A day on my own
Today was another great day on the trip. I went to small city about a half hour away from Cuzco called Tipon. I saw one other tourist that probably wasn´t Peruvian, which I love. I small city that allows you to see how it is really run. The 30 minute bus ride cost 60 cents and dropped me off on a highway a little ways away from the center of town. I was a little nervous when I realized that I was the only foreigner around, but I started to walk into town.
As I walked, I passed fields being plowed like they were probably done in the USA a hundred years ago. In the middle of a street there was calf nursing and people were coming out of their houses followed by their livestock that they were leading to pasture.
I ended up taking an old Inca route that was not in great shape up the mountain. When I got to the top, I got yelled at for ignoring the path closed sign. I quickly acted like I didn´t understand a word of Spanish and moved on. The site was very well kept for how few tourists appeared to visit it and it was apparently a great location for the Incas use of hydraulics to get water from underground springs.
The best part was the walk back into town where I could see the town in action.
Afterwords I had lunch at a local restaraunt which was one of my primary purposes for coming to Tipon. They are known for their cuy (guinea pig). I have attached a picture, but some people may not want to look as the cuy is served whole (with head, teach and fingernails all intact). I didn´t like it too much because there really wasn´t much meat on the bones so I felt like it was way too much work. The Peruvians normally only eat it on special occassions (birthdays or other parties), but I would be happy with a nice alpaca steak for my birthday.
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