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A slightly-alcoholic drink made from fermented corn, chicha is a sickly-yellow beverage hugely popular in Bolivia, especially in and around Cochabamba. It’s always homemade, prepared in huge earthenware vats, where the corn mixture is left to ferment for several days.

Places which sell chicha can be identified by a flag hung outside the door. A white flag means normal chicha, while a red flag indicates that it was made from purple maize. Chicherías are like beer halls; raucous places which can be found in every town throughout the highlands. Despite their ubiquity, they can be difficult to track down. The one we visited in Sucre had no sign or identifying marker outside the door. You have to be in-the-know.

Chicha can wreak havoc on the stomachs of unprepared foreigners. The stuff isn’t made or served in the most sanitary of conditions and, at least for me, a day of drinking chicha means the next will be spent on the toilet. But it’s a social drink, and you should never refuse when the bowl is passed your way. After splashing a bit on the ground to honor Pachamama, you drink the entire contents of the bowl, not just a sip. It’s sweet and yeasty, a bit like unfinished beer.

We had more than our fair share of the stuff, particularly at the party in Independencia. And while we were in Tarata we had a chance to sample garapiña, which is chicha infused with cinnamon ice cream. With a more agreeable reddish color and sweeter flavor, garapiña is much easier to swallow down.

It’s not by any means our favorite drink, but sampling Chicha is a quintessential Bolivian experience which can’t be skipped.

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Eating in Bolivia has been a real test of intestinal fortitude. We’ve had a lot of incredible dishes, but our stomachs are unused to the style of food. Here are three other dishes which we’ve battled through during our time here:

A dish similar to Pique a lo Macho, but different in a very important way. A hefty portion of steak bits, along with french fries, locoto pepper, egg and onion are cooked and served in a thick broth of beer. As with many Bolivian dishes, the serving size is ridiculous. Two hungry lumberjacks would be satisfied sharing a single portion. We ordered this at a great restaurant called Tunari in Cochabamba, where we were the only foreigners. We were also the only people not playing a Yahtzee-like dice game called Cacho. We were not the only ones eating Lomo Borracho.

Jürgen is a carnivore. Carnivoríssimo. Occasionally, he’ll brag to friends that every meal he’s ever eaten has included meat. So, I about fell out of my chair when he proclaimed Sopa de Mani as his favorite meal in Cochabamba. Peanut Soup! He ordered it whenever it was on the menu. Though it doesn’t sound particularly enticing, Sopa de Mani is a Cochabambino classic, both filling and delicious. The best bowl we had was in the dining hall at the marketplace just south of the Cathedral.

Kind of sampler plate for blood-thirsty Bolivians, Picante Mixto includes five different kinds of meat along with potatoes and chuños. Before I get into the meats, let’s have a word about the black nugget called the chuño. In the Andes, people conserve potatoes by laying them out on the ground overnight and allowing them to frost over. The next day, the potatoes are exposed to the sun and stomped upon, squeezing out all the juice. This is repeated for five days, and the chuño is born. Apparently, once everything of nutritional content has been removed, the black potatoes can be stored indefinitely. They taste interesting. I won’t get more complimentary than that.

Back to the Picante Mixto. I have a feeling the meat selection varies depending on where you order it, but here was the lineup at La Paz’s popular Rincón Ilabaeño: (1) Charquekan; similar to beef jerky. (2) Sajta de Pollo; a broiled chicken leg. (3) Saice; a spicy portion of diced beef and veggies. (4) Lengua; a full-sized cow tongue. (5) Ranga Ranga; chopped-up cow stomach. I’m proud to say, or ashamed to admit, that I was a clean plater. My favorite might have been the tongue.

Location of Restaurante Tunari
Location of Mercado Dining Hall in Cochabamba
Location of Rincón Ilabaeño

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