I think a vital part of travelling is utilising all the senses. This makes South America the ideal continent for me! It doesn't just appeal to sight, with incredible views like the rainbow filled Iguazu Falls or illusory salt flats of Bolivia, it also intrigues (and insults) other senses. Primarily, smell, as every city assaults the nostrils with the acrid scent of ammonia, garbage, decomposition and dust. Another constant assailment is on the ears - South Americans love their music and anyone who has travelled there will attest to the fact that by the end of your travels you will never, ever want to hear cumbia (Bolivian folk music) again. A 20 hour bus ride with endless, beatless, cumbia (perhaps interspersed with the magical pop hit "Uno, Dos, Tres, Quattro"), will satisfy anyones craving for authentic music. Touch is another sense that recieves a beating on the buses of Bolivia - one could compare a journey from say, La Quaica to Tupiza in Bolivia's south, to being put inside a maraca in an Argentinian tango show, only with alot more dust, and possibly some chickens, and certainly no bathroom...
So that's the other senses covered, the only remaining sensory adventure is in the taste category, which brings me to the interesting eatables I experienced in South America. While aggravating all my senses at Belen Street Market in Iquitos (an eccentric jungle town on the Amazon river in Peru), I was lucky enough to try one of Bear Grills' favourite snacks, moth larvae, or as we call it in Australia, a witchetty grub. It tasted a bit nutty and creamy and actually pretty good, until I remembered I was eating a bug, then it took all my self-control to not throw it back up again. I experienced a similar gag reflex in the mountains of Peru when we were offered 'cui' - I knew it was guinea pig, something I was keen to try as it is one of the main meats eaten in Peru. I did not know that when I agreed to try it I would witness the nice
lady catching the screaming critter (who looked very similiar to my childhood pets), and later showing it to us, skinned, on a stick. I also did not know that it would be served with its screaming face and outstretched little feet still intact, and not-so-delicately arranged on the plate.
Yum.
Another tasty treat on a stick at the Belen Markets was pig heart, which I am assured is extremely high in iron, and good for you. And once again was fairly inoffensive tasting, until my brain ticked into action....The markets in Iquitos also had a wide array of tasty treats that even I refused to try, including turtles, pig eyeballs and, my personal favourite, cow nostrils.
In between stop offs at small riverside villages, hidden in the trees on the banks of the Amazon river, small boats paddled out selling everything from fruit to nuts to prawns to candy.
Whilst there were many intriguing new fruits, edible plants in general aren't that exciting to read about. The exception to this rule is the jambu plant, found in Brazil. At the food market in Belem, we tried 'tacaca' - a soup that uses broth, prawns, a thick manioc gum and the tongue-tingling jambu. The plant numbs your lips and tongue as you sip it from the gourd. A similar result is achieved with the coca leaves that are popular throughout Bolivia. You put the coca leaves in your cheek, where they help with the altitude, and numb the back of your throat. Despite common misconception, they don't cause any mind-alteration, and are a huge part of Bolivian culture - look a little closer at the little old lady selling you your 100% alpaca jumper and you'll inevitably notice a permanent cheek bulge and green stained teeth...
From grubs to guinea pig, superhot chiles to supreme steaks, coca leaves to columbian coffee, South America is an adventure for your tongue! And nose. And ears. And eyes.....
