CASABLANCA - Chivay, Peru

This is the first of three reviews from my trip to Peru in July, 2006. I had a lot more pictures, but due to an unfortunate camera "malfunction" I no longer have them. If I can digress for a moment to write about travel, the purpose of our trip was to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. We used Peru Treks and it was the highlight of the trip. You can read about the trek, as told by a fellow hiker here. After the trek, we went to visit the city of Arequipa and the town of Chivay, the "Gateway to Colca Canyon."

So should you ever find yourself on the way to Colca Canyon (which IMO was not worth the effort), you will surely find yourself spending the night in Chivay, a 2.5 hour (give or take) bus trip from Arequipa.

Casablanca is located in the ubiquitous Plaza de Armas, the address is 705. It's a small plaza, so you can't miss it.

This being my second trip to South America, I've found that you can find good, cheap and tasty pizzerias pretty much everywhere. In fact, some of the best pizza I've tasted has been at these small, mom-and-pop restaurants. No frozen ingredients, freshly made dough, wood-fired ovens, all for around 4 bucks.

I got a medium pizza with cheese, ham, garlic and onions, and a mixed salad. In Peru, the salads often consisted of a mixture of raw greens and cooked vegetables in a vinaigrette dressing, all for a couple of bucks. Everything tasted great.

Overall rating - 3.5 sumos.