High in the Atacama desert of Chile, there is a place... where you can have your very own llama... and take it for a romantic sunset walk.
GET TIPSY ON: PERUVIAN MOONSHINES & SPIRITS
Of all of the Latin American countries, apparently Peru has the highest consumption of moonshines, which is why we loved this country so much! Go Peru! The national Peruvian beer, Cosqueña is very good, but we always try to find what the locals are drinking and we are proud to share it here with you.
1. Pisco
Let's starts with the drink most Peruvians are very proud of - Pisco. Pisco is a strong alcohol, usually more than 40% proof, made from grapes. It's no wine, so if you think you can sip a glass of Pisco in the afternoon and not get wasted, you are wrong. Peru and Chile have a bit of a rivalry about this liquor and constantly argue who invented it. Although after visiting Chile and talking to them about it, they give Peru full credit for inventing Pisco. There is even a town in Peru called Pisco, where supposedly this sprit originated. It's very interesting to visit this place and learn how Pisco is made.
How to drink Pisco?
You can enjoy a shot of Pisco by itself, or like most Peruvians you can order either a Pisco Sour or Pisco Chilcano (recipe below)
Chilcano
2 oz Pisco
10 oz ginger ale
half a lime
2 drops of Angostura bitters
Ice
Instructions: In a tall glass, add ice, pisco, squeeze the lime and top it with some ginger ale. Add the bitters at the end. Cheers!
2. Chicha
Drinking chicha in Peru is like drinking water. Chicha is made from fermented corn and is often called a Peruvian beer. A lot of people make it at home as it's a part of the Peruvian diet and consumed daily. Fresh chicha is not very strong, it has only about 1-2% alcohol and is commonly drank with food and even served to kids. The tricky part if finding chicha because it not sold in restaurants. If you want to drink some chicha look for a house, where you see a stick with a plastic bag or sometimes a colored cloth, attached to its end.
This house sells chicha!
A typical Peruvian kitchen with guinea pigs being raised in a household. They will eventually end up on a plate :(
3. Abejado
In northern Peru, you can find a moonshine called Abejado. This moonshine is made from sugar cane and flavored with real honey. Abejado moonshine is even stronger than Pisco and you want to drink it as fast as you can since you will feel a small burning sensation in your throat as you drink it.
Other moonshines popular in norther Peru are: Zauco - elderberry and rum, and Cańaso - pure sugar cane alcohol. All of these moonshines can be found in local grocery stores made by their owners.
Please be careful consuming any moonshines and do so at your own risk. Moonshines can be distilled wrong which can sometimes lead to poisoning or death. We always try to verify the source before we consume anything, but even that is not 100% guaranteed.
4. Cervezeria del Valle Sagrado
One of the best artisanal breweries we have tried in Peru is located in the Sacred Valley. Make sure to stop by at the Cervezeria del Valle Sagrado to try their beers. These guys know what they are doing and these beers are delicious!
Peruvian Artisanal brewery
Cheers!!
How This Frugal Couple Booked a Trip to FIFA World Cup on Points and Miles
Guest post by FBZ Elite and Travel Points
My wife and I are well-versed in traveling for cheap – in fact, it’s kind of our thing. Using points and miles, we’ve been fortunate enough to visit over 57 countries without forking over a lot of cash.
Now, we’re on our way to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia using points and miles and couldn’t be happier! Seeing this part of the world has been on our bucket list for a while and we’re excited to explore it.
As for total costs, we’re planning to spend less than $900 in total.
Now I know what you might be thinking, and you’re right! Attending the World Cup usually costs a small fortune (somewhere in the ballpark of $5,000 or more) but since we travel almost exclusively on credit card rewards, we never spend that type of money.
Plus, it helps that we like to explore off the beaten path.
It’s takes time to learn how to travel around the world on points and miles, but for us, the time invested is completely worth it.
I want to share some of the details of our trip with you, but before I jump in, I think it’s important to mention – if we can do this, anyone can do this. Traveling on points and miles isn’t rocket science, but having the right resources to learn what you’re doing can go a long way.
Here’s what I estimate we’re saving:
Airport Parking – $96 (friends will drop us off/pick us up)
Flights – $3,2000
Entry Visas - $320
Transportation - $200
Hotels - $400
Total savings = $4,216
Finding Flights
Our flights could have cost $3,200 altogether, but after redeeming a stash of American Airlines Miles, we paid around $225 out of pocket (taxes and fees).
We always fly economy to keep costs low. And, since American Airlines offers economy Award Saver tickets (tickets purchased with points) from the West Coast to Europe, I focused my search on finding airfare to Europe to start.
Booking Flights
After narrowing down our dates, we booked our tickets to Poland because it offers two easy layovers and helped us avoid some large fuel surcharges.
Here’s my valuation of the flights we booked – I was happy to be able to book them for over 2.5 cents/point.
$1,400 (flights value) - $23.76 (10% instantly credit back to my rewards credit card) = $1,376.24/54,000 miles = $.025xx/point
In case you’re curious, here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of how we found the flight deal, along with some other details.
My wife and I each earned 60,000 miles from signing up for the AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard and earning the signup bonuses (we both signed up).
Poland to Russia On Points
After booking our flights from the U.S. to Poland, I worked on finding airfare from Poland to Russia.
One of my favorite resources to use is Momondo because it features a +/- 3 day search feature, which in this case, scored us flights to St. Petersburg from Krakow for under $200 one-way.
Since we had already decided to take a train from Gdansk to Krakow to explore along the way, this option was perfect for us.
For round-trip, these flights came out to just over $600, which we paid for using points from my Capital One Venture card. It’s not a credit card that’s often top of mind for a lot of travelers, but in my opinion, it’s a solid card to have around. You can easily redeem points by making any travel-related purchase with the card and then “erase” the expense on your account.
World Cup Visas (For Free)
Our visas could have cost $320 ($160 each), but since we have FAN IDs for the World Cup, our visa fees were waived! We put the savings towards buying our soccer match tickets.
Usually, the visa process for Americans entering into Russia can be difficult and expensive, so we really lucked out on this one. We learned from a Russian couple we met in India that people heading to the World Cup would receive waived visa requirements by the Russian Federation.
Buying World Cup Tickets
World Cup match tickets start at $105 and using the money saved from the visas, we purchased tickets to watch England vs. Tunisia for $105 each. The cost was further justified since transportation is included in the cost (more on this in a bit).
After our tickets were issued and sent via email, which took a few hours, we registered our FAN IDs which entitles us to a Russian Visa upon arrival, plus free public transportation between the cities hosting World Cup matches.
We’re planning to use the free public transit a lot, and already have plans to visit and explore Moscow during our trip!
Where We’re Staying
Going along with our philosophy of traveling for less, we don’t typically spend a lot of money on high-end hotels. Since it’s our first time in Russia, however, I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as hotel rates go – especially during peak season.
Reading through reviews on Tripadvisor led us to the Original Sokos Hotel Olympia Garden at $51 per night. It’s in a good, walkable location, close to the airport and railway stations, and offers free Wi-Fi.
We booked the hotel using Chase Ultimate Rewards Points directly through the Chase Travel Portal.
Getting Around Russia
Since free public transportation is included with the match tickets we bought, getting around should be a breeze.
Our T-Mobile ONE plan offers unlimited text and data (yes, even abroad) and we’ll use Google Maps to help us navigate to wherever we want to go.
Getting Home on Points
We haven’t fully booked our flights home yet, but purposely chose a longer, windy route to stretch our trip across a few more place we’ve wanted to visit. Thankfully, booking one-way tickets using points typically costs the same as booking a round-trip ticket, so it’s easy to plan out each step of your route without paying more.
So far, we’ll be flying from St. Petersburg to Estonia and then make our way up to Prague for a few days.
From there, we’ll fly American Airlines from Prague to Washington D.C. using my wife’s stash of 60,000 miles earned with her AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard.
These flights cost us 54,000 miles plus about $186 in taxes and fees. Taxes and fees are higher since we couldn’t flight flights avoiding the U.K., which usually has higher fees.
From Washington D.C., we’ll travel around the East Coast for two weeks, then jump on a Southwest flight home to Portland for $5.60, thanks to the Southwest Companion Pass I earned earlier this year.
Is Russia Safe For American Tourists?
People have asked us if we’re crazy for traveling to Russia. Our answer? We’re super excited! The ease of booking the trip helps as well. The fact is, we’ll probably spend less than $900 on this one in a lifetime event and that makes the minimal risk worth it to us.
If you’d like to follow along on our trip, we’ll be posting a lot of pictures in the FBZ Elite - Travel and Points Community. Hope to see you there!
