Power of Attraction! Vegan Travel Blog
Once an employee of Sanctuary Bistro - you are always part of the family. Remember Sarah. She has been traveling the world. We checked in with her... and she shared some stories. Enjoy life's adventures. - Jennifer
Hello from Sarah all the way in Ecuador. I wanted to share some of my vegan travel stories in Peru. It was an exciting experience finding so many delicious vegan options while traveling in Peru because I was always warned about how meat crazed South Americans were. And even though in some towns it was tough to find anything other than chicken soup…. I was pleasantly surprised to find many people and places where I could try delicious Peruvian food sin carne.
I like to think the power of attraction is what helped me along in my adventures because only one day after arriving in Lima I met two awesome vegan Peruvian musicians who insisted I stay with them for a week. Along with another friend from Amsterdam, we spent our time play music, dancing, and cooking incredible meals with inspiration from around the world. By far the best meal that week was a mushroom mango ceviche made the same way my friend’s mother use to make it (just without fish) and a delicious banana-avocado-cacao silk pie (almost to delicious to be as healthy as it was.)
The vegan stories didn’t stop there. I flew to the rainforest only to find myself in a vegetarian art community for 2 weeks. Then lead to the cheapest, biggest, and most delicious lunch in Cusco (completely vegan). And yes I went there to eat 3 days in a row. After that it got a bit harder being in small towns throughout the south. But luckily the markets were bursting full of super fresh fruits and avocados, oh bless the days of avocado season in Peru! Also, I happened to meet a vegetarian Chilean who I traveled with all through the south. His Spanish definitely helped our chances in the anything but chicken soup game. Then passing again through Lima I indulged in more vegan ceviche with my friends and continued to head north to the surf beaches.
At this point I was a bit confused by all the talk I had heard about Peru being difficult to find good vegan food in. Even this small town of Mancora had a vegetarian AND a full vegan restaurant. The first night I got to town I set all my things down at the hostel I'd be working at for 3 weeks and started to mingle. Who else but the owner of the vegan restaurant would be one of the first friends I make in this town! The power of attraction is too real to be true. We spent a lot of time making delicious vegan food, feeding and playing with street dogs, and testing different vegan pisco sour recipes. He taught me how to make my own tofu and seitan (in Peru, everything has to be made from scratch) and I whipped up a delicious vegan ginger pisco sour to add to his menu.
Moral of the story, don't let the naysayers get you down. Some of my favorite parts of traveling is working out new creative ways to eat vegan/vegetarian everywhere in the world. It forces me to learn some of the local language and dive into the local markets in search of fresh produce. And more often than not something will draw you to vegan communities the can be found anywhere in the world. :) Travel far, live free!
(My picture is from Mancora Peru, desert wandering :))
