Author: Jeffrey Kontur

Off-the-cuff

I would never have thought of THAT!

For the past three days I had been looking at this glass filled with limes submerged in water. I wondered often about them. This morning I finally asked. I had supposed that perhaps it was purely decorative. Or a clever way of preserving the limes. Or maybe even a way...

Dining / South America / Vegetarian/Vegan

Introducing… Golden Berries

I first discovered these tasty little treats in Perú in January 2014. At the time, I had been told they were called Peruvian Ground Cherries. I have no idea why, since I’m pretty sure they are not botanically related to cherries. In Spanish, they are called aguaymanto. Either way, they...

Dining / South America / Vegetarian/Vegan

For vegetarian zombies: FRUITY BRAINS!!

The granadilla is a fruit I first encountered in Perú in 2014. I found it again in Colombia in 2015. And now once more in Perú in 2018, but it’s very difficult to find in North America. Let me show you what it’s like…

Dining / Off-the-beaten-path / Off-the-cuff / South America / Vegetarian/Vegan / Wandering

Unexpected discovery: two vegetarian Peruvian restaurants

I went out wandering around Trujillo today and stumbled upon a vegan restaurant just 3-4 blocks from where I’m staying. Then I found a vegetarian restaurant just 3-4 more blocks beyond that. After several hours of exploring and taking photos, I started to feel hungry so I made my way...

Culture / Guided Tours / South America

All-natural shampoo

While touring the ancient Nasca aqueducts and spiral wells, my guide Arturo also shared a great deal about the history, geology and botany of the region. During our own exploration, we happened upon a tree whose fresh leaves were “ground up” and the sap rubbed on the skin as a...

Logistics / South America

Do I want to WHAT?!

I didn’t comment on an incident that happened when I bought a jacket to replace the one that had been stolen because I thought it was just a weird, one-off thing. But last night it just happened again. When I went to pay by credit card, the card machine asked...

Culture / History / Off-the-beaten-path / South America

Other archaeological relics of the Nasca culture

Aside from their world-famous geoliths in the desert, the Nasca people did leave a few other legacies behind. They built a few small pyramids, some burial mounds, stone living structures, and a complex aqueduct system. It is this aqueduct system that is perhaps most impressive. In the 1980s, a powerful...

Active / Activities / Bucket List / Culture / History / South America

Ancient Aliens: Nasca Lines in Perú

Most everyone is familiar with them, even if you didn’t know what they were called or know much about them. The Lineas de Nasca are a bunch of lines and shapes out in the high deserts of southern Perú. If you were walking on the ground and came across one...

Art / Off-the-beaten-path / South America / Wandering

Street Art: The graffiti of Montevideo

It seems that graffiti is everywhere you go in the world. I developed a whole new appreciation for “street art” after taking the Bogota Graffiti Tour in 2015. During this three-hour walking tour around Bogota, Colombia a graffiti artist pointed out the many different styles of street art. He noted...

Logistics / Sedate / South America

Grocery shopping in Third World countries

SPOILER ALERT!! If you have the stereotypical vision in mind of Third World markets as seen in Hollywood movies, with 3-day old dead chickens hanging by their feet in the front window, you might end up disappointed. In all the Third World countries I have been to, you can of...