He took us to a local restaurant in the main plaza de armas. It was more fancy than most cuzquenian restaurants, so I felt a bit at ease knowing at least my stomach wouldn't punish me after I ate. I tried to figure out what would taste best with my guinea pig.. wine - no, spirits - no, I know Cusquenia - a local beer.. YES! I ordered two, thinking it might help with the taste. My friends followed.
Finally it came out, and it was ... really unappetizing. The comments heard from our table as the lovely waitress placed the full cuy, head and all down in front of us were: "i can't do it", "does somebody want my piece", "is that it's teeth", "no, fluffy!!". Then the tables next to us asked if they could take their picture with our meal. Is this really happening?? So after the waitress finally brought the dish from the other tables to the back to cut it all up I was somewhat relieved, knowing that I wouldn't have to see my meal in one full piece anymore. She brought it back to the table with the head cut off and made into a piece on it's own. I made dibs on the piece without the head attached and proceeded to wait for everyone else to take their piece.
I was about to peel the skin back and dig into the meat when Edgar said, "no no, you must eat the skin too".. of course, the skin too. The crispy, thick, slimy skin. I ate it, skin, meat and all.
What did it taste like? Well it tasted like you would imagine a guinea pig would taste like. It was slimy and flakey and there wasn't much meat. It wasn't something I would try again, but I'm glad I sucked it up and gave it a whirl.
When in Cusco, you must try cuy!
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