Guinea Pig Cuy Project

Guinea Pig Ham Project

In Cusco Peru, 10 women have micro-financed a small guinea pig (cuy) project.   The women operate a small shop where they butcher guinea pig and make jellied ham or fresh cuy to sell to local restaurants.   

 

The process is:

Cook 5 guinea pigs and 1 regular pig head in a big pot with tree roots and leaves for spices.

Chop the pigs into small pieces and press the meat into a ham press and set in hot water until it jells.   

Wrap the ham  ( I prefer to call it head cheese)  in plastic wrap and refrigerate. 

The ham sells for  $50.00  for a  3 kg  loaf.

The profit for a days work is $5.oo to divide between 10 women which is 50 cents for a days work. 

The women are very clean and are trying to break into the larger city market (Lima) where they can sell the ham to restaurants and make a greater profit.

Currently gloves cost 18 cents a pair and out of the 50 cent profit, this is a large expense.      Anyone wanting to donate toward gloves would be greatly appreciated.

 

If you want a nice thick piece of guinea pig (cuy) ham on a warm fresh bun.   Join us in Cusco Peru and for $2.00 you can have a cuy ham sandwich with  a large glass of Inka  Cola and then enjoy some great company. 

Like Mother Like Daughter

Like Mother Like Daughter.   This little girl was walking to market with her mother.  A little girl always want to look beautiful like her mom

How about this delicious healthy smoothy

If you want a delicious smoothy.  This old lady is selling frogs.  Fresh frogs. She will clean them and put them in a fruit smoothie for you.  Ever think of drinking a fresh frog kiwi smoothie, now is your chance.
I have never wanted to be healthy enough to do this.  Please pass the chocolate.

Papa y Cuy

The favorite food of the sierra natives is fried potatoes and cuy  or better known in North America as guinea pig.  These guinea pigs taste just like they are called small pigs.  They are in many of the homes and run loose.  The dirt floors and smoke keep the animals healthy and the family feeds them anything green.  

While this little girl is holding the cuy like a pet, it is actually supper for the family.  

My Chance to be a Bandido

My childhood was spent playing cowboys and bandidos.  I always wanted to be the bandido but i usually had to be the cowboy.

We were hiking to pre-Inka ruins in southern Peru.  The altitude was 14000 ft which meant a person could walk or talk but not both.  We had been walking for what seemed forever, when out of nowhere this little old lady came running up to us and said in quechua, "Are you bandidos?  Are you going to steal my sheep?"

Finally, It was my chance to be a real true live sheep stealing  bandido. But i looked around and saw that #1 i would have to catch the sheep  #2 i would have to carry it but then i couldnt walk or talk because of the altitude and #3 this old lady would run circles around me hitting me with her sack.

So sadly I decided that I would have to wait till i was a little older to be a real true live sheep stealing bandido.

Shoes

There was an elderly Canadian  couple that were heading out for their 50 anniversary supper.   On their drive they happened upon a Fields store that was in the final hours of closing out.  There was nothing much left in the store and the staff were dismantling the shelves but this couple walked around for a few moments and  happened upon a large box full of nice running shoes.   They looked at each other knowing they only had enough money for supper but instead negotiated with the manager and were able to purchase  the remaining 50 pair of nice runners instead of supper.  We took these shoes to Peru with us and loaded up 22 mules and headed high up in into the high Andes jungle.
    

High Andes jungle village school

We usually arrived at the villages later in the evening.   At one place we stopped it was dark and rainy and a boy had heard that we were coming.  It was too dark  to see much even with flashlights so we told this boy to come back in the morning but he proceeded to sit in the cold rain by our tent.  Several times we told him to come back in the morning when it was light out, but he continured to sit at our tent and wait.   We learned that he lived 3 hours away (this was at peruvian speed and not gringo speed) and that he wouldnt be able to return in the morning, so we dug through our packs and found him a pair of shoes.  We insisted that the shoes fit or he was not allowed to have them but he would not put them on his feet.  Finally we convinced him to put them on just for 2 seconds so we could make sure of the size and then off they went.  He told us that he was going to carry the shoes home and he wanted them to look clean and nice.  H e had never had shoes before and wanted to show his family and take the shoes to school to show his friends.  In the morning we were able to give shoes to the little village school high in the jungle.  

Mamita

One of the endearing words in Peru is Mamita.  Mom-ita.  Hard to translate into English because it is more of a form of respect towards a mother.  The older the mother, the more respect she gets.

Mamita

We were hiking in deep in the high andes cloud forest.   It was dark outside and us gringos, had purchased a sheep for some fresh meat but wanted nothing to do with the organs or brains.  Our muleteers were happy for that because the brain and guts and organs are the best part.  After the brains had been boiling over a fire in a pot of stew a little old mamita came over and I watched this with interest.  The muleteer very politely acknowledged her and invited her over for some brain stew.  They handed her a bowl and then served her the boney sheep skull with the brains circling in it.  She slurped down the brains like we slurp spaghetti.  I liked to think that she slurped the brains out through the sheep's eye sockets but i don't think that was totally true.  After the evening meal of brain stew, the men threw in some more water and organs and simmered it all night.  In the morning, mamita again received a big bowl with the best organs.  They offered us some for breakfast which  gagged me thinking of it.  Miriam, my very own daughter, my genetics, said "Yes, Thank you" and slurped down some organ stew for breakfast.

Every little girl loves to look beautiful.

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No matter what culture you are in.  Little girls are all the same.   They love to look beautiful.

Getting Old

I have decided that i want to grow old like this couple.

We went visiting and she offered us some delicious boiled corn.  Her husband comes out with hair sticking up all over and she tells him to go wet his hair down for a foto.  He dips his head in a bucket of water and combs his hair with his hand and sticks his hat on for a foto.  His eyes twinkled whenever he looked or talked to his wife.  Chickens running in and out of the house but what an honour to love each other like that.

Dolls

I have been taking dolls to Peru and am amazed that many of the children have never had a toy.  Many friends have donated toys for us to take.  One of the nicest toy was a doll.  An old lady from  out community gave us some dolls to take.  She spent a year knitting a dozen dolls for me to take and the girls loved them.   At one time we  were driving down an old road in the Andes and we came across a group of children walking.  The girls had a bundle of wool they were carding on their long walk home. We stopped and handed the  little (and big)  boys a hot wheel car and the little girls a doll.  Immediately the boys gathered in a tight group with heads toughing as they compared cars.   The young girls just stood with no expression and stared at us.  I wondered if they even liked the dolls because they just stood there.  As we  walked away we heard screaming and screaming as only little girls could scream. We turned around to see the girls jumping and screaming and hugging the dolls.