![]() The next day in class I cannot sit comfortably, it feels worse on my left butt cheek so I sit tilted. The cobblestone streets add a lovely ambiance but are not a smooth ride. On the bus back from the restaurant I bruise my tailbone. I pretend to love it, my teacher explains, “The cheeks are considered the best part.” So I reach and tear a tiny little cheek off a freshly killed and skewered member of the rodent order. But the flavor is that of old meat – it is tough, chewy, and the flavor of overly smoked. I wish I could say the taste was fantastic or even good because I hate to feel like the snobby foreigner unable to appreciate roasted rodent. The animals are served whole and people take turns picking off pieces of meat. The carcasses arrive at our table grilled on large sticks that puncture their small bodies from the ass through to the mouth. In the Andes region it is grilled guinea pig. Before the arrival of those animals – easier to domesticate and then butcher for meat – local peoples ate the local flora and fauna. Animals like chickens, pigs, and goats are transplants to “the new world” of the Americas. In the modern world we rarely think about what animals are native to our part of the world, but indigenous peoples connect to meals passed down through hundreds of years. Specifically we have come to eat cuey – guinea pig. The teachers have reserved a large table and pre-ordered all the food to insure that we all get to try the delicacies of the region. It is place where the people from the city go for special family occasions to eat a meal as if prepared by their great-grandmothers. This restaurant is not listed in the travel guide. Disappointed at the end with the reveal of the expense of such higher quality and then the logistical nightmare of traveling with such fragile items.įrom there our group of twelve students and two teachers walk along the road to a restaurant. I could remind them of how it just feels different to know where an item is made rather than some anonymous factory in China. The thought crosses my mind if I had one of these mugs and my friend was over drinking tea from it I could tell them all about this factory. The tour guide explains their production numbers, the large orders they fill for weddings, how some of the designs are traditional while others are modern. The next room houses thirty women sitting at stations to add colorful designs ready then for the final room with the oven to glaze it all together. We start out at a ceramics factory with a big open room drying thousands of mute brown colored mugs and bowls. Small amounts of rosé and sparkling Bordeaux wines are made in the region as well.The Spanish language school in Cuenca, Ecuador organizes a half-day visit to the rural areas for us students to experience more traditional traditions. Some of the finest dry whites can be found in the Graves sub-appellation of Pessac-Léognan, while Sauternes is undisputedly the gold standard for sweet wines. Emilion and Pomerol.ĭry and sweet Bordeaux white wines are produced throughout the region from Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, and sometimes Muscadelle or Sauvignon Gris. Key appellations of the Right Bank include St. Merlot is the principal Bordeaux wine variety of the Right Bank Cabernet Franc adds structure and complexity to Merlot, creating wines that are concentrated, supple, and more imminently ready for drinking, compared with their Left Bank counterparts. Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec may also be used in the Left Bank Bordeaux wine blends. ![]() Merlot is important here as the perfect blending grape for Cabernet Sauvignon adding plush fruit and softening Cabernet's sometimes hefty tannins. The Left Bank, dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, contains the Médoc, Graves, and Sauternes, as well as the region’s most famous chateaux. Farther inland, where the Gironde splits into the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers, the bucolic, rolling hills of the area in between, called Entre-Deux-Mers, is a source of great quality, approachable reds and whites. The Gironde estuary, a defining feature of Bordeaux, separates most of the region into the Left Bank and the Right Bank. Annual weather differences create significant vintage variations, making Bordeaux an exciting French wine region to follow. Separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a coastal pine forest, this relatively flat region has a mild maritime climate, marked by cool wet winters and warm summers. One of the most important wine regions of the world, Bordeaux is a powerhouse producer of wines of all colors, sweetness levels, and price points.
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