Cooking and camping

After a few months of being restricted by the COVID pandemic and having no business, I decided to make some videos of being outdoors in the Chachapoyas area, cooking and sometimes camping.  

Meandering River Camp | Huaylla Belen Valley | One Pot Pasta Dinner

I drive west from Chachapoyas to the beautiful Huaylla Belen Valley. It is a flat valley where a river meanders its way along for kilometres. I hike to camp out under a DD Tarp. Simple one pot pasta dinner. After some drizzle overnight, I wake up to a stunning morning and two hundred cows curious about me and the dog. Humita and tamale breakfast.

Soup in a Cave | Locro de Frejol con Mote

I walk down to a small cave to make lunch - a Chachapoyas soup called Locro de Frejol con Mote (bean and boiled maize/corn with beef jerky). The base is a tumeric paste and the final touches of the soup is shredded col (spring cabbage) and coriander.

Cloud Forest | Wild Camp | Trangia Bread | Pork Jerky Sandwich

I walk into the cloud forest which is owned by Kentitambo and make camp. I make a simple dinner: pasta and yellow-chili/cheese sauce (Salsa Huancaina) topped with sausage. In the morning after being woken by exquisite birdsong, I make bread using the Trangia for a dried pork sandwich with a onion topping - a popular Peruvian breakfast.

Wild Camp | Seasonal Dry Forest | Duende Tree | Trout Stew

I am invited to camp on a friend's private conservation area called Milpuj - La Heredad. It is seasonal dry forest and he has recorded two different sorts of wild cat on the property. I sleep in my hammock beneath the Duende Tree - duendes are the Andean equivalent of Leprechauns. I make a trout stew (sudado de trucha) for dinner and have a ready made breakfast bought from Chachapoyas market.

Moonlit Cliff Edge Camp | Pumpkin Stew | Papaya Ceviche Breakfast

I was one night short of being able to enjoy the May super moon. However this night the moon was stunning as well. I made a tarp bivi, open at the front to watch moon and sunrise. Peruvian style pumpkin stew (locro de zapallo) for dinner and a simple papaya ceviche for breakfast.

Pachamanca: an andean lunch cooked in a clay pot

Today I cooked a classic Peruvian dish called Pachamanca. The traditional way to cook Pachamanca is in a hole in the ground using stones that have been heated up on the fire and then placed in the hole. The food is placed on top of the stones and then covered over with earth. I used the alternative and less time consuming technique by using a locally made clay pot and cook over an open fire. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, chicken, lamb and pork cooked in a marinade of coriander, parsley, huacatay, garlic, cumin, chicha, vinegar and black beer.

Edge of the World Breakfast: sweet potato sausage hash with chili sauce/salsa

My dog had gone walkabout when it was time to come home from his afternoon walk. A great excuse for me to spend the night out. A misty start to the morning which cleared out to give wonderful views of the 1000m deep Sonche Canyon just outside Chachapoyas in northern Peru.