Eating a delicacy: Guinea Pig
South America had somehow managed to dodge me throughout my travelling years, but finally I made it. And what better place to start than the land of the potato?
Yes, it’s true: Peru is the birthplace of the humble spud. Potatoes were domesticated here thousands of years before Europeans ever thought to mash, roast, or turn them into McDonalds.
Sadly, the guinea pig did not enjoy the same fate. Instead of becoming a beloved household pet, it became… dinner. Known as cuy, it’s considered a delicacy and will set you back around £15 — usually the priciest thing on the menu.
Neither of us enjoyed it. That’s assuming you can even find the meat. If you’ve ever held a guinea pig, you’ll know it feels like a bag of bones. We might’ve felt fuller if we’d ordered sparrow kneecap.
But Peru is far more than potatoes and sorry rodents.
Cuzco: Heart of the Inca World
After 48 hours of airport transfers, cheap airport hotels, three flights and 16 hours in the air, we finally arrived in Cuzco — the beating heart of the old Inca kingdom.
Cuzco is ridiculously easy to fall in love with. Crumbling colonial buildings, narrow cobbled streets, a stunning mountain backdrop, and more cafés and restaurants than you could ever hope to try. It’s no wonder travellers flock here.
Once the capital of the Inca Empire, Cuzco was the largest city in the Americas at the time of the Spanish conquest. Today it’s home to around 350,000 people, many descended from the original inhabitants. The Inca language, Quichua, is still spoken by around 5 million people across South America — two‑thirds of whom speak no Spanish at all. Suddenly my vocabulary of “hola” and “gracias” didn’t seem so embarrassing.
The term “Inca” technically referred only to the kings and rulers, not the people as a whole. The empire itself stretched across modern‑day Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and parts of Chile and Argentina — the largest the Americas had ever seen.
Machu Picchu: The Big One
No trip to this part of Peru is complete without visiting Machu Picchu, the Inca citadel perched 2,400 metres up in the mountains.
Because the Incas had no written language and the last Inca ruler was killed in 1571, much of what we know comes from archaeology and Spanish accounts.
No one knows exactly why Machu Picchu was abandoned — or whether it happened before or after the Spanish arrived. What we do know is that it was so well hidden the Spanish never found it.
It wasn’t until 1911 that American explorer Hiram Bingham “discovered” it for the Western world.
Getting there from Cuzco involves a four‑hour bus and train journey to Aguas Calientes, the tourist village at the base. From there you can either take a bus up or hike a steep path in the dark to arrive for sunrise.
We chose the hike. Ninety minutes of steep climbing later, we arrived at 6:45am — too late for sunrise, but early enough to beat the crowds. Just.
Visitor numbers are capped at 2,500 per day, so booking ahead is essential. Same goes for the train — there are no roads, so if you miss out, you’re stuck.
Walking through the entrance, you’re hit with that view: the ruins wrapped in mist, Huayna Picchu rising dramatically behind, mountains all around. It’s the photo you’ve seen a thousand times — and yet seeing it in person still has a magical feel to it.
It took over an hour for the clouds to clear, and by 10am it felt like 250,000 people had arrived. But wander a little higher and you can still find quiet spots with incredible views.
Aguas Calientes: Beware the Bills
A quick warning for anyone visiting Aguas Calientes: check your restaurant bills. Every place adds some kind of “tax”, “service charge”, or “tip”, but the numbers seem to be invented on the spot.
One restaurant listed a 10% service charge on the menu. Our bill arrived with a 20‑soles “tax” — about 30%. When challenged, the waitress changed it to 15 soles. Still wrong. The manager eventually asked, “What would you like to pay?” Apparently “nothing” wasn’t an option, so we settled on the 10% we were expecting.
This happened more than once.
Ollantaytambo & the Sacred Valley
From Machu Picchu we took the train to Ollantaytambo, an Inca village continuously inhabited since the 13th century. It sits in the Sacred Valley — a loop of tiny villages, ruins, and farmland stretching out from Cuzco.
Ollanta, as the locals call it, is wonderfully laid‑back. Narrow streets, friendly locals, and a slow pace that makes it easy to stay longer than planned. Which we did.
One night we tried chicha, a traditional corn beer once drunk by the Incas. It came in the biggest glasses I’ve ever seen — more like buckets. It tasted awful, but at 3 soles for two (70p), it was worth the experience.
The locals were already several buckets ahead of us and completely smashed. Drunken Quichua sounds exactly like Spanish to me, so I still understood nothing.
We spent the next few days exploring other Sacred Valley villages, Inca ruins, salt pans, markets, and — most importantly — eating damn good food. Peruvian food is incredible: ceviche, alpaca pizza, tortilla breakfasts, causa (layers of potato mixed with veggies and meat), and endless street food. Our stomachs were very happy.
Farewell to Inca Country
We’re now back in Cuzco, soon to fly to Lima and then on to Brazil. Peru has been unforgettable — the scenery, the history, the people, the food. All of it. A destination up there with the best of them.
Tonight, we’re heading out for dinner. And this time, we’re ordering something a bit meatier than cuy.
