October 19, 2007
From SATA-Peru-2007
Today after spanish class, the gang went to Wanchaq market to buy the things we need for our feast today. We all loaded into one of the many small buses that buzz around Cusco and headed to Gina’s house (our Quechua professor’s house). It was nice to be in a house in Cusco. All we know are shops, restaurants, the streets, and our hotel. So it was nice to be in an intimate setting like a house.
Manuel made a delicious dish of alpaca with carrots, onions, and red bell pepper in a ginger, lime, and red wine vinegar. Shana made a “rico” (delicious) quinoa salad with carrots, oranges, and lime sauce. For an appetizer we made sara h’anka with is toasted corn with peanuts and raisins. It is typically eaten with cheese. We made an addition to the traditional by dipping the cheese is guacamole! In addition, we ate choq’llo (basically corn on the cob, but on steroids) and small boiled potatoes. To wash it all down we pisco sours and white wine. A fantastic meal that left me stuffed to the brim and a little drunk at mid-day.
Shana and I walked back to the city and had a fun game of “I spy…” Back at the hotel we rested for a while. Soon, I got a call from the front desk saying that a friend was here to visit me! My friend, Andrea, who I’d gone to highschool with was in Cusco and stopped by to see me! We walked around the city, found Cusco’s version of “make-out point” and played on a small playground for a while. We watched some kids burning a pike of trash and then jump through the huge bonfire. I wasn’t sure which was worse, the burning of the trash on the environment or the smoke on their lungs.
Later we went to what I thought was going to be a show of traditional dancing. Turns out, we went to a church to watch a concert by the Pillco family. It was opera type music with a soprano, two violins, a piano, and a harpist. It was really beautiful music and it was cool to be surrounded by mostly Peruvians.
