This post features student writing.

We now officially have a week left in our program, but it feels both like we’ve been here forever and we only just got here. Yesterday, a group of us went to the markets in Cusco, to explore the chaotic stalls and to gather supplies for independent projects and future meals. Some of our favorite dinners so far have been recipes from home that kids have recreated in the kitchen with Percy and shared with the rest of the group. First, we stopped at a fish stall where we watched freshly caught fish being beheaded and gutted, and then we entered the main vegetable market, where babies and kids in school uniforms mingled with tourists in fanny packs. We bought ahí amarillo, potatoes, dried corn, tomatoes, zucchinis, and more. Next we went to the meat section where each stall had a selection of organs, pig heads, whole chickens, and cuy, or guinea pigs. We bought chicken and steak, so Omar could make a traditional Saudi dish called kabsa.

Around lunch, we stopped at a juice stall, where Percy seemed to be best friends with nearly everyone nearby, and listened as two men played traditional Andean music on a guitar and a saxophone, with songs dedicated to their friend Theresa. At the juice stall, we could get yapa (the Quechua word for “more”) as many times as we wanted. On the way out we walked past stalls selling gelatin made of cow fat, which is eaten by the local people because its high levels of collagen help fix internal problems. Before heading back to Caicay we visited a bakery where we bought a cake to celebrate Mary’s birthday, who is one of our hosts, and stopped at a supermarket, where we bought candy, baking supplies, Nutella, peanut butter, chicken nuggets, and s’more fixings. Halfway back to Caicay, we stopped at a roadside stall where we bought plenty of the fresh bread we’ve been eating for breakfast every morning. We could barely fit everything in our taxi.

— Nola K. & Lila B.