Having its ups and downs, we definitely experienced the local culture if nothing else.
Heading for the local market in the morning, we had expected little markets stalls on the edge of a street like others. This one had a slight twist, reminding us of a London fish market with the hustle and bustle of people rushing to and fro. Entwined with the stench of the food on show, varying from meats such as cow and llama to fish with some fresh and some not quite as fresh fruits also available. Twisting and squeezing our way around, we realised that nothing particularly took our fancy so left for lunch.
This split our opinion in the meal as we went to worlds only pre-inca restaurant apparently. Greeted by a friendly guy, who turned out to be the owner and chef, he invited us to look at the kitchen. All with old furnaces as the stove and volcanic stone it was really interesting, which became even better when he asked if we wanted to help prepare our meals. I had chosen the Peruvian traditional dish of coy (guinea pig) and Abigail had alpaca steak. The coy is cooked whole with feet head and even teeth on show so with grounded peanuts and herbs it was cooked and produced on whole in front of us afterwards. Abigail's alpaca was a little more subtle but still served on a scorching volcanic stone still cooking the meat it looked amazing. Personally I enjoyed the food and the different style of food, but eating food with the head of the animal still on show was a little too much for Abigail putting her off of her food. The whole experience was amazing and we are now experts at cooking guinea pig although I highly doubt we will ever re-use our new found talents.
Afterwards Abigail started to get a dodgy stomach so heading towards the room it gave us a chance to recharge as we were both feeling drained. Feeling a little better we headed for a walk to enjoy the weather, culture and spent the rest of the night in the main square and food court.