Carne

Argentinian meat is said to be some of the best in the world. The high-quality beef that's omnipresent in Argentine restaurants and supermarkets is famously hormone and cruelty free, and is extremely lean due to the amount of exercise that the cows receive in their open pastures. Given the fact that Rives and I watched Food Inc. the night before we left for South America, and have more or less sworn off American beef, we've been extrmely happy to indulge in Argentine carne. Some of our favorite meat-speriences:

Jumbo parilla in Montevideo's Marcado del Puerto, a charming, enormous marketplace filled with open parilla restaurants. (Technically in Uruguay, not Argentina, but close enough!)

This waiter was trying to explain the different cuts of meat to me, but I got a bit distracted.

Huge delicious steaks (ojo de bife and bife de chorizo) at Rosalia, a traditional parilla restaurant in Palermo, Buenos Aires. We requested that the steaks be "jugoso," or "juicy."

Brochette de lomo at La Cabrera, one of the most excellent (albeit, tourist-filled) steak houses in Buenos Aires. If you go here, get this. Service includes a bounty of outstanding free side dishes.

Choripan was our street food of choice in BsAs. Juicy chorizo, fresh crispy bread, and chimichurri. que rico.

Public Markets in Peru

Most of the cities and towns we´ve visited in Peru have had large public markets near the center of town. In them you can buy anything from colorful textiles to cow snouts to live animals for no more then a couple of dollars. Here are some pictures from the public market in Arequipa. Vegetarians and anyone squeamish beware, these photos are not for the faint of heart!!

these markets generally span several city blocks

frog juice, no joke

We´ve heard quite a few Peruvians boast of having thousands of types of potatoes in their country. At the central market in Arequipa, we finally got a visual.

llama heads, I´m really sorry for making you look at this, but CRAZY, right???

skinned frogs

you can buy all sorts of live animals...guinea pigs, bunnies, turkeys, parakeets, etc