Easter in Cuzco

 

The day started out wonderfully because we were able to catch up on our sleep. Everyone felt much better than they did yesterday. The strange thing is that in Boston, Easter is a pretty quiet day. Here in Cuzco, Peru, the town was hopping at 7:00 am. We had breakfast and then walked to the city square. We planned on going to the Mass at 9:00 am to see how Easter is celebrated here. We learned that it is fine to leave in the middle of a Mass. From what I know, that practice is frowned upon in the U.S. We got to the church and it was packed, packed, packed. There was hardly even any standing room. The Mass was in Spanish, so it was kind of hard to follow what was going on.After we left Mass, there was a huge flag ceremony happening in the town square. The town square is one happening place. There were two churches, some stores, and in the center, there was a fountain and a lot of benches. It was the place to be. It seemed like everyone in Cuzco was in the town square.

 

 

After our church experience, we went to the local market where they sold fruit, vegetables, chocolate, tea, prepared food, meat, cheese, flowers, gifts, clothing, etc. We had a chance to go there which was great. Our tour leader told us that many of the foods were for the Easter season.

 

This picture is of a woman selling Easter sweets. We tried some of the cookies and they were delicious. I bought some tea and chocolate at the market. I saw what chocolate looks like in its original state. It's a huge pod with all of these beans inside.

I also saw some, well, um, strange things. There were parts of the animal for sale that we never eat. I thought it was strange,must then I though how wonderful it was that Peruvians don't waste things. Life in American can be very wasteful. Just think about all of the food that's thrown out during lunch at school. That would never happen here.

 

The picture above is cow heads. People buy them and cook them up into a soup. Our tour guide said that lamb head soup is delicious. That may be true,must these heads were a little freaky for me to see!

 

Here is a picture of cow's legs. They were also for sale in the market. Basically, every part of the animal was for sale. Head, ears, heart, liver, stomach, etc. I didn't spend a lot of time here. Instead, I found some really cute finger puppets for the classroom.

After the market, we went for lunch. As I mentioned before, we decided to have guinea pig as it is a specialty here in Peru. Many people will eat guinea pig on Easter. It's kind of like how many people in the U.S. eat turkey on Thanksgiving. Our choice was "deep-fried guinea pig" or "roasted guinea pig.". Most of us opted for the roasted guinea pig.

When the dish arrived, I said to myself, "Yikes. This really is a guinea pig.". It was kind of hard to dig in and enjoy it. I had a few bites and thought it tasted like duck. It was extremely greasy and not so wonderful. The stray dog sitting under the table was one lucky dude because he got most of my lunch!

 

The picture above is the "deep-fried guinea pig."

 

This is a picture of the "roasted guinea pig." I think I have had enough guinea pig in this life time!

After lunch, we had an amazing time. We hiked up the Pisaq trail and saw old Incan ruins. Pisaq is the name of the town where the trail is located. Being surrounded by mountains was incredible. Walking near ruins from such along time ago was incredible.

 

Tomorrow we leave our hotel and head to the Sacred Valley. We'll visit a school tomorrow and then go to hot springs later that day. The school visit is 80% sure because the kids might still be on vacation.

I hope all of you had a great three-day weekend. Think of some questions to ask me. Our tour guide is amazing. She knows the answer to almost everything. Talk to you later :)