No thanks, I don´t have any fingers.

Well it´s Tuesday, our second day here in Cuzco and it´s a pretty cool place. It used to be the capital of the Incan Empire so it´s a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. I was expecting a sleepy little stop off on the way to Machu Picchu, but this is a bonafide city.

We explored the city a little and saw some beautiful churches as well as some cool shops. We haven´t bought anything yet but we do have our eye on a cool piece of art from one of the local artists.
It really is difficult not to buy anything here. Especially when there is either a little kid selling postcards or artwork following you around the city, or an older woman dressed in one of the native outfits (think Colonial Williamsburg crossed with those characters on Sabado Gigante -- you know, the guy dressed as a bee or something like that) travelling with a llama pressing their noses up against the window of the restaurant of your hotel as your having breakfast asking you if you want to take a picture with them for one sole.
One of the girls on the tour had a little kid follow her all over today. He kept asking her to buy one of his postcards or if not that then buy him a cell phone or a new pair of shoes. I think his name was Cicilio or something like that. We asked him why he wasn´t in school and he would say "maybe later". That was my answer to him when he asked me to buy his postcards.
Finger puppets are another big thing here and you get hit up to buy them all over the place. I got sick of telling everyone "no gracias" so I finally started using the trick we learned in Cambodia and that is to confuse the seller with your answer. For the finger puppet sellers I would tell them "No thanks, I don´t have any fingers".
We went on the City Tour and got to see several of the ruins just outside the city. Really interesting to see some of these. Most were pretty far gone, but there were a few that gave you a glimpse of what the Incans were all about. One was a ruin that was called the Labrynth because of all the tunnels and trails in it. There was a part with an alter where they would sacrifice llamas to Mother Earth. At the top of the ruin were two small stone pillars where it was said they would record the shortest and longest day of the year. In essence they would tie the sun to the two pillars.
We got back from the tour and our guide, Hans told us he would take us to a truly local place for lunch. A couple of the people complained last night that the restaurant for dinner was a little touristy so he wanted to make up for that. Cari wasn´t feeling too well so she decided to skip lunch and stayed in.
We ended up at a place called La Chomba and it really was authentic. It was all locals and they had a band playing. Two guitars and a woman singer who reminded me of Ethel Merman a little. Kind of a big woman with an even bigger voice. I saw that they served cuy and since it was one of the things I wanted to try I ordered it. For those of you who don´t know what cuy is, it´s guinnea pig. This place served 1/2 cuy split lengthwise with relleno which is a pepper stuffed with meat and other goodies. In addition, you get 4 big fried potato balls and a corn on the cob that looks like it was grown by the Jolly Green Giant himself. The kernels were about the size of my knuckle. Lunch is their big meal of the day so this was a lot of food.
Now let me paint the picture of my cuy. On the top section of the plate you have the cuy, stretched out to about 10 - 12 inches long, skin side up with his two legs (claws included) and his head (teeth included) positioned in a way that makes him look like he´s in mid stride. I was told they eat them with their hands so I dug right in. I was told to try the skin but it was like shoe leather. It was too much work and really didn´t taste like anything so I went for the meat. I ripped the hind section off and what I think was the kidney or liver kind of fell out too. I didn´t eat that. The meat was really juicy and as cliche as it sounds, tasted like chicken.
Now that I´ve marked that one off my list I just have to try alpaca. Saw it on a few menus so far but haven´t gone for it yet.
I´m skipping dinner tonight because of the large lunch and I´m staying in with Cari who has gotten a little worse. She has an upset stomach and feels lightheaded. I´m getting her some chicken soup and we are hanging in for the night.
More to come.

B