Pirwa Hostels Peru Blog

Guinea Pigs À La Mode

Cuys, or guinea pigs, are famously a delicacy throughout the Andes, but only in Huacho during the big Cuy Festival do the little guys go all out. Cuy against cuy compete to be the largest, the fastest, the best-dressed…and the tastiest. Some guinea pigs appear in fanciful costumes, as peasants or miners, and others appear fried, grilled, or baked.

Pisco the Surfing Alpaca

Pisco the Alpaca, a llama-like animal indigenous to the Andean highlands, became an international superstar last year as a video of one of his surfing lessons was circulated online and on television. Outfitted in a stylish flotation vest, he hit the waves with his owner and surfing guru Domingo Pianezzi and practiced standing up on the board. Unfortunately, at the time he still had a case of the nerves, but by this year we expect that everyone´s favorite alpaca has gotten the hang of hanging ten.

Livestock Matrimony…

In Huancayo in the Montaro Valley, during the Festival of Santiago (the Apostle James), the patron saint of farm animals, both Santiago and the Apu mountain divinities are honored in a festival that seeks to ensure the fertility of the land and animals in the coming year. It is during this festival that you can watch owners and livestock bound in holy matrimony- owners in their Sunday best sitting atop cows with flower garlands while the rite is performed. (In other areas the festival also includes marriages, but only among the livestock.)

The cattle ears are pierced and adorned with multicolored ribbon earrings, flower garlands, and other adornments in a musical ceremony known as the Cintachicuy (The Signal), in which only single men and women participate (women for the bulls, men for the cows). This tradition of decorating livestock to mark ownership dates to pre-Columbian times (prettied-up llamas at right). The main event is the mischievous Casaracuy (Matrimony) between the youths and animals, after which the the women throw flower and the youths receive long necklaces with known as Wallqas with skewered rolls of streamers, bags of hard candies, cakes, fruits, small liquor bottles. Celebrants of all species then hit the cane liquor and the dance floor!

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