We Eat Cuy (Guinea Pig)

 

Today we ate cuy for the first time; mainly so we could say we had tried it, not because we thought we might like it. After all, we’ve been here for more than a year, so one has to try it at some stage.

The grandmother of an Ecuadorian sister in the congregation raises guinea pigs, so we organised to go to her place and her grandmother killed, prepared and cooked them for us. There are different ways to cook them, and we were told that grilling them on a barbeque is the best (it makes the skin crunchy – some say that is the best bit). Although that does depend, of course, on whom you ask.

Barbeque where the cuy grilling was done

The bits we decided not to eat (the pollo (chicken) on the right looks good though).

Guinea pig is more often eaten and enjoyed by people from the country areas than from the cities, as they are generally not raised in cities. One lady asked me recently if I liked guinea pig, and told me that it was “very delicious”.

Guinea pig is probably more of a special occasion food than everyday food, as it is quite expensive compared with other foods, such as chicken. For instance, you can buy a whole cooked guinea pig with corn and potatoes etc. for $12. For $15 you can buy 2 barbequed whole chickens with potatoes, corn etc. Go figure. And chicken has way more meat on it than guinea pig.

There were about 10 of us to lunch – 1 Ecuadorian and 9 not. Normally guinea pig is served whole and you pick it up and eat it, but for us, they had cut it into quarters to cater to our sensibilities (after all, who hasn’t had a guinea pig as a pet?). They also removed the parts that they thought may put us off, such as the head and claws (as if that was really going to help!).

Left to right:  potatoes, cuy, corn, rice

So, we all bravely and with mixed emotions, tried our first bites of guinea pig (although 3 of our group had actually eaten it before), with varying reactions.

It has a rather gamey taste, is rather salty, and has a strange smell. The skin is very hard and crunchy, possibly a bit too much so (Brendy didn’t mind the skin). And it’s a little disconcerting that it is still attached to the ribs and other bones. I got on okay for a while (it actually tasted better than I had thought it would) but at some stage the psychological angle got me (we used to have them as pets) and possibly the smell or taste, and I couldn’t bring myself to eat any more of it.

Sarah taking her first bite (Yum)

Brendan wanted to put all these photos in to show that I did eat all my dinner! (Well, I ate all the corn, potatoes, etc.)

Brendan said it was the smell that got him; in order to eat it, you have to bring the whole piece of meat up to your mouth and nose, thus getting an olfactory overload. (You are apparently supposed to eat it with your fingers, not with a knife and fork) He thought it might be easier if you ate it with a knife and fork, thus getting less of a nose-full. The problem is you can’t eat it with a knife and fork because there is so little meat on it. You have to pick it up whole or pick off bits.

Most of us didn’t finish our portion, but of the non-Ecuadorians, 2 went back for more, and 1 other said she enjoyed it.

Then we went to see where the guinea pigs are raised. I had hoped and expected to see them all frolicking around outside on the grass, but instead, they live inside a brick shed. Guinea pigs here are definitely livestock, not pets.

Chickens outside the cuy shed

Where the cuyes live

They have such pretty-coloured chickens here!

Their accommodation is a series of wire cages up off the ground. The boys and girls are kept separate (except for certain obvious occasions), and the guinea pigs are divided by age. For example, “ready to eat” and “not ready yet”.

Their diet seems to be corn (they have a paler corn here than the yellow sweet corn we are used to in Australia) and grass.

I asked how long do guinea pigs live, and the answer was, in Ecuador, not more than 6 months!! That seems to be when they are considered ready for the pot.

The little ones are very cute, and I managed to reach in and grab one. It wriggled like it thought its time was up!

One very wriggly guinea pig!

For me, I think this was the funnest part of the day

Sarah coming back for more. How could you with that little cute face (the cuy not Sarah).

So, all in all, it was an interesting experience, and now when people ask us if we have had cuy or if we like it, we now have an answer. Although I suspect most Ecuadorians will not agree with us.

 One very cute calf (would have been nicer on the spit)

The Buses of Cuenca

 

If you happen to be getting bored with doing the same old bus trip, and the people around you on the bus just aren’t interesting any more, sometimes someone will hop onto the bus and make life more interesting for you.

Recently, we had a bus-busker! Well, that was our guess as to what was happening. An Ecuadorian woman of around 30-ish and her primary-school age daughter got onto the bus along with a microphone and small amplifier/speaker. She gave a little spiel at the start in rapid Spanish, which of course we didn’t understand even though we tried hard and had our best intelligent looks on our faces. After the little speech, she turned on some accompanying music and began to sing. It wasn’t a song we were familiar with (probably a local song), but it was really not good! Then her daughter sang, and unfortunately that was not real good either. When they had finished, the woman went up the aisle of the bus, apparently to see if anyone would like to make a donation. I think one or two people may have done so.

 

One of the many blue Cuenca city buses.

It’s not that uncommon for bus vendors to jump on board – maybe every 5^th trip or so you might get one. From what I can gather, they step onto the bus, check with the bus driver if it’s okay for them to do their thing and they don’t pay a fare. We have been told that it is illegal, and some buses do have a sign prohibiting bus vendors. But that doesn’t stop it from happening.

The vendors generally stay on the bus long enough to make their presentation and then get off, and presumably hop on another bus.

I don’t imagine it would be an easy thing to do, as they stand at the front of the bus and loudly proclaim their wares of whatever sort, while people either listen, stare out the window, ignore them or look vaguely puzzled (that would be us). And it’s pretty noisy – the buses are diesel and a lot of the buses would benefit from a visit to the muffler fixing man.

This is taken from our bus stop, where we normally wait to catch the bus to the Kingdom Hall or into the city, which are to the right of this photo

Some of the things we have seen for sale are, some kind of health bar reputed to be made from herbs and plants that will do all manner of good things for you (home-made and wrapped in glad-wrap), a man who played the music of a CD he had for sale (he didn’t do too badly – quite a few bought the CD), a lady with educational books for children (this was just prior to the start of the new school year which here starts in September), some kind of chewing-gum or fruit bar, and some kind of health product in a sachet.

Generally, part way through explaining the benefits of the product, they will go along the length of the bus, and hand one to each person. Most people take them (to be polite, from what I’ve been told), even though when the vendor has finished their spiel and they go along the bus again to either collect payment for the product or the product itself, most people will hand the product back. We tend not to take it in the first place either because we have no clue what it is anyway, or we’re just not polite enough to pretend that we might want it.

Sometimes there are people with disabilities or a medical condition who explain their situation and ask for donations, which is rather sad, but a reality here.

 

More buses and traffic, from “our” bus stop

The most novel act I have seen, though, was a real live clown! He must have wanted to take a particular bus, as a few other buses arrived, but he passed them up, which was good for me. He was fully dressed as a proper clown, red nose and clown make-up, funny hair, clown clothes and big clown shoes. There are times when it is handy to be able to proclaim no knowledge of the Spanish language, but this time, I really wished I could pick up more than a word or two, as he seemed to be quite funny. Lots of people were laughing, and he was amusing to watch. And the best part of being a clown would be that you can go up to people when you’ve finished, put out your hand for a donation, make funny remarks and get lots of money. I think more people gave him money than any other “bus act” or vendor I’ve seen.

Bus explanation:  Blue buses travel the city of Cuenca. The green buses go from Cuenca to the outlying areas and towns, and the two buses on the left are going to other towns in Ecuador. Often their destination is painted on the front or sides, e.g. “Giron” (pronounced “Hearon”)

Bus etiquette is different here from Australia. I’ve noticed that although there are two seats on each side of the aisle, quite often there will be people who are sitting by themselves, but on the seat closest to the aisle. I asked an Ecuadorian sister about why people do this, as in Australia I believe that most people who are by themselves would sit on the seat next to the window so that someone could easily sit next to them if they needed a seat. The sister said that it pretty much boils down to the fact that sometimes people don’t want anyone to sit next to them, either because they are getting off shortly anyway and don’t want to have to climb over anybody, or they just don’t want anyone to sit next to them. And sitting on the outside seat does deter people from climbing over you.

Most people get on the bus just by themselves, but some people bring interesting things onto the bus with them. Recently, a lady got on with three bags with wriggly live chickens in them. Going by the smell, I suspect that one or more of the chickens lost control of its bodily functions while being stuffed in the bag! Apparently, about 5 years ago a law or regulation was passed to ban bringing live things onto the bus – it mostly works, although a few months ago we heard mewing on a bus, and another wriggly bag gave away the presence of a cat who was not very happy, to say the least. And a couple of times we have definitely heard guinea pigs.

One might have trouble getting one of these on the bus!

If someone has something big to bring onto the bus, they generally come up the back steps (the exit) as it’s easier than coming in at the front and trying to squeeze past everybody, and there is usually a section near the back without seats (standing room) but with enough space to put your bale or two of guinea pig grass, or milk churns or great big baskets of fruit and veg. One day we were sitting up the back of the bus, and a young man came on and proceeded to wrestle his food-vending cart up the steps. These carts are very common here and are small enough to be portable and have wheels and are made to be moved around. And when he got to his stop, he bumped it down the steps and off he went.

 

The main bus terminal in Cuenca is to the left of the photo, where buses from all over Ecuador arrive.  It connects with the local blue buses.

The bus drivers here seem to work a pretty long day, as far as I can figure out. There is a man at the end of our street who drives a bus, and every morning he and his bus leave before 6.30 am (including weekends) and generally the bus doesn’t come lurching and splashing up our bumpy dirt road until about 10 pm, or occasionally an hour or two earlier. It seems he works 7 days a week, with perhaps a day or two off every few weeks.

A rare day at home for the bus driver in our street, and his bus.  It gets kinda muddy when it rains a lot, and all the buses in Cuenca go around covered in mud.

One night as we went on a bus to the meeting, we noticed a woman (probably the wife of the driver) sitting up at the front with the driver, and other times we have seen a woman with a couple of small children sitting at the front of the bus, too, who would appear to be the children of the driver. Otherwise, with the hours the bus drivers work, their families would rarely see them.

Some bus routes run later than others – the bus driver in our street drives one of the bus routes that run late in the evenings. We’ve sometimes caught that bus after the meeting at about 9:50 pm. Other buses finish by 6.30 pm. And normally the frequency slows down over the weekends. One Sunday afternoon, we needed to get from one side of town to the other, and we’d just missed the 2 o’clock bus, and after waiting about 40 minutes we gave up and took a taxi. But normally during the week, a bus will come past every 10 minutes or so on each route.

We live near the biggest market in Cuenca, and that’s the destination for a lot of buses, as lots of people want to go there (it’s like a massive indoor shopping centre, without the indoors!) which is handy for us, as we have the choice of quite a few buses and generally don’t have to wait very long. If we are in some other part of Cuenca and we see a bus with “Feria Libre” on it, we can jump on and it will take us near enough to our place. Some parts of Cuenca are not very handy at all for buses, and there may only be one bus route going past, if at all. If you are planning to be a bus-goer, it pays to check the bus routes before deciding where to live.

Apparently Cuenca is going to get all new buses this year. Most of these new ones have 2 exits in the side, as well as the front entrance. I guess that way people can get on and off quicker, hence quicker travel. I guess that’s the theory.

We are gradually seeing more and more new red buses; we currently have blue buses in town, some of which belch large amounts of diesel fumes and have noisy exhausts. I asked a local resident what will happen to the current buses when the new red ones come in, and they said they would probably be sold on to the city of Guayaquil in Ecuador (their buses are pretty dismal and dirty – we wouldn’t be so keen to get on one of those), or to Peru, for instance. Maybe buses get “handed down” and by the time they are a total wreck, they might be in the jungles of Columbia or somewhere.

 

This is a sign at the main Cuenca bus terminal, leading from where the buses come in, into the actual terminal, prohibiting bringing in these particular items.  Not sure what you do with your goat if you have managed to get it this far, and then realize you can’t take it with you!

A rather interesting thing that happens here has to do with paying the bus fare. For most people, it costs 25 cents for a trip (senior citizens and students get a discount), and you either swipe your bus pass (which we have – you can recharge the bus pass at certain shops) or you drop the money into a slot in a machine near the entrance of the bus, which then says “gracias”. But if you don’t have the correct change (say, 50 cents rather than 25 cents), you can get the change from the next person, if they have it. Normally, the person will show their 50 cents to the bus driver, and then they wait inside next to the entrance and ask people coming on for “veinticinco?” (25) and hope that they get their request in before the person drops the “veinticinco” into the slot. It seems to be an honour system, which works pretty well. I guess if you want some change for your 50 cents it’s best not to be taking a really short trip, and also to hope that the people getting on the bus have money rather than a bus pass.

There are just under 30 bus routes in Cuenca, so it does mean you can get to most places by bus, although car or taxi is naturally a lot quicker, but at 25 cents a bus ride, it’s a pretty affordable way to travel.

                                     (some random alpacas to finish off with!)

Brendan here, these are actually Llamas not Alpacas