The national Peruvian dish (apart from the Ceviche, which thankfully had no repercussions) is Cuy or guinea pig. And he was absolutely unmistakeable - roasted whole and flattened like a Nando's chicken - they are splayed out across the plate with the teeny little head sitting up at the end, mouth open showing his teeth, just like a miniature roasted pig. The meat was scarce and resembled the dark flesh of chicken thighs (I really tried to come up with a different comparison but was stumped). Bin had a chicken sandwich but tried my cuy and then tastefully danced his head around the table by the ears (they're probably used to it).
We met our local guide, Freddy (I'm guessing not his Quechuan name) - enthusiastic and passionate about the history and culture of Peru - he wants to teach us to Spanish, Quechuan and Aymara. Considering how linguistically challenged I am (after years of Blanca's patient instructions I'm still at the 'me llamo Fiona' stage) and the fact 'hello' in Quechuan is 12 syllables long - he's got his work cut out.
At our introductory meeting he very carefully showed us where the emergency contact details were kept in his backpack 'if anything happened to him' and then mentioned he had survived an 8.5 earthquake in his native Nascar region and touched on terrorists (lucky I've organised my ransom-earthquake-mudslide fund, right Jason?)
The group is small, maybe 6 in all, and only one other guy is doing the Inca trail so far. We compared training notes as I surrepticiously sized him up for potentially having to drag me the last km. I think I'm ok, he seems pretty strong, as long as I lay off the empananas.
There are also two young Canadian dudes who are filming the trip for a competition to create an advertising campaign, we all have to sign waivers to be filmed, Bin and I are waiting to find out about the photoshopping and airbrushing clause first. They do have the rule though that they can't use any drunk footage - which will reduce the filming time considerably.
Today we fly to Puna, one of the highest regions we visit at 3800m. We will stay on the reed islands of the Uros peoples of Lake Titicaca, a huge (108 miles long) lake in the Andes.
Hoping the buoyancy of the islands can deal with two healthy Western women who haven't stopped eating since they hit Lima airport...
We met our local guide, Freddy (I'm guessing not his Quechuan name) - enthusiastic and passionate about the history and culture of Peru - he wants to teach us to Spanish, Quechuan and Aymara. Considering how linguistically challenged I am (after years of Blanca's patient instructions I'm still at the 'me llamo Fiona' stage) and the fact 'hello' in Quechuan is 12 syllables long - he's got his work cut out.
At our introductory meeting he very carefully showed us where the emergency contact details were kept in his backpack 'if anything happened to him' and then mentioned he had survived an 8.5 earthquake in his native Nascar region and touched on terrorists (lucky I've organised my ransom-earthquake-mudslide fund, right Jason?)
The group is small, maybe 6 in all, and only one other guy is doing the Inca trail so far. We compared training notes as I surrepticiously sized him up for potentially having to drag me the last km. I think I'm ok, he seems pretty strong, as long as I lay off the empananas.
There are also two young Canadian dudes who are filming the trip for a competition to create an advertising campaign, we all have to sign waivers to be filmed, Bin and I are waiting to find out about the photoshopping and airbrushing clause first. They do have the rule though that they can't use any drunk footage - which will reduce the filming time considerably.
Today we fly to Puna, one of the highest regions we visit at 3800m. We will stay on the reed islands of the Uros peoples of Lake Titicaca, a huge (108 miles long) lake in the Andes.
Hoping the buoyancy of the islands can deal with two healthy Western women who haven't stopped eating since they hit Lima airport...
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