Ketchup

Hello All !

So it´s been awhile since a real substantial post, so I´ll try and include some details that I left out before. Two weekends ago we had a splendid time in Moquegua where we all climbed Cerro Baul and ate cuy (yum yum guinea pig). Cerro Baul is a ridge on which the Wari elite lived and ruled from in the Moquegua basin. There have been more than 10 field seasons at the site, to varying degrees and results. One of the most interesting aspects of Cerro Baul to me is that it remains an Apu- a sacred place- of the region that local people still pay their respects to in accordance to the agricultural season. These ¨Pagos¨ or ¨payments¨fuse Catholic and local traditions and supply the site with a steady stream of visitors to construct little houses of stones with burning tobacco and fake money payment. There was a pago going on even as our tour of the site blistered on.

Me on top of Cerro Baul.

And, secondly, the other big thing for the past weekends- Cuy. Yes, that´s a whole, deep-fried guinea pig. You can still see the claws and the hair is stuck on in many places still. Overall, it tasted...well...like chicken. But, to me, it just took wayy too much effort to actually get a substantial amount of meat off for it to be worth getting over the strange sensation that you are actively dissecting a pet.

So, that´s it for the past weekends. More recent update to follow.