Guinea pig: if it's good enough for Jesus it's good enough for me

Perhaps what separates the men from the boys, the tourists from the travellers in Peru is whether or not you try cuy. That's guinea pig to you. Yes, they eat pets here. Well, not really, since they don't normally keep those critters as pets. Probably not as often as Canadians keep rabbits (or eat them), just for comparison. And unlike kissing the cod in Newfoundland, eating cuy is a real tradition, going back hundreds of years, if not longer.

Maybe you're wondering what this has to do with Jesus. Here he is eating guinea pig:

When the Spanish came to Peru and converted the Inca, they tried to relate Catholic beliefs to native ones. Hence the Last Supper featuring cuy. I've seen at least three versions of that theme. In a similar vein, the Virgin Mary was often painted as wearing a dress that looked like a mountain, since the Inca regarded mountains as deities (and their descendants still do, right alongside Christianity). When I posted this picture on Facebook, a lively debate ensued in which some of my Jewish friends wondered if guinea pig was kosher. It turns out that it isn't (they aren´t pigs, but they are ¨crawling creatures¨), so Jesus probably wouldn't have eaten it anyway--but why let that get in the way of a good conversion attempt?

Anyway, last week I decided that enough was enough and that I was going to get over my squeamishness. It probably helped that I never had a guinea pig as a pet. My friend Aydee, a young Peruvian woman who works at the hotel I stayed at for a few days, suggested going to the nearby town of Tipon, which is known for cuy. It's about a 30 minute ride from Cusco. When you get off the bus there is a long line of cuy restaurants along the side of the road. Somewhat insistent ladies from each place come out to tout for their particular establishment, but we told them we were going to look around. At one place we looked in at the cuy seems to be burnt so we carried on. Finally we found one that looked ok and where the piggies were a more golden colour.
We ordered one between us which may not seem like much meat, but hey, I didn't know if I would be able to eat even half. The first thing they bring you is a little appetizer made from the guts:

We asked the waiter to bring the main dish whole so that I could take a picture.

Want a close-up of that reproachful look?

The cuy came with potatoes, noodles, and stuffed pepper. The green things hanging out of it aren´t innards, they´re some kind of herbs. We ordered Inca Cola to wash it down: Coca Cola´s competition in Peru--looks like pee, tastes like bubble gum (or maybe cream soda).

After I took the picture the waiter took it back and cut it into five pieces--two hindquarters, two forequarters, plus the head. I gratefully conceded the head to my dining companion. Anyway, I screwed up my courage and tucked in. Well, it doesn't taste like chicken exactly. It's somewhere between chicken and pork I guess. Kind of greasy. You're supposed to eat the skin (fur has been removed) but I found that kind of chewy so I didn't eat it all. In summary I'd have to say that it's palatable but I probably wouldn't order it again (unless friends come and want to try it, of course!)

I'm all right

(Updated...)

Apparently some people have been enquiring as to my well-being since I haven't posted here for some time. Thanks for asking. I'm all right!

This trip has been a bit different from the last one since I've been staying in one place longer and not having an adventure every day, hence less to write about. Right now I'm in Cusco and in my second week of Spanishing school.

Cusco is in the sierra at an altitude of about 3300 metres, and hence is now in the rainy season. I knew that before I came here, and checked the climate chart on Wikipedia which said there would be about 13 rainy days in February--I figured that was no worse than St. John´s in certain months. Well, blame global warming or what have you, but I think it´s rained every day since I´ve been here. The rain is usually off and on--if it would rain for a couple of hours and get it over with that would be better. When it rains it tends to be chilly too--at this altitude no sun means no warmth, and of course buildings don´t have heating--though there are some gas heaters at the school. If you think I´m complaining unduly, well the locals are doing it too.

There are a lot of Spanish schools in Cusco: I chose this one, Amauta, because it appeared to be a little bit more social than the others and had a number of extracurricular activities (for example, films! -- something I've been starving for). They also organize volunteer activities but they all seem to involve working with kids, which is not really my thing. No offence to kids (or people with kids) -- I just know my comfort zones.

I'm in a group of five students (all chicas except for me): one American, one Dutch, one Swedish, and one Australian. There is a preponderance of Dutch and German students in the school as a whole. 20 hours of classes costs about $120. I find it hard to guage my progress, but I guess every bit helps.

While studying I've been staying with a Peruvian family for extra language immersion; the food is generally pretty good too and the arrangement is a little cheaper ($112 a week) than staying at a hotel. The meals follow the standard Peruvian pattern: breakfast, a big lunch at around 1.30--consisting of soup, a main dish, and a small dessert such as jelly or fruit. In between the soup and the main dish there might be corn on the cob (choclo). I´m generally stuffed by the time I´m finished. I´ve discovered that it´s not just Peruvian restaurant meals that are heavy on the starch--it applies to home cooking too. I´m not sure this is good for me--on the other hand, Peru has far fewer overweight people than Canada.

The bus that I take from home to school and back is called Liebre (hare) but it doesn´t seem to be any faster than other bus. As far as I know there´s no Tortuga line, but there is one called El Dorado that my ladylady said is full of thieves! The ride costs 0.60 soles or about 21 cents.