Cuy & Flight of the Conchords

June 26th, 2008 by Rochelle Trail

I feel really fortunate to be staying with Doctor Gladys and her family as she has made me so welcome. And I really feel like I´m having a true Peruvian experience. The extended family are around a lot so I get to spend a fair bit of time with her kids and the cousins and uncles etc. They are definitely the middle class Peruvians as Doctor Gladys´ brothers and sisters are all professionals – either doctors, engineers, lawyers or dentists and the grandkids all seem to be heading in the same direction.

Gladys asked me the other day who looks after all our sheep and cows – do we get in Latinos or Negroes? If you´ve seen the movie ¨A Day without The Mexicans¨ then you´ll get an idea of what she was talking about. However, one of the uncles (an engineer) is really keen for me to find him a job in NZ looking after farm animals as he has had enough of life in Peru.

I met up with some of the guys from the Family House (where I stayed for a week) only to find that 4 of the house had been diagnosed with Salmonella. They put it down to a meal of Chifa – which is Peruvian style Chinese. However, 5 of us went out that night and 4 got Salmonella and I didn´t. It is a real mystery as we had so much left over I actually had some for lunch the next day so I had a double dose. I guess those few weeks eating street food in Bolivia must have built up my immunity. Or the mulitude of nutritional supplements I consume most days.

I´ve spent more time in Cusco this week than in Andahuaylillas which has meant a completely different clientele. Less stolen cuy and missing teeth and more the upper middle class with their western blood sugar diseases and looks of horror when I suggest dietary changes and exercise! Whereas in Andahuaylillas I think people are simply grateful for the information as they just don´t have the same access to media or internet so they really don´t know what dietary choices are good for them.

On Sunday we bought a couple of cooked cuy (guinea pigs) for El Senor and La Senora. They loved them – head and all. They are really difficult to even watch being eaten – they come out perfectly intact with little feet and teeth.

For those moments when I do want a taste of home, at least I´ve got Scribe on my ipod and my sister (bless her) sent me 12 episodes of Flight of the Conchords. I am now the envy of a couple of the Americans from the Family House who adore FOTC. They´ve definitely got a cult following amongst the more enlightened Estados Unidesense. Unfortunately they couldn’t find any pirated copies down at El Mollino the market that sells just about everything bar FOTC dvds!