottles of oxygen for themselves. I know at least 1 member of tour did that. Also, you could expect some serious climbs to see some of the sights in the mountains. There were 249 steps alone to get to the top of the Incan site at Ollaytaytambo. Ollaytaytambo was a warm up in regards to Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu was fascinating in another way in that you took at local bus to get to it. The bus zigzagged its way up a mountain climbin 1,950 feet in about 20 minutes. It got interesting when a descending bus met an ascending bus and, they had to try to pass each other on the narrow road.

Another highlight was the train ride from Ollaytaytambo to Machu Picchu. We were in observatory type cars with wide windows. Soaring mountains were every where and, the railroad tracks followed the Urabamba River. As you descended from Ollaytaytambo to Machu Picchu, you could see the vegetation change. Where initially the mountains were covered with grass and weeds and had few frees, when you reached Machu Picchu, they were covered with trees. I would heartily recommend this train ride to anyone. As far as I know, it's the only way into Machu Picchu. Last year, when heavy rains washed out parts of the track, Machu Picchu was cut off and, people had to be helicoptered out. Our tour director was one of them. He showed us pictures.

As I said, the tour was awesome. The Incas did some incredible things. The scenery was breathtaking. The Peruvian people were very nice. The hotels we stayed at were top notch. The food was very good too. I tried alpaca (it tasted like beef) and roasted guinea pig (hard to describe that one). I would definitely encourage other travellers to go there. It will really amaze you.

Immunizations for Peru

Today, I visited the travel clinic on the military base I use for routine medical care. It's one of the big rewards I get for staying in the Air Force 26 years. The base travel clinic are the folks responsible for determining what immunizations a person needs for whatever country they are going to travel to be it for official or unofficial travel. One advantage I have is that the Air Force has innoculated me for just about every disease I could reasonably catch. So, it turned out I only needed 2 immunizations - one for yellow fever and one for the flu. The Peruvian government recommends travellers be innoculated against yellow fever. I guess there is a danger from the local water and, the travel clinic told me to drink only bottled water in Peru and to avoid foods such as salad that may have been washed with it. One nice thing about the yellow fever immunization is that it is good for 10 years. Another shot that is recommended is typhoid. As luck would have it, my typhoid shot is good till the day I fly back from Peru. Prior to going on my November Southern Caribbean cruise, I'll have to see about getting a typhoid booster. Annoyingly, this immunization is only good for 2 years. Also, I've found the arm I get it in gets sore for a day afterwards. Lastly, the clinic prescribed me some antibiotics and immodium for diarrhea just in case I do catch something like I did on the Egypt tour I did. I plan to be more careful than I was in Egypt. Now, I need to see about getting some liquid hand disinfectant and some good bug repellant. Those were 2 more recommendations from the clinic. I plan on getting those when I arrive in Peru. Stay tuned for more travel updates on my upcoming trip to Peru.

Globus Legacy of the Incas Tour

With the conclusion of my recent cruise on the Navigator of the Seas, I've started preparing for my future Globus tour of Peru. The tour is called Legacy of the Incas and lasts 10 days in Peru. We cover a lot of territory. We start in Lima, drive to Ica where we board a flight to see the Nazca Plain drawings from the air, take a boat ride to the Ballestas Islands, drive back to Lima, fly to Cuzco, drive to the Sacred Valley, take a train to and from Machu Picchu, drive back to Cuzco where we fly to Juliaca and drive to Lake Titicaca, visit Taquile Island and the Uros Islands, drive back to Juliaca, fly back to Lima and finish with a farewell dinner. That is a brief summary of travel and some of the things I'll get to do during the tour.

One item I was very interested in was the Internet access at the various hotels I'll be staying at. I'd like to be able to post current updates on the trip like I did on my recent cruise. To my delight, I found out every hotel I'll be staying offers free Wifi access. Because of that, I plan to take my laptop on the trip so I can post updates. For any readers I have, you'll get to read of my adventures in Peru shortly after they happen and possibly see some pictures I'll take during the tour. So, stay tuned for future adventures. In approximately 60 days or so, I'll be departing again for my first trip to South America.