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Published: February 4th 2010
Don't be CUY!!
Our first real try at Guinea Pig...salty but tender. And sooo cute! We’re keen to tell you about our new status as Godparents, an honour never before bestowed on us; but first, we should update you on Cusquenan weather and local disasters.
Fortunately, the rain gods have been more settled in the past 7 days and have returned to what is a more normal state of heavy rains that last for an hour or so each day, with either sun or light cloud for the remainder of the day. This has allowed local residents time to fortify their adobe houses with plastic covering and to spread the now ubiquitous blue tarps not only over the steep hillsides, but also beside, above, and below their homes. When we look across the valley, the former wall-to-wall red-roofed panorama now has an equal mixture of azure tarps flowing down all the hills to shed the rains. The plastics futures in Cusco must be high right now. Calle Suecia, the street on which we live, is totally blocked to vehicle traffic because of fallen debris from the upper slope. Local residents have come together and fashioned a bandaid solution, bracing the hillside with whatever wood planks they can obtain pressed against the hill, supported by long
Calle Suecia has changed since our arrival
Our Street with fellows working to fashion supports for the "slippery slope" above. thin tree trunks that are dug into holes in the road where brick stones previously paved the roadway below. It looks absolutely disastrous and if the heavy rains return, it's doubtful that this will prevent further slides, but given the lack of outside aid or government assistance, who are we to criticize their efforts. WorkSafe BC should not visit!
Our Spanish classes continued on as normal last week with some added excitement. 5 of our students had headed off to Machu Picchu the previous weekend and were MIA. You may have heard in your local news that Machu Picchu had been cut off by the rock and mudslides that have affected so much of these Peruvian highlands- two hikers on the Inka Trail were killed in the landslides and all roads and train routes were also blocked. Each morning, the breakfast chatter among the students at our school revolved around the status of our missing few and whether they had returned yet. Depending on the reports, the helicopters sent to ferry all of the 2000+ tourists back to Cusco were either taking: a) only the wealthy Americans b) only the first-class Peru Rail travellers, c) only the old and
Blue Tarps Abound
The now ubiquitous tarps to shed the rains and hold back the slides sick, d) only non-Peruvians, e)only those who had 1200 soles ($500US) to spare, or f) various combinations of the above. Other rumours such as a severe lack of food, lack of accommodation and bathroom facilities, and unrestrained price gouging, all fed into the breakfast discussions. Finally, after 5 days stranded, the missing students returned to a relieved homecoming celebration, and as their stories came out, they appeared to have been pretty well treated, housed, and fed. Boredom in waiting 5 uncertain days was the biggest issue for them, not to mention missing the full week of Spanish classes.
Now on to the Godparent story. Last week, we mentioned Efrain, one of our residence attendants. Efrain, his sister Juanita, and another young woman, Eliana, all work (6 days a week, 10-12 hours per day) in our home-away-from-home called Amauta Dos. There are 7 bedrooms to accommodate up to about 17 students. We've somehow been pseudo-adopted by Juanita and Efrain who are both very kind, warm and patient (with a capital P) in helping us with Spanish. This Sunday, they invited us to join them in a trip to their former hometown in the "campo" (countryside), as we understood. We were
Manpower
No safety equipment, in fact precious little equipment. game!
We taxied over to their house on another side of the Cusco valley early in the morning with Juanita. After many hairpin turns, we were able to see their now plastic-reinforced house high up on the hillside. The view from their casa would command a multi-million dollar premium in any North American city, but alas this is Peru which means that the cost is likely lower than in the valley bottom.
After an hour or so of preparations (we sat on chairs in the living room beside a young man, Javier, whose status we were unable to decipher at that moment with our broken Spanish), the family members appeared all set, and 15 or 16 of us plus the family dog Tita set out in one SUV-sized vehicle and one other Toyota compact car. Kids on parents laps or jammed into the hatchback compartment made for one happy contingent. Seatbelts weren’t even an option. And, should you think otherwise, this story is REALLY about the Toyota compact. But...we didn't know this yet!
Off we went, meandering through Cusco traffic with all of its incessant horn honking and rutted roads, swerving around potholes (gravol, anyone?). The family
The Religious Market
Purchasing religious icons for the car and personal blessings dog with his muddy red feet was clambering to get from the hatchback into the rear seat of the car where all the fun and a disapproving Juanita was to be had! We made it out of the city and drove for about a half hour on a beautiful sunny day with the lush (not treed) green mountains in spectacular form. Every kilometre or so, a new flush of rocks and boulders littered the road from the previous rains, but this was hardly a hindrance to our talented pilot of the Toyota, Javier . Along our way we saw many homes flattened by the rains and yards still flooded. Black plastic tents were set up in some areas to house the unfortunate.
Soon, we turned left into a small market where an onslaught of people swarmed around and ran in front of and beside the vehicles, not unlike dogs chasing a car and snapping at the tires. We ignorant Canadians assumed it was a pack of hungry, poor vendors desperate to sell their goods to rich visitors, in view of the damage to the tourist industry. A hundred metres or so further on we rolled to a stop and
Cars to be blessed
Juanita and her nephew Fernando have their model cars for blessing at the church. were told that we could get out of the car. Get out, we thought, into this pack of hungry wolves?! Immediately, the villagers began decorating the cars with streamers, balloons, live flowers, garlands and some obviously religious banners in honour of Sr. Huanca. Our hosts explained that this happened every Sunday and that all the vehicles passing through were decorated for their trip up, up, and further up to the local Catholic church. While the decorating was taking place, Juanita and Efrain’s family escorted us into the little open storefronts that lined the roadway. They purchased flowers, candles, amulets, and small plastic bags filled with little Monopoly-sized cars, houses and small stacks of artificial US $100 bills. Totally perplexed might just describe our take on all of this. Once the cars were fully decorated, we reassembled in our vehicles and headed up the steep, narrow, no shoulders mountain road to the church.
After parking among many other decorated cars, taxis, and even a megatruck, we walked back down the road to the cathedral and joined the congregation of hundreds inside the cavernous building who were celebrating Sunday mass. The service ended shortly and we were encouraged to join the
Priest Blesses the Engine
This car should have everlasting life after receiving the holy water treatment throngs moving forward in the church to have flowers, pictures, model houses, model cars, etc. blessed and to be sprinkled with holy water by the priests. The next step in this confusion (for us) was encircling a large glass case containing a representation of (?)Mary, into which the people jammed their fake US dollars through the crevices in the corners, likely to bring good fortune and wealth to the local population. We stood out as rather white, rather tall (yes,even Maureen), and rather lacking in Catholic protocol.
We followed the crowds of worshippers back up the steeply sloped parking lot to where anxious parishioners vied to get the priest’s attention and tried to steer the clergyman towards their decorated vehicle. Why we wondered? As we were latecomers to the mass and had parked near the top of the parking area, it took some time for the priest to make it up to our section. While we waited, our hosts explained to us in simple Spanish that when parishioners purchased new cars, the priest would pass a blessing of good health and long life on the vehicle itself and safe journeys for the people within. Juanita and Efrain then solemnly
EFRAIN Christens the New Baby Car
This is better than winning the Stanley Cup asked if we would consent to being 2nd godparents to the new Toyota. OK, why not...local customs are not to be slighted and a new car in the family was obviously a big news item. Juanita, her other brother Juan, and her niece Gretel had purchased the car together to run as a taxi, and Javier was to be the driver ... driving here is a profession not a household necessity.
Soon, the priest arrived and the official blessing began. The priest spoke his solemn words to the car and the gathering and then walked a circle around the vehicle sprinkling holy water as he went. Once the circle was complete, the car’s hood was lifted and the priest looked over the motor and spoke another blessing before sprinkling more drops directly on the engine. He then turned and blessed each of the family and us with more holy water. The job complete, he moved on to the last remaining vehicle to be blessed.
But the matter was not complete for the family yet. One bottle of champagne, and one bottle of wine were produced. The champagne was uncorked and each of the four godparents of the car
Godmother Maureen
This is as close as Maureen gets to drinking alcohol! (Efrian, his wife Marguerite, Maureen, and Larry) was poured a glass of champagne and then we all encircled the car and poured small snippets of the champagne on various car parts starting with the tires. Glasses emptied, we each then took turns shaking the bottle and spraying the fizzy remainder over the entirety of the still decorated car.
Now, the other bottle of wine was poured into glasses for the adults of the gathering and once passed around, Efrain spoke for a few moments of the importance of the new car and wished it good fortune. As 2nd godparents, we were then invited to say a few words, which we attempted to improvise in this totally foreign situation...the group smiled at us so we must have conveyed some appropriate words, or perhaps they were just kind, or come to think of it, holding back raucous laughter?
One of the teenage daughters of the brother’s family then asked in English if we, as godparents would be willing to give something to the car, a gift of good fortune and health. Larry gulped as he thought that we were being asked to produce a gift on the spot. After a
moment or two of confusion and a red-faced Larry, it became understood that we could produce a gift of some sort at a later time...whew! We all laughed at the misunderstanding, and now we remain a bit stumped as to what would be an appropriate present for this new Toyota. Your ideas are welcome, BCAA doesn’t count!
All of this intrigue was followed by a lovely afternoon picnic just off the highway in a grassy clearing. Arroz con pollo was served with Efrain’s special peanut sauce. The kids played around and about, largely unsupervised and the adults played a rollicking game of volleyball. It was like stepping back 50 years in Canada, very quiet and relaxing. We were a little surprised that garbage was left at the site. Our attempts to collect and remove garbage were politely rebuffed and we noted sadly on the way home that the high water mark in the river was a awash in plastic.
Oh, even more excitement this past week as the great CUY eating hurdle was surmounted. CUY, you say? As mentioned previously, CUY (pronounced “KOO-EE”) is a traditional Cusco culinary dish that just happens to translate into English as GUINEA
PIG. Last week, one of our professors (Ricardo) invited our group of 6 students out for a traditional Cusquenan meal at a local restaurant. So, after the usual Friday night Salsa class held on the terrace at the school (we’ve discovered that the reason we’ve come to stay here for 14 weeks is because it will take at least that long to learn how to dance Salsa!!), our group headed off for dinner together with great anticipation.
The restaurant was just a short walk away and we were a bit surprised when we were led, not into a hole-in-the-wall dark little restaurant, but rather a large, quite fancy setting. Menus were laid before us, and while most of the group was interested in tasting cuy, no one wanted an entire serving to themselves. Five of us struck an agreement to share one serving, and then we waited. Other dishes such as ceviche and alpaca were brought to the table and then .... the cuy was set in the centre...yep, looked like a small cooked rodent, although a bit longer than we anticipated. The waiter allowed us silly foreigners to snap our photos to record the event and then the
poor creature was whisked back to the kitchen where it was cut into five servings and returned to the table. Been there, done that with no cheese and tomato sauce to disguise it. We found the cuy a little too salty and a bit odd and the alpaca had an uncanny resemblance to liver. Tonight dinner was canned beans and tomato at Amauta Dos, Canadian style!
So another week under our belts and we have been twice blessed by a priest and once by a wonderful Peruvian family.
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Gord
non-member comment
Very Brave
Congrats on your bravery on two fronts - eating guinea pig, and driving in a Toyota. You probably haven't heard about the worldwide recall for sticky gas pedals that cause sudden acceleration ... a little unnerving on the kinds of roads you guys are traversing. Sounds like a fabulous experience, I'm enjoying the blogs.