Daily Archive for November 23rd, 2007

Cuy (AKA Eating Your Pets)

Well, not actually your pets….  “Cuy” is spanish for guinea pig, which is a high delicacy of highland cuisine.  There are two standard ways of getting it:  “al horno” which is backed and “frito” which is fried.  We had it fried.

To play with the delicate palettes of the foreigners, they bring out the cuy… whole.  I had been okay with the idea of eating guinea pig (”Hey, I’ll try it.  It’ll probably taste like chicken.”)  I just wasn’t expecting to see, well, all of it.  It’s a similar issue that I have with fish.  I don’t want to see my meat look like, well, a dead animal.  (I know, I get the irony.)

There’s a photo before this that didn’t turn out.  Let’s just say it was the cuy & me… and my eyes are close and I have a look of dread on my face.

About 5 minutes later, they took it back to the kitchen and cut it for us.  And, removed the head from the plate.  :)

 

Cuy

Cuzco, Peru

Cuzco, hands down, was the most charming city in Peru.  Its old colonial feel is enough to sweep you off your feet.  We had two days in Cuzco to wander around before we started in the Inka Trail…

Also, if you’re ever in Cuzco, I highly recommend Hotel Corihausi.  It was a beautiful quaint hotel seated on the hill behind Plaza de Armas.  Our “panoramic room #20″ had a beautiful 180 view of the plaza and the city.

 

me, above plaza de armas

 

cuzco’s plaza de amras from afar

 

local chidren

 

local woman

 

Summertime!

boys will be boys

 

La Catedral, Plaza de Armas

the view from our hotel room at hotel corihuasi

 

me

 

local woman