Peru

After our tour of the Pisac ruins this morning, Jesus and I went for a very expensive, very classy, and very big buffet lunch at a hotel / restaurant in Urubamba (next town along in the Valle Sagrado). It was quite an excellent meal — or so I thought at the time. Endless plates of pasta, chicken, bean stew, alpaca (first time for me!), and mouth-watering cake. It was all positively delicious. It all cost a whopping USD$15 per head (about s/50 — you can get a 3-course meal in Cusco for s/2). And about 5 hours later, it all rose right back up, and gave me a violent bout of food poisoning. Beware the top-dollar, top-brass buffets: because clearly they ain't always top-quality.

Last Sunday morning, Jesus and I went to Pisac and checked out the markets, but we didn't make it to the ruins. This morning, we returned to the Valle Sagrado ("Sacred Valley") and to Pisac; and this time, we overcame all hurdles, and made it up to the Inca ruins that overlook the town from high above. Temples, citadels, stepped hillsides... all I want to know is, what took us so long to get there?

Three weeks down at Amigos, one more to go. This week was very different for me: because I had one-on-one lessons instead of group lessons; because there was a sombre feeling with many people leaving, and with the school being very quiet; and because I'm starting to feel, for the first time, that my Spanish is reaching a semi-fluent level. The one-on-one lessons have been intense and draining (despite being 3 hours instead of 4 each morning), but they certainly have boosted my Español like never before.

For Latin Americans, it's deporte ("sport" — although not as important as fútbol, of course). For Israelis, it's chai ("life"). For Asians, it's special price today, too dollar for you. For everyone, it's regateo ("bargaining"). Australians like myself are generally not the world's most adept regateadores ("bargainers"), but most (including myself) improve rapidly after a visit to paises del regateo ("countries of bargaining"). After Mexico and Peru, I can definitely say that ahora regateo más duro que hice antes ("I bargain harder now than I did before"). If you're thinking of coming here, plan on improving your skills at regateo too.

A gourmet dish of spicy mashed potatoes and shredded chicken, garnished with egg and vegetables, causa rellena makes for a great meal or afternoon snack. This afternoon, for my third weekly cooking lesson at Amigos, the acclaimed chef Ricardo (of tiradito de pescado fame) showed a small group of us how to prepare causa rellena. He did most of the cooking, we did most of the eating. Here's how you do it.

Most tourists who come to Cusco do their shopping at only a few central places, such as Gato's Market, Mercado Central, Mercado San Pedro (for the slightly more adventurous), and the shops in or near the Plaza De Armas. But if you stay in Cusco for a while, the locals will soon inform you that the only real place to shop is at El Molino. It's not in Lonely Planet (not in mine, at least — ostensibly too far away and too dangerous). It's not near the city centre. But it has everything you could possibly need, from shoes to DVDs, and from seafood to sunglasses. And all at rock-bottom prices. El Molino is the black market of Cusco.

In relation to food — to meat in particular — graso means "fatty". Some meats, such as carne de vaca (beef) and pollo (chicken) are only pocito graso; others such as tocino (bacon) and cuy are muy graso. Graso is different to the word gordo, which is used to describe a person as fat or chubby. The noun grasa means "grease", "fat", or "lard" — so it's specific to animal products. Don't eat too much comida grasienta (fatty / greasy food), or you'll end up gordito y feo ("fat and ugly")!

Mareos literally means "dizziness". When you run around in circles, you might say afterwards: "tengo mareos" ("I feel dizzy"). But this word also has other interesting meanings. If someone's so drunk that they can't walk in a straight line, you could say: "es mareado" ("he's tipsy"). And here in the Andean highlands, mareos often has a special, specific meaning. It's very common for people to have altitude sickness in the mountains, and the common symptoms of dizziness and light-headedness are referred to as mareos.

Wil and Monica, two of the students that have been with me at Amigos these past two weeks, are leaving Cusco tomorrow. As such, tonight we held a little farewell get-together for them, over at Jesus's house. We had a good turnout for the farewell — of students, staff, and friends of the school — and it was a fun night of talking, reminiscing, and beveraging. Wil and Monica have both been great friends to me during their time here, and I know I'm not the only one that's going to miss them.

Buenas noticias (lit: "good news"), people: as of lunchtime today, Mario's back! Él Papá returned home at about 2:30pm this afternoon, in time for the all-important middle-of-the-day meal. He's still going to need at least another week of serious R&R at home; but he's looking happy and healthy, just like his old self. We welcomed him home with flowers, kisses, hugs, and plenty of good food (a welcome change from those hospital meals). He should be back at work within a week or so.