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Published: August 15th 2010
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Manoli & the Guinea Pig
Manoli and the Guinea Pig. She really did eat cuy...to the last dregs. CUSCO - DAY 3
Saturday, August 14th:
Today was going to be another down day, except for our Inca Trail briefing at 7pm. We woke up pretty early as usual (and I finally got a good night's sleep), but then lazed around the room for a while before going to breakfast. We'd made a shopping list of things we needed before leaving for the trek, including gloves for me, soroche pills just in case, another of the locally made bags to put our stuff in for our porter, and a toenail clipper to make sure no long toenails cause problems on the trail. After a couple hours of shopping, having procured everything on the list, we stopped for lunch at a tiny little restaurant near the Mercado San Pedro named Bocangel. I'd noticed this place the previous day because they had delicious looking potato tortilla squares in the front display. We found out later that they are a popular Peruvian dish called Causa, made with yellow potatoes, mayonaise, eggs, and tuna or chicken. Manoli wasn't hungry so she just had a juice, while I wolfed down one with glee. Delicious! After lunch we wandered around a bit more, then headed
Mercado San Pedro, Cusco
Manoli posing in the bread section of the Mercado San Pedro in Cusco back to the hostal to relax for a while. I forgot to mention that they finally fixed the hot water problem and I was able to take a nice hot shower.
We left the room a bit early for our briefing at 7pm, and ended up having dinner beforehand. I wanted to eat in one of the restaurants that had balconies overlooking the Plaza de Armas, but Manoli didn't think she'd enjoy the cold. We both ended up being satisfied when we picked the Plaza Grill, because it overlooked the Plaza, but had windows so it wasn't cold and breezy. We also picked it for another reason... they had Cuy! I ordered Lasagna al Horno which was the best I'd ever had. Manoli, true to her word, ordered the oven-roasted half cuy (guinea pig). She cleaned it down to the bones and skin, so I guess it was as good as she said. I refused to even taste it. With dinner under our belts, and not to much time before our briefing, we slowly strolled that way. We met with our guide, Frank, who gave us a good overview of the trip, telling us about what to expect each
Peruvian Potato Salad?
The tasty Causa (Potato tortilla) I ate at Bocangel, and the cute kid we tried to draw out of his shell. day, where we would be camping each night, and also warned us of difficulty level. Manoli got a bit nervous with his talk about the 2nd day when we'd reach the highest point, especially when he recommended we buy oxygen just in case. Well, we did buy a bottle, but hope we won't need it. We are both very anxious and a bit nervous, but I for one am looking forward to it. After buying the oxygen bottle, we returned to our room to finish packing and so I could write this last of my entries for a few days. Tomorrow morning after breakfast in the hostal, we begin The Inca Trail! I decided against carrying the netbook on the trail, so I'll be writing in a noteboook each day and will do my best to post all four days and the best of my photos when we return to Cusco on the 18th. We will begin our next tour, of the Amazon the very next day, so it will be tight with our briefing, dinner, and repacking, but I'll do my best to upload my Inca Trail entries that evening.
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Serena
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Guinea Pig? Gross!!
Can't believe you ate Guinea Pig, Mom, and down to the bones too! I don't blame you Dad for not wanting to try it:)