I reached out to the smallest guinea, which was also the closest. It was the size of a pet guinea pig you would find in the States. Only it was a baby. The guinea pigs all scattered. Some of them were absolutely huge, maybe even more than a foot long. The were so cute, but they weren’t pets. They were food.
Soon after our visit to the guinea pigs, we strolled around the Písac market. The square was full of fruit stands. It was a very colorful market. They also had a arts and crafts section. We bought a strip of natural powder-like colors for some friends. As we made our way to the shared taxi station, we saw a girl about my age with an adorable lamb. I loved on it and got a photo. But, as I’d said earlier, guinea pigs were food. And soon, they would be food for us.
For my parents’ anniversary, we had a special order of Cuy (guinea pig) in Cusco. Mom was feeling adventurous, so she decided to take it as her meal. She let me have a bite. It tasted like duck. I should have eaten it instead. Mom was crying as if a family member had died. Apparently, all she’d been thinking was, Poor Linny! Linny is a guinea pig in Wonder Pets, an American TV show for little kids. Eventually, after eating most of it, she let the waiter take it. But no one could take the Inca like they had taken Mom’s cuy.
The museum of sites of the Qoricancha talked about Pre-Inca settlements as well as their technology. Then they talked about the Inca, going into a lot of depth about their empire’s holdings, including the cities, and then the Spanish conquest. The Spanish conquistadors came and crushed everything in the Incas’ society. Terrible. Just terrible. Chinchero was just up the road.
We went to Chinchero, a village near Moray. We soon got a brief demonstration of the different things used for cleaning and dying wool. Then they died the wool, pointed out a couple of nearby women who were spinning the wool into thread, and lastly wove the thread into a beautiful blanket. Soon, we’d visit the site that Chinchero was very close to.
Moray was a very interesting Inca site. It was made up of 21 different terraces, going down instead of up, used to make 3 different ecosystems. It was also used to experiment with crops. The bottom terrace was the wettest and hottest. This system of terraces was dedicated mainly towards potatoes. At least in this place. What’s Pre-Inca and involves salt water? You’re about to find out.
Next, we saw the salt mines. In was an intriguing, Pre-Inca site with loads and loads of pools. They were filled with salt water, and when the time came, after the pool turned from brown to yellow to white, all water entries were blocked off. After the water evaporated, they had a pool full of salt. What a spectacular process! Read on to find out about the spectacular gift I got in Cusco.
As we were about to leave Cusco, I got an adorable stuffed guinea pig for a present from the owners of our AirBnb apartment. I played with two really little kids, before leaving. What a great gift!
I saw a maze, and immediately walked inside, before my parents. I had to backtrack, because I had entered the wrong way! We went to the top of the “hill”, and turned left. It was a dead end, but there was a cool little meditation cave that inspired me. I included it in one of my stories, Straight from Bed to Fame. We eventually got out of the maze, but it was tough.
We ventured through the caves, eventually finding Buddhas guarded by dragons, some dragons scary, some not so much. Some dragons where also two-headed, and each neck had a fan, like a cobra’s fan. We eventually found the end. I went back to the maze, because I wanted to see the little room I had chosen for my story. I kept going back to that dead end, but I couldn’t see the entrance to the meditation cave, because of the angle I was looking at. After about three runs of the whole maze, I finally looked in the right place. It wasn’t obvious. I entered, and looked for a place that would be okay for my story. I found a tiny slide in the darkest niche of the room, perfect for my story! We walked out happy, thinking that we might go back there, because it was so amazing.
We got in the car and reached a small lake. We walked halfway around it, then rested at the pavilion. Soon, a large group of young women wanted my picture. It was okay with me, but I did not like it. They did different poses and group members, and I was just a rag doll. It was a mess.
Round the World Kid 