We drove out of the center of Cusco which is full of tourists (gringos) into the hills that surrounded the town. The scenery changed incredibly quickly. We soon lost the huddle North Face shops, llama print jumpers and ATMs and were plunged into a world of street sellers, stray dogs, men huddled around small tables in cafes and the native women in their layered skirts and giant top hats. So, in this dusty neighbourhood, you can imagine my surprise when we pulled up to a giant gated house. Their house was absolutely massive! They bundled me in quickly and showed me my room. It was small, painted white and absolutely covered in pictures of Jesus, much like the rest of the house. When I went to hang my coat up I noticed the coat hooks were made out of tiny goats feet, hooves pointing to the ceiling (not a vegetarian friendly house then).
I didn't have any time to unpack, because I was quickly escorted to the garden to help make traditional Peruvian potatoes. We built a fire in a small mud oven the dad had made that morning and after about an hour chucked in about 20 potatoes before pulling the oven down and reducing the it to a smoldering patch of dirt. And this, was apparently, how we cooked the potatoes. It turned out to be the mothers birthday so we had a big celebration with the whole extended family.
The food here is amazing and every lunch is a 3 course meal so I'm coming back as round as Peruvian potato. The one thing I didn't realise is quite how cold it would be. "Dry season" evidently means winter :l So the Khaki shorts, and denim hot pants can go back in the rucksack. At night I sleep fully clothed under 3 alpaca blankets. The water runs cold so today is the 1st day I washed my hair since the hostel. But the day time is an absolute scorcher, it's very confusing.
I've been having Spanish lessons for a week and next week we have them in the JUNGLE! I will miss my family already but I couldn't really say no to jungle lessons.
Chow chow,
Mariam
No comments:
Post a Comment