Terrific tortas: a finger-licking-good tour of northern Peru

Peruvians collectively have a huge sweet tooth. Kids are constantly seen sucking on lollipops or fizzy drinks, cake shops proliferate and display the most garishly coloured examples of cake decoration ever seen anywhere, and street vendors sell sweet treats like churros, a deep-fried honey-filled pastry, revolución caliente, crunchy, spicy cookies and the rice and milk combination, arroz con leche. Dulce de leche, a sweet made by heating sweetened milk, is a big favourite here, both eaten on its own and as a filling in pastries or an icing on cakes. It is just a little addictive! And, of course, Peru grows its own cacao beans, so people have been making chocolate here for over a thousand years.

All that being said, is it any wonder that Sarah and I decided we needed to eat our way around northern Peru? Or, to put it a little more delicately, we embarked on a gastronomic torta tour, sampling the cakes of the towns and cities we visited.

Cake number one:

This was the first cake of the tour, a dessert of chocolate cake that Sarah enjoyed at the Mama Mia Restaurant in Chiclayo. For some unknown reason, I didn’t have any dessert that night – I think I had simply eaten too much Chicharron de pollo, deep-fried chicken and chips, to fit in anything else.

Cakes two and three:

These are typical examples of the vivid and gaudily decorated cakes I described above. We had gone for a wander through the huge local market in central Chiclayo and saw these cakes in a shop specialising in kids’ birthday cakes. This is the sort of cake we buy for our birthday parties at Picaflor House. They are super sweet and the kids love them.

Cakes four and five:

After a 3-hour early morning bus ride from Chiclayo to Trujillo, Sarah and I had a wonderful time walking round inner-city Trujillo with our lovely guide, Henry. But, little breakfast and all that walking made us hungry so, after our city tour and before our afternoon tour to one of the local archaeological sites, we enjoyed a sumptuous three-course lunch for the tiny sum of S/16.50 – that’s about US$6 – at Romana Restaurant. After a delicious salad entrée and a main course of chicken, I had a slice of crema volteada, a little like crème caramel, and Sarah had delicia de chocolate, a rather decadent concoction that would please even the fussiest of chocoholics!

Cake six:

I wasn’t exactly sure what this cake was made of when I ordered it – the usual procedure was to go to the cake counter and point – but it turned out to be carrot cake. And it was a very moist and quite delicious cake but I’m used to carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting and I found the dulce de leche filling and icing far too sweet – so sweet, in fact, that I left most of it. I kid you not!

Cakes seven and eight:

This was a relatively lazy day for us – every other day we had tours booked, starting early, but this day we slept in and, only later, booked ourselves tickets to a performance of the local horses and dancers (more on that in a future blog). Back in town later, we checked out the exhibits in the local toy museum, then decided it must be time for cake! This time I chose a divine tiramisu, an international classic, and Sarah had delicia de almendra, or almond delight. I’m reliably told it was indeed delightful!

Cake nine:

I don’t know why I don’t have a photo of cake ten – Sarah must’ve gulped it down before I had time to shoot it! We were at Arturio’s, another of Trujillo’s rather excellent culinary establishments, where I indulged in what was called a fruit soufflé, though it was actually layers of sponge cake and cream with bits of succulent fruit thrown in to the mix. It was light and finger-licking good.

And so ends this little tour of the tortas of northern Peru. Astoundingly, I didn’t put on any weight on our tour, probably because we did a ton of walking, but I wouldn’t recommend trying a tour like this without plenty of exercise. I do, however, recommend sampling the sweet delights of Peru.

The best birthday ever!

The celebrations started 3 days before my actual birthday when we held a birthday party at Picaflor House, our Peru Kids Project, for me and volunteer Jordan and those kids with birthdays in May. Sometimes we have a piñata filled with lollies, this time we had birthday cake – and not just one cake, but FIVE! Work bought two, then three of the volunteers turned up with one each. And what delectable-looking cakes they were – Peruvians are very good at cake decoration, as you can see. It almost seemed like cruelty to slice through those cute bears and sweet swans … almost.

Luίs, our Picaflor House manager, had organised a delightful programme of entertainment … children recited poems and sang ‘You are my sunshine’ and danced traditional dances, and then I was mobbed by little people wanting to hug me. 

I also received several hand-made birthday cards from the older kids – apparently I’m a “pretty teacher” – either they don’t understand the meaning of pretty or I need to arrange a visit to the optometrist for all of them! It was a very special day.

The next day my dear friend Marianne arrived from France for a 3-week holiday here in Peru – a birthday present in itself – and the following day, on my actual birthday, we caught the bus to Pisac for a wander and a shop and a lunchtime feast. It was almost 2½ years since I had seen Marianne the last time I volunteered in Cambodia but we picked up as if scarcely a day had passed. I really appreciate having good friends like her in my life and we had a lovely day together.

Glowing after a day in the sun and a couple of beers ...

My birthday brownie

And then the following day we set off on a week’s holiday, starting with Marianne’s birthday present to me, a wonderfully luxurious trip from Cusco to Puno on the Andean Explorer, a 10-hour train journey in the style of the Pullman trains of the 1920s. The carriages were well-appointed and our seats plush and comfortable. There was an open-air observation car at the rear of the train, where we spent quite a bit of the journey enjoying the fresh air and the scenery. And the refreshments were delicious, beginning with a Pisco Sour for morning tea, followed by a 3-course luncheon, and finishing with a Bellini (peach juice and champagne) and chocolates in the late afternoon. Such a civilised way to travel - it was divine, and those four days must surely count as the best birthday ever!


If you want read more about travelling on the Andean Explorer, click on the link to read my article for tour company Totally Latin America. 

Our carriage

Marianne enjoying the observation car