Here´s what I wrote to my friend via e'mail today and I thought I´d share:
¨I don´t think I´ll be able to eat guinea pigs here after all. One of the other volunteer´s family keeps them in a cage (for consumption). When I approached them, they were so fearful of humans that they started squealing and huddling together! Then they turned their cute little faces up to me as if to say, ¨Katie, please don´t eat us!¨ I then went home and asked my host family if I could keep one as a pet and they looked at me like I was retarded. I then explained that Americans keep them as pets and have toys for them and everything, and that made them look at me with less skepticism. Sigh. Before coming to Peru, I was game to have a little guinea pig feast but now I don´t think I can. :(¨
Aw yes, "cuy" (pronounced kwee). I don't know if I've told you, but I've traveled to Ecuador as part of Engineers without Borders. And one of the local meat staples is cuy. And if you don't know what it is, you would just think you're having pork, or dark meat chicken. It's a really mild taste. What will rock your world is if you get a cuy roast...which is like a cuy leg (with the claw attached), or an entire cuy roasted on a stick. Both remind you of the animal enough that it would be hard for you to eat. I do admire the concept of knowing what you're eating, as opposed to being fairly detached about what we eat in this country, but it is a little bit of a culture shock.
ReplyDeleteGood luck. I would still respect you - whether or not you're able to eat cuy while you're in Peru.
We continue to have a lot (!!) of rain here. The moths are crazy! Here's some celebrity gossip just for kicks: Miley Cyrus ("MC") is back together with Nick Jonas...whoopee. The guy from "Kung Fu" and Bill of Kill Bill died. Did you hear about that? Apparently he was found in bondage in a hotel in Thailand, which raised a lot of suspicion of his deviant sex life.
How does it feel to be half way across the Equator? It sounds like you're adjusting just fine and enjoying some new aspects of life, keeping busy, etc. Anything you miss? Any ideas about what might be hard, etc?
your sister