Roasted rodent and some really angry roosters.....yep sounds like Peru to me!!

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Ok so yesterday was fun and interesting, to say the least. First I woke up later than usual, 8, and had breakfast. After that we (Mama Silva, Papa Silva, and Mama Silva's dad) went to a small town outside of Cusco (about 30 mins in a taxi) and got my first taste of Cuy (Guinea Pig). It was actually pretty good, but way too much. All four of us split two plates that had so much food on it for only S./ 35 (about $12). The seasoning on it was delicious and the skin was crispy and had a lot of flavor (Mom you'd like that part of it). After that we went back to Mama Silva's Dad's apartment and watched a little of the Cienciano game on TV. They kept giving me homemade licours to taste, which included a kind of grape whiskey, which was sweet in your mouth but burned a whole lot when you swallowed. We then left there and Mama Silva headed home, but Papa Silva, Mama Silva's Dad and my Tio (Papa Silva's brother) all went to my first cock fight. We got there at 3 and the fights started at 3:30. It was pretty interesting actually. The betting system was incredibly simple, yet complex at the same time. One person would pick a rooster, either on the right or the left. Then they would yell "Soy Derecha" (I'm the right) or "Soy Izquierda" (I'm the left), and would find each other across this pretty good sized coliseum. They would make eye contact, yell a bit, point to the side that they chose, then hold up fingers showing how much they wanted to waiger. It was very loud and entertaining to watch this. The cock fights were not as bloody as I thought they would have been. In fact the only blood that I saw would maybe drip from a rooster every now and then that had been cut during the fight. The rules are pretty simple, the first rooster to either stop moving (die), touch his beak to the ground on his own (out of fatigue and loss of blood) or run in the opposite direction from the other chicken would LOSE. Other than that it's pretty straight forward. If the roosters stop fighting for 15 secs, the judge steps in and puts a big read box between the two roosters. The owners run into the ring and grab the roosters and put them on each side of the box so that they can't see each other. Then the judge removes the box and fight continues. The fights lasted about 5 hours. That was the last event of the day. I got home at around 8:30.

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Photos

Pachacutec
The statue outside of my apartment.

Pachacutec
A closer view.

Photo 4
On the way to the cuyeria.

Photo 5
Me and the plate of cuy.

Photo 6
That's two pieces of cuy, some kind of spaghetti stuff and a roasted stuffed pepper.

Photo 7
Me with the cuy head.

Photo 8
Mama Silva's Dad and me.

Photo 9
Mama Silva's Dad, Mama Silva and me.

Photo 10
Mama Silva's Dad, Papa Silva and me.

Photo 11
The cuy head profile.

Photo 12
The cuy head from the front.

Photo 13
The cuyeria (where they raise and cook cuy)

Photo 14
Me in front of the cock fight coliseum.

Photo 15
The ring for the cock fight.

Photo 16
Papa Silva's brother, Mama Silva's dad and me.

Photo 17
One of the roosters.

Photo 18
Look closely....can you see the blade that they attach to the chicken in that guy's right hand?

Photo 19
Applying the blade.

Photo 20
Me with one of the owner's blades.