Bolivia

I am very pleased to be able to write about this country from my personal point of view. I visited Bolivia in the spring of 2017 and spent two days there. For a little while, but I still breathed the Bolivian air. I was traveling to neighboring Peru and part of the tour included a visit to the Island of Sun. This is where the history of the Incas begins. According to legend from the depths of Lake Titicaca, the Sun was born and the white bearded god Viracocha was born, and from Isla del Sol (Sun Island) was born to the first Inca – Manco Capac and his sister, who is also his wife, Mama Okyo. This is where the story of a great civilization begins. From Viracocca’s hand, Manko Capak and Mama Okyo take the rod he gives them and embark on a journey to find the right place to lodge him and settle his people. This place turns out to be Cusco.

In fact, the border between the two countries, Peru and Bolivia, is rather conditional, since on both sides live people of the Aymara tribe who were no different from each other. The strange thing for me was that the Peruvians would like to live in Bolivia because they think the state takes better care of their people. For me, however, Bolivia came too police and my free spirit was puzzled as to how anyone found this attractive. But different people, different ideals… From the high altitude, it was difficult for me to enjoy the Inca steps, but the views of the blue lake were very beautiful. With much effort, we overcame the relatively short road and sat down for a leisurely lunch on the shores of Titicaca. To tell you the truth, I have never eaten such corn as in Peru and Bolivia. I’m not saying that they have at least 400 varieties of corn, but that each variety is very tasty (at least those twenty I tried). They make it simple by baking it with butter and serving it with cheese baked on a grill. This combination did not grab me, but the memory of the corn itself is still in my palate.

I was in La Paz for a day. This city was built at an elevation of 3600 meters and has an impressive displacement of 1000 meters. The poor are lived at high and the rich are lived at low. President Evo Morales, the parliament and the government, are there, but La Paz not the capital of Bolivia. The capital is Sucre. La Paz struck me with its contrasts – widespread poverty and over-modern cabin lift, part of urban transport infrastructure. We rode with this cabin lift, which was air-conditioned, modern and had free use of WI-FI. We were also in the witch’s market, and the withered lamia embryos everywhere in the various stages of development frightened me somewhat. They told us that they used them in rituals for the welfare of Pachamama. It’s weird, but it’s part of their culture and understanding.

While I was there I was not eat the desserts. In general, I felt bad from the height and only took food because it was necessary. So this time, I trusted the choice of the cake from the research I did on the internet. The cake today is Torta de Canela. Here are the products you need:

For cake:

2 3/4 cups  of flour

3 tbsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tea cup of butter

2 tea cups of sugar

2 eggs

sugar to taste

For the cream:

4 tea cups of cream

1 tea cup of powdered sugar

2 teaspoons of cocoa

100 grams of chocolate (black or milk)

Steps of preparation:

Beat the butter with sugar to fluffy cream. Add the eggs sequentially and stir until homogeneous. Sift the cinnamon with the flour and add it to the butter mixture. Stir until well mixed. Outline 10 circles 25 cm in diameter on baking paper. Using a spatula, shape the mixture into thin circles on the circles.

Bake each for 8-10 minutes or until flushed at 190 degrees. After removing the baked swamp from the oven, sprinkle it with some sugar.

To assemble the cake, all the swamps must be cooled, because while they are warm they are very brittle. Beat cream to soft peaks with powdered sugar. Separate some of the mixture and mix with cocoa. Start assembling by alternating swamps and cream, and top with cocoa cream. Grind the chocolate on top and allow the cake in the fridge to soften and to toughen.

The taste and aroma were reminiscent of cookies for Christmas. And nothing that is summer and the heat outside is serious, everyone who went through around often while I baked the swamps are smiled. For me personally, the cake is slightly sweet. I would reduce the sugar in the swamps. I think some fruits can be added when you cook it in such hot weather. For example, blueberries, which are now their season. You can use your imagination and change your recipe to your liking. I will definitely put this cake in the category of those I could potentially repeat. 🙂

Next destination – Bosnia and Herzegovina.