Culinary adventures in Cusco!

Toasting with the local drink, chinca.

We literally walked around for 45 minutes trying to find this place. Completely worth it!

Erick with a big glass of chinca.

Dish #1-Fried beef tripe (tripa de vaca frita).

Dish #2-Beef tongue in tomato sauce (Lengua de vaca en salsa de tomate).

Dish #3-Oven baked guinea pig (cuy al horno).

Veronica enjoying her cuy leg.

Getting acquainted with the cuy head.

Two happy MS2s.

Erick enjoying his cuy leg. 

Hi readers,

Today's post is all about food. The day at the clinic was actually a bit slow. I was shadowing the Spanish doctor (Dra. Patricia) and doing acute care cases. We only had four patients the entire day but boy do I have a story to tell. Dra. Patricia wanted me to try my hand at taking a history in Spanish with the last patient. The patient came in and we quickly realized she only spoke Quechua (the local indigenous language). A translator came in to help. What proceeded was the most convoluted and difficult history I've ever taken. The patient spoke in Quechua, the translator spoke to me in Spanish, and I wrote down the history in English. If it sounds confusing it's because it was! I did a terribly job, but just this one time I think I'm going to give myself a break because of the circumstances.

Now about the pictures...Anyone that knows me even remotely well knows that I love food. I love food so much that I should really weigh 300 lbs. Monsy and Marilyn were at a sister hospital in another city so they had already eaten dinner by the time they arrived at the apartment. Veronica, Erick, and I headed out to dinner to find a restaurant that was recommended by Dra. Patricia. We walked for 45 minutes trying to find this place to no avail! Finally we found it. The restaurant served traditional Cusco food, so we were feeling adventurous. We ordered beef tongue, beef tripe, and the traditional Cusco dish of oven baked guinea pig. We also ordered some chinca (the traditional Cusco drink made from fermented corn). The chinca was disgusting so we only had a sip, but the rest of the meal was exquisite! We had such a great time trying some local cuisine and it ended up being less than $10 per person! Hopefully this is only the beginning of more culinary adventures.

Saludos,
Annelys