Chicha Morada, Pisco Sours, Anticuchos, Australians and more.

When I left everyone last time I promised an entry to come filled with happier stories. This will be that entry. I’d hesitate to call it all sunshine and rainbows, but from the moment I left my friendly Peruvian “host” the first day and moved into a small (clean!) hotel, things have been fantastic.

          Lima is something of a wild place. It reminds me very much of my time in Cairo. It’s easy to see the resemblance as you walk down traffic clogged streets listening to the concert of car horns all the while dodging the many thousands of taxi-cabs as they compete, ruthlessly, for passengers.

          Lima also has a wide and varied culinary culture which I have been enjoying immensely. With influences from the heavily spiced Andeans to Chinese influences which have contributed the humble stir-fry the combinations seem endless. Add in the super fresh seafood that arrives daily from the Pacific and you a lot of delicious variability. I’ve taken a liking to two things in particular: Chicha Morada and Anticuchos de Corazon.

A small glass of Chicha Morada next to the purple corn it's made from. To the right a Pisco Sour.

          Chicha morada is a dark purple drink made primarily from purple corn with a bit of pineapple and lemon. And lots of sugar. The taste is very unique, but it can best be described as tasting like a slush-puppy. It was one of the most popular drinks of the Incan empire and it still seems to hold a special place in most Peruvian’s hearts.

Anticuchos de Corazon with a bit of spicy aji salsa and an Inca Cola. Peruvian food and drink at it's finest.

          Anticuchos de Corazon are skewers of beef heart. Marinated in some sort of seasoning I can only assume was a gift from the gods and grilled to perfection they taste like very tender beef cutlets. They are a working class staple and a favorite of street vendors. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!

          During those long and torturous hours between meals I have been exploring the city of Lima as thoroughly as any Spanish-speaking gringo could wish. I’ve spent hectic mornings in Lima’s own black market the “Pulvos Azules” and I’ve spent lazy afternoons exploring the underground crypts of the San Francisco Monastery amongst the bones of 25,000 long dead and gone residents. I thoroughly enjoy juxtaposing the hustle and bustle of local markets with the quiet, introspective, solitude of archaic churches. After being asked to trade my money for everything from fake Rolexes to pictures of Jesus Christ wearing a soccer jersey I find it quite relaxing to only be asked to trade my money for eternal salvation.

          I’m starting to believe that people see me as an ATM with legs. I don’t blame them in the slightest; traveling never fails to make me acutely aware of the inequalities of the world.

          Perhaps even more fun than simply the experiences of traveling has been sharing these experiences with a few newfound friends. I ran into Tasha and Brett while touring the aforementioned monastery of San Francisco. They are a charming and easy-going couple of Australians who, like myself, seem to be hopelessly infected with the incurable “traveling-bug”. Over the past few days we have shared lots of laughs and a fair amount of Pisco Sours. I expect they’re reading this post so I won’t belabor the point, but they clearly both have their hearts in the right place and I’ve genuinely enjoyed spending the last few days with them. Having a few friends to comfortably speak English with has greatly alleviates the majority of the frustrations of being a lone traveler in a foreign world.

Tasha and Brett; clearly two fun-loving people.

          Every day so far has been an adventure of some sort. From major tourist attractions to local rowdy bars and from the high-rise (and high priced!) area of Miraflores to local markets swarming with people I feel confident in saying that I’ve run the full gamut here in Lima.

Well, to the best of my solo-flying gringo abilities.

          I still have a couple more days here in Lima so I still have time to get lost a few more times. I’m very much looking forward to the next leg of my journey into the heart of the past in Cusco and Machu Picchu.

          I will keep you all posted!

¡Hasta luego!

P.S. I’d like to extend an open-ended “beard-off” to anyone who’ll take the challenge. The cold-water showers of Peru are not particularly conductive to shaving. It’s only fair to point out that I have a two week head start, but we’ll work around that. All genders are welcomed.

"¡Bienvenido a Perú!" or "The Adventures and Misadventures of Ben Van Domelen"

     To say that the last two days since my arrival in Peru on the night of the 25th were "busy" would be a preposterous understatement and to say that my arrival in Lima went "smoothly" would be an outright lie. I have a bit too much to write to squeeze it the past few days into one post so I'm going to do use both a favor and split them into two parts. 

     This first part will cover my arrival into Lima on the night of the 25th and how a few misunderstandings led to me spending my first night sleeping on the floor of a Peruvian man's one bedroom apartment.

     Those of you that know me personally know that I've said very nice things about a website called "Couchsurfing.org". I'll spare everyone the specifics, but it is a website for travelers to meet up with other travelers all over the globe and for local "hosts" to offer places for foreign travelers to stay while they visit their city. Many times host will offer a place on their couch for a traveler to stay for a few nights hence the name "Couch Surfing". It's all free to use and it's a fantastic way to meet people while traveling who really know the city inside and out and often the hosts can show you the places to be or go.

     But there's an important thing to remember: not all hosts are created equal. I had some fantastic experiences staying with people in Canada through this website so I naively assumed that most hosts would be equally charming.

Wrong.

     I arrived in Lima around 19.00 and despite my 12 hour flight from Madrid I was bubbling with excitement. After fighting my way through the crowd of taxi drivers all jockeying for customers I selected my ride to my host's house who lived in the southern part of Lima.The 45 minute taxi-ride was an enjoyable experience as I listed to Andean music (complete with pan flutes and the works) and chatted with my friendly taxi driver.

My host. A very kind soul, but not the best of hosts.

     When I arrived at my host's place I was hopeful enough. From the street it looked like an old colonial-era Spanish building: clearly in disrepair, but still very elegant. However, any hopes or dreams I had of a luxurious or spacious apartment where quickly dashed when I walked into this one room apartment.

     Now, it wasn't just a one room apartment, it was the most grungy and dirty apartment I've been in in a long, long time. I can't say it was the "most dirty" because I've volunteered in some legitimate slums in various parts of the world, but I'll be damned if it didn't look like that when I saw it. 

     But wait! THERE'S MORE! My host must have decided somewhere along the line that having three people in a one room apartment just wasn't 'cosy" enough so he surprised me by inviting another couple of couchsurfers.

     So, let's recap. We have five people, two beds, no shower, a filthy apartment, and one other guy who was just chillin' playing guitar. Now my host definitely didn't really think this one out because he said: "Well, I suppose you can sleep on the floor... you have a sleeping bag right?".

"Nope."

     And that's the story of how I slept on the floor of a Peruvian man's dirty apartment in a room with two other couples. And to punctuate it all the other guy snored for most the night.

If you look closely you can see my bed at the bottom of the picture: the tiled floor.

     I quickly decided that I was going to find my own place to stay and I was going to do it fast. My 6.00 the next morning I had all my gear packed and as soon as my host so much as opened an eyelid I was out the door.

     And that, my friends, was my first night in Peru. Luckily, it's all been much, much, better since then, but I'll tell you all about that in my next post.

¡Hasta pronto!

¡Viva España!

In this blog entry I’m going to teach you, amongst other things, how to waste two hours to save two euros.

                Now before I begin, let me clear something up. There is a common saying that “time is money” so the idea of trading two hours for two euros may seem a bit ridiculous to many of you. But you’re missing something: my time isn’t worth money at all. I lack any steady source of income and aside from my occasional exotic dancing I generally lack any source of income. My time really is worthless… monetarily at least. I suppose I could write Pokémon fan-fiction or something along those lines, but I’d rather be a full-time stripper than sink to that level.  Besides, it’s not really wasted time if you’re having fun.

                So here’s the trick to saving a few euros. When people leave the airport most tend to think they have a few options: they could take a cab; take a bus; or they could take some sort of train to their hotel. But there is one other option. Now most upscale hotels tend to have a shuttle service to and from the airport so all you need to do is find a hotel that’s near to where you want to go and take their shuttle into the city. It’s that easy.

                Now you may have to be a bit creative. Why don’t you have a reservation number? Perhaps you’re meeting a friend who is already at the hotel. But I’d guess that 90% of the time no one is going to question you, but if they do, begin planning your escape. In my case I managed to pick the slowest shuttle bus filled with the most talkative group of Floridians this side of the Atlantic Ocean. It was completely worth saving two whole euros. That’s enough of Ben’s School of Thriftiness for this entry, but there will definitely be more to come.

                Madrid has been a blast the past four days. From late-night Jazz concerts to Flamenco dancing and from gratuitous amounts of “empanadas” to plate after plate of Spanish “tapas” the past four days have been mentally and physically fulfilling. The only drawback has been me freezing my “culo” off; it turns out that packing very light for Peru means not having warm enough clothes for a Spanish winter.

Jazz with a Brazilian flair. Complete with a blind guitarist and a long-haired pianist.

                My confidence in my Spanish has improved greatly. I find the Spaniards are very  willing and happy to work with me even when I struggle to find the right word or struggle with that damned subjunctive tense. My increased confidence in my language skills has allowed me to enjoy the past few days with very little formal structure. I can leave the hotel and walk in any direction I desire for as long as I desire with the confidence that I could always ask someone for directions back to the center. Just last night after a half hour of indecisiveness I decided to jump on the first bus I saw and ride it until something perked my interest. I just happened to get off the bus in front of the National Museum of Art where, by luck, there was free entrance every night from 19.00-21.00. In the span of about twenty minutes I went from having no plans to a full night of entertainment on the cheap.*

                I’ll spare everyone and skip any sort of list of “Things I did today!”, but if anyone is interested in hearing more about what there is to see or do in Madrid feel free to ask!

                Tomorrow I leave for Lima, Peru and in many ways tomorrow marks the start of my “true” adventure. At a used book store I managed to pick up a 1.5 euro copy of Voltaire’s “Candide” (in English!) so that’ll give me something to do. The book seems to be very fitting as it is, according to the back of it, about a the misadventures of a traveler named "Candide". How poetic: an American picks up a book, in Spain, about a French traveler where he takes it across the Atlantic where he leaves it in Peru for another traveler to find. Cool.

I'll see you all in a week's time from much, much, further away. Adios!

* It’s worth mentioning that many museums have offers like this. The majority will offer free admission after a certain time as a sort of “giving back” to the community. Take advantage of it.

An Overview of My Plans

Dear all,
        First things first: Welcome to my blog! I'm going to do my best not to bore everyone to tears with this so you can expect updates once or twice a week. The only thing more boring than writing blog updates everyday is reading blog updates everyday.


If you don't know who I am here's a bit about me:
        I'm Ben Van Domelen and I'm from... well... all over the place. I was born in the U.S., but I spent the first five years of my life in the Netherlands. After that, I moved back to the U.S. for about 8 years until my parents jobs whisked me away to Egypt. A short three years later I found myself in Denmark where I have been living for the past three years. That's my life in a nutshell, more or less.
        Throughout all these travels I've had plenty of opportunity to travel the world. I've been camping in Madagascar, I've bungee jumped off a bridge in Zimbabwe, I've competed in wrestling tournaments in Dubai, rugby tournaments in Norway, and I've volunteered my time in Peru.
        Now I'm taking three months out of my gap year to travel and volunteer my time in Peru again.


With that brief autobiography out of the way I can give an overview of my plans:

• On the 20th of January I will be leaving Denmark for Madrid, Spain where I will spend five days exploring the city.
• On the 25th of January the 'real' trip begins and I will be flying to Lima, Peru to begin my Peruvian travels.
• From the 25th of January to the 17th of February I will split my time between Lima, Cusco, and the Sacred Valley. I plan on seeing Machu Picchu in addition to doing a bit of urban exploring: Cathedral spelunking, coffee bar-hopping, taxi surfing, etc.
• Between the 17th of February and the 18th of March I will be working with a fantastic organization called "Kiya Survivors"at their children's home in the valley town of Urubamba. More detailed information about them will be coming up.
• After this time I will move myself to the northern part of Peru near to the Ecuadorian-Peruvian border to do a bit more volunteering (also with Kiya Survivors). This will take me from mid-March to early-April. I will be linking up with a group of students from Denmark under the name of "Team Peru". (Their blog: http://teamperudk.tumblr.com/)
• The rest, until mid-April, is all up in the air.

Any questions? No? Good. I'll explain everything as we go along.


        If you've read this far you're probably asked yourself why in the world I've named this blog "Out of the Ordinary, but not exactly Extraordinary". The title of the blog comes from a line in Jean-Paul Sartre's book "Nausea" in which one of the characters attempts to explain what an "adventure" is saying, "Monsieur, it seems to me that you could define an adventure as an event which is out of the ordinary without being necessarily extraordinary". Getting on the wrong train, stopping in an unknown town, losing your wallet, sharing an few hours flattened between a dust-covered window and an unknown person on a rickety old bus... these are all very much adventures to me and I plan on having many of them during my travels.

So, without further adieu, let the adventures begin!