Cuy..It's What's For Dinner!

A unique dish served in Peru also happens to be a beloved pet for many people around the world.  As a Spanish teacher, I had to order this infamous guinea pig treat or be ridiculed by my peers. In my previous post, I wrote about the Huancaro Festival serving fresh guinea pig at the county faire.  It was hard for me to imagine a people eating guinea pig like most people eat steak and potatoes. However, cuy(or cui) was what was for dinner.  Did you know that this dish is what Jesus ate at his last supper?  A church in Cuzco has this huge painting as proof!!

It was hard for me to see or eat the entire body of the animal so my friends shared with me this Peruvian delicacy.  The meat itself tasted okay....although there wasn't much of it on the bones.  I had difficulty eating it because of my personal experiences with guinea pigs.  My family had them for pets and we grew to love our little friends.  Here in Cuzco and Machu Picchu, it was common to find people with pens of them in their homes.....but not as pets:(  At the Huancaro festival, they sold pamphlets on how to raise guinea pigs as a food source.  I bought one and now have my students read it as an authentic piece of literature from my collections of work from around the world.  Their faces are priceless.  Culture shock in the classroom. 

I snapped a shot of these poor little souls at the Huancaro festival.  They sold 2 guinea pigs for 10 soles.  What a deal!!  So if this post is making you sick, I shouldn't tell you about their beverage using frogs as a medicinal drink.  However, it is my job as a Spanish instructor to know everything there is to know about my work.  It's one of the perks(or challenges) of my job.  Would you eat cuy(or cui) if someone offered it to you?

PS.  My Machu Picchu post can be found here.  This was posted last year.  I forget to put in older links at times:)

Inti Raymi

A trip to Peru will cure everything that burdens you in life. Things are so different here than what we usually do in our daily lives. Life is good.  Some countries have it all....like Peru.  The high altitude of the Andes Mountains makes way for one of the ancient Inkan cities known as Cuzco.  Every people celebrates the birth of a new year.  The Quechua, descendents of the ancient Inkans, celebrate their New Year with purple chicha beer on June 24th. It is here that the winter solstice is celebrated.

It can get cold so pack warm clothes.  Thousands of Quechua indians from the Andes mountain regions come together in Cuzco where everyone celebrates in mass crowds around Cuzco's center square.  Women in little black hats tilted to the side reminded me that I "wasn't in Kansas anymore".  The people have a different body structure which developed over time from the high altitudes of the Andes Mountains.  This is an experience you won't want to miss.  But plan ahead.....a year if possible.    

There is dancing from all the different communities that extend not only from Peru, but Bolivia, Chile, and Ecuador as well.  Thousands of tourists from all over the world come to party and see this incredible event.  There are fireworks at night with lots of celebrations going on around town.

There is even a festival known as the Huancaro that follows several days afterwards.  Watch yourself here as it can get packed.  This isn't for everyone and can be a little too much for people not used to a different culture.  If you want to take pictures of the llamas, you'll have to pay several soles.  Coffee is sold here.  Think of it as a county faire on the wild side. Few tourists are found here and you should have some Spanish to navigate around this massive farming event.  If you'd like to try guinea pig or other animals, they'll kill the little guys there and fry them up for you.  Like I said, this faire isn't like the one you may be used to:)

Pic taken by my friend Jen

What's interesting about Cuzco, well at least for me, was that there were a lot of cacti growing here.  I thought it was too cold there, but they did very well.  Plus they had several species I had never seen before!!!

I took these pics back in 2008

Truly a remarkable event, Inti Raymi will not disappoint.  Plan ahead as places get booked up quickly.

Cuzco, Peru

So let me get started with the garden and then go into the Cuzco files:) Yesterday in the garden, I set a perimeter of rocks around 2 trees just like the Incans did and the people do now in Peru to contain their gardens.  It has a very natural look in the landscape and it's easy to do.  My intent is to push out the gardening even more and maximize "green" space.  I'll have pictures of that in the next blog.  I'm going to plant verbena around them and fill in the tree wells with dirt and groundcover.  It actually looks cool right now, but I have to protect the trunks.  I'm prepping the area around the trees and I think next week when I have the funding, I'll be adding some more greenery to my side of the building.  Grass is great but in the desert, it's a real waste of water.  However with that being said, I understand why some people like having a patch of grass in their yard.

I really enjoy not having to cut grass on a weekly basis, but I do enjoy putting green in areas where it will fill out and spread.....verbena is great for that use. 

Today I'm continuing on with the next part of Peru....Cuzco.  The ancient Incan captial is still considered a central base for the Quechua indians(the descendents of the Incan people).  On June 25th every year, all Quechua tribes/clans get together to celebrate their new year of Inti Raymi who happens to be their Sun God.  It's really neat to see the different groups of people meeting up from the Andes mountain regions of Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile...and of course they are all drinking their purple beer...chicha.  It's very filling.  The outfits are all so different from one another as are the people. Tourists from all over the world come to see this spectacular event.

In this area of the Peru, which served as our home base, people can see formal gardens in the center of town.  Almost every place you stay at has a central courtyard that has every type of geranium, tropical plant, and cactus.  Some of the cactus are similiar to the ones found in Tucson and it really grabbed my attention.  There were very slight differences between several varieties that looked to be similiar to the cholla and prickly pear cactus.  There is one that I love, the San Pedro cactus, that comes from the Peru region.  It does so well here in Tucson and it is my favorite next to the Organ Pipe and Saguaro cactus.  Look for them in the pics.

I also enjoyed looking at their potted plants and how they had things arranged.  Every country likes to arrange differently as you will see.  This city is very hilly and difficult to walk due to the elevation.  Like most latin countries, Peruvians enjoy color and arrangement so look for unique patterns everywhere.

Almost any place you go in the city will have something for the plant lover to discover.  What was most shocking to me was the use of the eucalyptis tree all over the place....groves of them.  I do love these trees and planted one myself on the property knowing full well that they love sewers and pushing up concrete....but there is something majestic about this tree. I love to raft and we went on the Urubamba river.  All along the river, you will just see these trees all over the place.

Quechua Dances...again no sound.

You need to go and see Cuzco...it's an incredible place!!

Cui(or fried guinea pig) and as you can see, there wasn't a lot of meat:)

Fireworks during Inti Raymi