On our afternoon adventure to the Incan fortress of Ollantaytambo (one of the few places where the Incans defeated the Spaniards in 1536), we saw families tilling their plots with oxen and many small boys and girls herding sheep and cattle with only a small stick.
When we stopped at a roadside inn where the red balloon advertised that Chicha was available, we learned how to play “sapo.” Each person took a turn tossing large wooden coins onto a small table with six holes and a frog with an open mouth. The object was to get the coins into the holes which dropped into a divided drawer and were added up. It was a lot of fun and harder than you might think. No one was able to put a coin into the frog’s mouth which was the ultimate victory.
In the evening we were hosted in a large dining room with dinner prepared by a local family: Quinoa soup, rice with pareta, boiled potatoes, corn tamales, popcorn, duck, guinea pig, purple corn juice and a cookie. Very often our meals would include rice and several different kinds of potatoes.
