Las Calles de San Blas, el Baratillo y la Cuyería

What an eventful morning. After breakfast Luz and I went to el mercado de San Blas. San Blas is the "bohemian" district of Cusco aka where all the artists are. The open air market was small, but really cute and chock full of unique, handcrafted goods.

These are wooden sculptures of the buildings of San Blas.
They're hollow so that you can put a candle inside.
How beautiful they must be lit up!

Photo albums and sketch pads with the Chakana

A chess set depicting the Incas and the Spanish

More charangos and a wooden saxophone.

After we strolled through the market we walked to a coca shop where they sell all things coca.

Coca wine

Chocolate with coca

Drinking on the go.

Chocolate man. 

 We continued strolling through San Blas, which is really adorable. I love this part of town. 

Luz in front of the infamous Hatunrumiyoc, the 12- sided
stone. She's standing in front of a few of the sides though.

Next we went to el Baratillo, a local market. Luz told me a few horror stories of her students getting robbed here, so I didn't take too many pictures and was sure to put my New York stank face on.

We went home to rest for a bit before we went out to lunch. Luz offered me passion fruit, which I'd never had before. You have to crack it like an egg to open it. Pretty cool.

Luz's mom was preparing the fish for tomorrows dinner.

 

  

She wears her hair like this everyday.
The braids are connected at the bottom.

Then it was time for lunch. A few days ago Luz told me that we were going to a restaurant to eat cuy. Cuy es un plato tipico de Peru. And it's guinea pig. I had read about it before I came, but all I could think about was the first pet I ever had- a guinea pig named Kufu. I told Luz about my pet guinea pig and so she understood why I didn't want a whole cuy to myself. 

                                                   

The cuyería was high in the mountains and had
an amazing view of the city.

                                                  

Fried cuy

Baked cuy

Teeth

Claws

What I ate.

The Cuyería obviously only serves cuy, so I got a plate of what came with the cuy- potatoes and a fried chili stuffed with beef and veggies. The fried chili was really great and tasted kind of like a samosa. But  don't worry, I wasn't a total gringo. I did try some cuy. It was like chicken but chewier. Poor Kufu.

Inside the cuy's head there are two or three birds. These are bird shaped bones, I think. It's a tradition that when you go out to eat cuy you find birds and put them in your glass. You make a wish and drink your beverage. Most of the time they stick to the bottom or side of the glass, but if you drink them your wish comes true and you'll have good luck. 

Three birds.

No luck for me.

Luz's mother was so cute. She must've tried to drink them 5 or 6 times. 

Swirling the glass in preparation.

Did I do it?

Success! 

P.S.
Sorry the pictures are so small. I sent them in the smallest form from my iPhone to speed up the process and didn't know they wouldn't enlarge...silly Sophia.