Walking in the Footsteps of a Peruvian
by Lila W.
From the snowy Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the flat cities of Peru, I was greeted by music, dancing, and brightly colored clothing. The bright red color comes from a bug called the cochineal. It lives in the desert on a cactus. Peruvians scrape it off and leave it to dry out in the sun. After it is dry, Peruvians add the color to the clothing. This dye is also used for the coloring of lipstick, popsicles, and even gives hot dogs their pink color.
Driving from the airport to Lima, the capital of Peru, I was looking out the window and noticed how the neighborhoods of beautiful mansions turned into shacks, or as they call them, barriadas. These shacks have no electicity, plumbing or schools. The people are very, very poor.
I had to take off my sweater because it was very hot. I left Denver and it was 20°F, here it is 100°F! No wonder Peru is so hot, it is below the equator. Peru is located on the west coast of South America. Peru is surrounded by Ecuador and Columbia to the north, Brazil is to the east, Bolivia is to the southwest, Chile is to the south, and the Pacific Ocean is to the west.
I arrived and I met a family I was going to stay with. They took me to a festival called The Feast of Corpus Christi. The celebration lasts eight days. The eighth day (I was there for that) there is dancing, musicians, and they paraded down the city streets.
My stomach started to growl, that meant it was lunchtime! We looked around and something smelled really good. We went to check it out and a man, who was selling the yummy stuff, asked, “Would you like some cuy?” Well, of course, I had no idea what that was, so I asked, “What is cuy?” “It is barbecue.” Oh, I love barbecue, so I said, “Yes, please.” He handed it to me, it was a guinea pig! I smiled and said as politely as I could and said, “No thank you.”
Instead I looked around at the other food at the festival. Charqui is like beef jerky made from llama meat. I saw a drink that is very sweet called Inca Kola. It is native to Peru and is a greenish, yellowish color. In Lima, Inca Kola outsells Coca-Cola. They love it! Then I found some roasted potatoes that were wonderful. I also learned that there are more then 20,000 kinds of potatoes grown in Peru. After I had a delicious sweet milk pudding called dulce de leche, a favorite dessert in Peru.
My family and I stepped on the train to go to my family’s house on Lake Titicaca in southern Peru. Actually I should not say house I should say floating island. Lake Titicaca has 64 floating islands. Reed boats are also on Lake Titicaca. These floating islands and boats are made by hand. Peruvians have been making them for centuries. They call the floating islands isles flotantes. Their houses and schools are on the islands. When the Spaniards first saw the boats they called the boats caballitos, meaning, “little horses”. They thought the boats seemed to gallop across the waves.
My great visit to Peru was over. I was sad I had to go. I said goodbye to the family and left.
From the flat cities of Peru to the snowy Rocky Mountains of Colorado, I was welcomed home by my real family.
Places You Have To Go!
- Lake Titicaca
- The Inca Empire
- The rainforest
- Machu Picchu
- The Andes Mountains
Amazing Things About Peru
- In Peru, guinea pigs are eaten and used for medicine. Barbecued Guinea Pigs (Cuy)
- Lake Titicaca. It is one of the world’s highest lakes that boats can travel on.
- Map of Peru.
- Reed Boats on Lake Titicaca. These boats are mostly used for fishing and collecting reed.
Peru at a Glance
- Capitol: Lima
- Population: 25,000,000
- Native Languages: Spanish and Quecha
- Longest River: Amazon River
- Literacy Rate: 88.7 percent
