Food and drink

We were very happy to rediscover vegetables in Merida. We really enjoyed our chorizo creation (the blackberry wine was delicious by the way) and the following night we chipped in for a meal cooked by some English vegetarian friends we met in the posada. I was excited to find out that following a discussion about what was missed from the homeland they had done a great job of cooking a vegetable curry. It wasn’t quite Balti International but it was still really good.

The search for new local foods has continued unabated. In Merida while buying fruit we found cachapas- a small thick yellow pancake made with maize. We followed the shop keeper’s suggestion and warmed them up for breakfast with ham and cheese. It was delicious and they are also pretty good with jam and banana.

This was a surprise order (below) in a restaurant which we stumbled upon lost in Maracaibo. I had no idea what I was ordering but it turned out to be pretty good. A mash-up of fish and maybe chicken, onions and veg, with yuca and rice.

These are potacones - delicious sweet plantain bananas, served with a local cheese, very similar to mozarrella.

Local drinks have not been overlooked either. Local beers are good; 6% Polar Solera the nicest. Now we’ve worked out the exchange rate, we’re splashing out on jugos, and they’re lovely – papaya and banana are the main ones on offer at the moment.  Papellón con limón is very refreshing – it’s made from sugar cane and lime and is served very cold, often at the side of roads.

Chicha is super-sweet sickly rice milk with sweetened-condensed milk, ice and cinnamon – scooped out of containers and served in markets/on the road. I loved it and finished half of Rachel’s too- she found it to be rather too sickly sweet.

Calentado – we discovered this in the Andes, served at a roadside café from a thermos flask, it’s a hot, espresso-sized hit of potent aniseed liquor.

Vino de mora (blackberry wine) ­– we bought a bottle of semi-seco but it was definitely sweeter than grape wine and went well with our Chorizo meal.

Venezuelan rum – Cacique, Santa Teresa – there’s lots of brands and its cheap- was going down very well with friends in our posada (with coke and lime).

The alcohol ban – the elections are on Sunday. An alcohol ban – in bars and off-license sales kicked in on Friday at 2pm and lasts until Tuesday afternoon. All over Mérida on Friday morning people were buckling under the weight of straining plastic bags clanking with bottles. Those with cars and jeeps were loading them up by the crate load. Not sure the bid for sobriety worked.