Our Israeli Brothers

Not surprisingly, there aren't many Jews in Peru so when Melanie happened across a little area of Cusco with lots of hebrew signs it was worth a little more exploration.  As it turns out, Cusco is a popular tourist spot with Israelis so one Saturday a few weeks ago we decided it was worth trying out Cusco's only bagel place for lunch.

Simply named, The Bagel Cafe is exactly what it sounds like...they serve half decent bagels, cream cheese, tuna melts, pizza bagels and pretty darn good milkshakes.  It's run by a guy named Ohad Duchovny and his twin brother Gilad...both moving to Peru from Israel.  Ohad was very funny serving us himself, and it was a great lunch.  In fact, the kids asked to go back several times afterwards, but we never had the opportunity.  We enjoyed it enough that we even tried one of the other restaurants run by the brothers...a Sushi place if you can believe (who knew Israelis ate sushi?).

Anyway, we figured Ohad would soon forget the 4 Jews from Orange County, CA and our paths would likely never cross again...but we figured wrong!!!  As it turns out Ohad, Gilad and their father decided to take a trip to the jungle at the same time as we did and stay at the same lodge.  We're sitting at dinner one night and Lucas looks over at me and asks "Is that the bagel guy, Dad?".  Sure enough it was...and he remembered us too!  Well, weather delayed our return from the Jungle so we had to spend an extra night in Puerto Maldanado, and we hung out that extra night with the Duchovny family.  The dad loved Lucas & Sydney and by the time we finally landed back in Cusco, the 7 of us had become fast friends:

Anyway, if you ever find yourself in Cusco and craving a bagel (or sushi) we know the perfect spot...just drop our name and our Israeli brothers will hook you up.