Like this:

From Peruvian dessert to Colombian mountain range… the landscapes in South America are as rich as the culture…

Felipe, for anyone who doesnt know, is a very good friend of mine i met while working at ONE restaurant in Toronto a few years ago. This is a man who was born and raised in the very house i sit in as i write this, where he resides a few months of the year with his wife Daniella, son Miguel, parents and younger brother (when is brother is not in New York or learning kung fu in China). However Felipe lives and works in Toronto, as a wicked cook and an unbelivable pastry chef. He is as genuine as they come, a true family man, a trusted friend, and my favourite wingman. I have always been torn between the ideas of destiny and freedom of choice, most of the time leaning towards the latter, however i truly believe it was in the cards for Felipe and i to meet. He always told me while we worked together “you have to come to Colombia, its beautiful!” but never in a million years did i really think i would one day be sitting on his veranda, drinking Colombian rum and staring off into the misty mountains that litterally make up his front, back and side yards.

This city is truly spectacular, the views breathtaking, and the food fit for a Colombian drug lord. Our lunch yesterday consisted of grilled steak cutletts, fried pork belly (Chicheron) rice, baked plantain, fresh tomato salad, more baked beans than any human should consume in a single sitting, fresh guava juiceand for dessert, “grenadilla”. A member of the passionfruit famaily, it has a hard orange shell you crack open to get to the  sweet, amazingly flavorfull cluster of juicy seeds in the middle. A cornicopia of flavours, textures and smells, each one better than the last. feeding 4 people, full to the brim (so much so we all took a siesta afterwords) with leftovers for breakfast, costs 27,000 colombian pesos… thats approx $13 Canadian.

If i dont make it to heaven when i die, this place will do just fine.

Dylan