Cuy...

Before...

For dinner on Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), I went to my host aunt's house. Her and my host mom were preparing a typical Ecuadorian dish... one I never want to see be prepared again. This dish was cuy, aka guinea pig. Cuy is a delicacy here, often served on special occasions; it dates back to Incan times. I had seen cuy earlier in the trip, but at a restaurant after it was fully prepared. When I arrived at my aunt's house, she pulled out a dish wrapped in foil. I had been warned that the family would be eating cuy that night, but I was not prepared for what was under that foil. There were two guinea pigs with slits in the pale skin of their bellies, intestines (among other organs) spilling out. I immediately flashed back to dissection week in 11th grade biology. I must have made a face, because my host mom started laughing at me. She encouraged me to take pictures to show my family when I get home. After cooking for half an hour, the guinea pigs were taken out of the oven for seasoning. They were still very pale and, for lack of a better word, disturbing. Even more disturbing than their looks, however, was when my host mom picked up a piece semi-cooked cuy skin... and ate it! I shuddered, and she laughed agian. After being completely slathered in butter and other seasonings, the cuy went back into the oven. The timer went off an hour later. This time when my host aunt pulled out the cuy, they were fully cooked and

...and after!

ready to serve. As I sat down to dinner (with my plate full of vegetarian lasagna and salad), everyone looked excited to dig into their cuy. I was okay with it, until I heard my host sister next to me *crunching* on something... I didn't care to know what it was. The end of the dinner was the worst; everyone was *sucking* the last bits of meat off the bones. They all laughed as I sat there, obviously uncomfortable with the noises they were making. When the sucking was finished, I was able to have a good laugh with them. Through the other students my family has hosted, they have learned cuy is not a dish common to North Americans such as myself. They told me they are always amused by peoples reaction to cuy. They said many of their host students are hesitant to try cuy, but they absolutely love it when they do. I've been told it can be compared to really good chicken or rabbit meat. I'm sure the reaction of a vegetarian was especially amusing to my family. People sucking on chicken bones back home is gross to me, but the fact that they were sucking on the bones of an animal I had thought of as a pet my entire life was what made this experience so disgusting. I am glad I was able to participate in this Ecuadorian tradition... but I will not be sad if it never happens in my presence again.