Home Visit

After visiting the school, we went to the market where we were each given some money to purchase items that would be used in our home visit. Most of the items were Quechuan, so we had no idea what we were purchasing, and some of us had more success than others at finding what we needed. After we boarded the bus, Cesar explained that we were giving the family the ingredients to replace those that were used today. Some of them were easy to identify, though the dehydrated potatoes appeared to be rocks, and none of us had any idea lupines form beans that are eaten here. When we arrived at the house, we each had jobs to do. Some of us set the table, some helped make the tortillas (more similar to the Spanish tortilla than the ones to which we are accustomed), some did the dishes, and some helped make the chile sauce. Then we all sat at the table and had a delicious Andean soup with quinoa (a staple of Andean families), rice with a topping, tortilla, and guinea pig. We only had a small taste of the guinea pig, and it was flavored with mint. It was really quite tasty, but I had a piece with a lot of skin that I just could not bring myself to eat. And we ended the meal with a fruit that apparently is called a custard apple in the US. I have never heard of it, but it is quite tasty - I will be looking for it in the grocery store. Arcangel - the father - took us for a tour of his house. It had been completely destroyed in 2010 from floods and rain, and since that time, he has completely re built it. It is still a work in progress, but he has done most of the work himself. The home currently has three stories, the top one being an outdoor patio where they play, visit, dry their clothes, and watch tv. Because the weather is very mild, the homes are not heated, except from the fire in the kitchen (that has an open hole where the smoke escapes). Many Peruvians live multigenerationally, which is what they can afford, and this family is no different. They are quite content, however, and they seemed to have what they needed to have a good life.