Kusi Kawsay Open House and Food Festival

From Iain: Yesterday Kusi Kawsay held an open house and food festival. There was a very impressive display of school work from all the classes inside one of the classrooms, while outside each class set up a table laden with various local Andean dishes that parents had helped to prepare. The teachers and children explained the ingredients, preparation, and nutrition properties of each dish, after which we all got to tuck in. Pretty much everything was vegetarian as far as we could tell and quinoa and kiwicha was much in evidence. Bethany and Sierra liked the torte de quinoa the best. There was an interesting display on the nutritional content of coca too.

Sierra's Class Performing at the Food Festival

Many of the children dressed in traditional clothing (including Sierra who wore clothing kindly donated by the owners of our hostal), and some classes gave musical performances. There was also a rendition of the Kusi Kawsay school song performed by the whole school, which I captured on video:

In the evening we, along with the other long-term residents of the hostal, were treated to a wonderful buffet dinner by the hostal owners and their extended family. They also plied us with Pisco Sour, made with pisco (grape brandy), lime juice, and egg whites. Not wishing to miss out, Bethany and Sierra got to try what we thought was a non-alcoholic variation. Since Bethany was more bright-eyed and goofy than usual on the walk home, we're thinking their drinks were no different to ours.