Peruvian Rhapsody

This morning we took a taxi down to the end of town populated by medical clinics and farmacies for K's appointment with the specialist. We added a new word to our slowly growing Spanish vocabulary: otorrinolaringólogo, which apparently means ear, nose and throat doctor. This particular ENT doctor turned out to be a consultant from another practice across the road, where we had previously refused to wait until she came on duty at 6pm. A quick syringe was all it took to return K's ear to working order and the mystery of the, possibly phantom, infection was never solved.

Pan...tástico

In celebration, we had a quick breakfast at the San Blas bakery, Pantástico, which serves up delicious sweet and savoury items in a diminutive café off the cobbled streets of Tandapata. We breakfasted lightly as we were anticipating a large lunch in celebration of nine years of being a couple. However, we needed some sustenance for an indulgent shopping spree.

Returning to the many shops, boutiques and market stalls that abound in Cusco, we hoovered up small gifts for friends and family, as well as a couple of more lavish purchases for ourselves, including a painted bull (torito), usually fixed on the roof for luck, and an exquisitely crafted scene of Peruvian life, known as a retablo, made by the family Jímenez. As Peru is the penultimate country on our world trip, we appear to have lost all restraint in both the size and expense of the souvenirs we are acquiring, reasoning that we only have a few flights left to get them home.

Toritos on the roof

Peruvian independence day is next week and festivities are already starting to warm up. In the Plaza de Armas - the focal point for all celebrations - school marching bands congregated today for a display of patriotic pride, and the whole city is festooned in the national colours, red and white.

Independence Day festivities begin

After we had concluded our spree, we still had some time to kill to avoid the lunchtime rush, so we settled into the peaceful outdoor area at Café Punchay for a pre-meal cocktail.

Once the lunch crowds had dissipated, we sat down for a blow-out lunch at our favourite vegetarian restaurant, Green Point. Despite coming many times for their always superb set lunch, this time we ordered an unnecessarily gluttonous selection à la carte.

To start, we chose from the 'raw' foods a selection of raw sushi with ground nuts in place of rice, and a juicy ceviche of avocado, mango, and red onion in a tangy lime and parsley sauce.

Vegan ceviche

While K continued her current soup obsession with a creole version featuring noodles, I had a 'lomo' (beef seitan) sandwich with sweet potato chips.

Vegan 'lomo' sandwich

As if this weren't enough, we both concluded with dessert. Typically, on the set menu, this is a mouthful or two to finish the meal on a sweet note. However, I was presented with a gout-inducingly enormous portion of torta de chocolate, while K managed to finish off a slightly less egregiously large glass of chocolate parfait.

"Oh my" torta de chocolate

Bursting a little at the seams, we segued to the teatro municipal, where the Orquesta Sinfónica del Cusco was presenting a free concert in honour of Independence Day. Beginning with el rapsodie peruano, the orchestra was then joined by composer and virtuoso on classical guitar, Javier Echecopar, who treated us to variations on Andean classics, including a tocata, sonanta, and fandango (needs more castanets). The evening finished with the Peruvian national anthem, which, although it was the first time I had consciously listened to the 'hymn', sounded very familiar, beginning not unlike Howard Goodall's theme to Blackadder before transforming into something vaguely reminiscent of a Mozart concerto.

Javier Echecopar and the Cusco Symphonic Orchestra

To conclude the day's indulgence, we slid by Cholo's bar to sample an excellent red ale from the local Cervecería del Valle Sagrado, whose brewery we had sadly no time to visit on the way to and from Machu Picchu.