Cuy

In preparation of my trip, I have started researching local Peruvian cuisine. I have even contemplated attempting to create a dish at home… until I discovered the following: Peruvians love cuy. That's right, I said cuy. That cute little furry animal your parents may have bought you as a child to teach you one of two things:

1. Responsibility
2. We’re all going to die someday and so is your guinea pig.

Did somebody say guinea pig? If you search for cuy recipes you are going to find ingredients like “4 guinea pigs (whole but cleaned)”. I was all about attempting that cook at home thing until I realized the only place I’m going to find a main ingredient like that is PetSmart. I’m pretty sure PetSmart makes you sign a waiver promising not to eat your newly purchased cuy.

I too have been summoned.

"There are places where spirits live trapped among stones. Those places, constructed by ancient man and today abandoned, were so sacred that their energy continues to vibrate through the centuries. It is impossible to walk on those stones and not sense the clamor of the past and the enormous force concentrated there. Even the most hurried tourist can feel that powerful presence. There are, however, persons with a special sensitivity who hear the call of those sites across thousands of miles of distance. They are the chosen, summoned by the spirits to give witness to their enduring existence." -Isabel Allende