We made it to Peru, our final South American country. Our first stop was the tourist hub, Cusco. The city is popular due to its close-ish proximity to Machu Picchu and the many ruins in the Sacred Valley. However, as we soon found out, the city itself has its own charms.
Beautiful plazas, cobbled streets, grand churches and stunning green mountains make this a perfect base to spend a few days exploring the region.
We had been particularly looking forward to Peru as many other travellers have commented that the food in Peru is the best in South America. We have failed to be impressed with the cuisine in the continent so far and were desperately in need of some flavoursome foods. Luckily for us we found a market selling local dishes and sat down to see what was on offer.
The plates were piled high and our basic Spanish couldn’t translate everything on the menu. One thing we didn’t fail to spot on the grill was the local delicacy “Cuy”, or as it is known in English, Guinea Pig. These furry creatures are not kept for pets in this country.
Keen to try new things we ordered a plate and tucked in. Not knowing exactly what we were eating the strange mixtures of strong flavours and bazar combination of textures left us less than impressed. We later found out our plate consisted of chicken, guinea pig, sausage, cheese, spinach fritters, seaweed, tripe, fish eggs, corn, peppers and salt. It says a lot when Karl commented that the best thing on the plate was the guinea pigs kidney. I can’t say I will be rushing to try it again any time soon.
We spent the rest of our days in Cusco exploring the historic centre of San Blas and visiting some of the local sites including the conservative Inca museum and the ruins of Qorikanca.
Although Machu Picchu is by far the star attraction of the area we were also surprised to see a new booming tourist industry. Travellers from far and wide descend to Cusco and the surrounding Scared Valley to experience Ayahuasca, the potent hallucinogenic drug derived from the roots of plants found in the local mountains.
Ayahuasca has been used by the local Shaman in Peru for centuries, however the more enterprising ones have now marketed it to backpacking hippies and recreational drug users from around the world who are keen to try this new and mystical experience. Everything from week long programmes to one night ceremonies can be found on sale, some costing hundreds of dollars. Speaking to a few travellers who had experienced the ceremonies it seems that most take place in purpose built “temples” the Shaman is more likely to be a westerner than one of the local tribes’ people and it will usually involve a lot of music and a lot of sick, as each person is provided with their own bucket for “purging”. Despite the clear commercialisation of the traditional ceremony many come back with positive experiences. It seems that if you are looking for a more alternative experience then this is the place to go.
