Planting Season & Tuna Fruit

It is the planting season here right now, and along the dirt road to the Casa, the farmers are busy preparing the ground, plowing behind yoked bulls.  In the Cusco area it is very rare to see tractors.  The majority of farm work is done by hand.  It is encouraging to see neighbouring families working together to get the job done.

It is the tail-end of the dry/winter season (or as I tend to think- the dusty season), and it's very dry.  But, the Peruvians are quite intelligent with irrigation, re-routing water from various creeks through their plots.  Many of the intriguing pre-Spanish incan archaeological ruins are still well preserved today, showing the intricacy of irrigation systems that they created decades ago. 

November, 2011

I took this photo last year in November, and as you can see, it is much drier in August! In the following weeks, the wet/summer season will be starting.  It's hard to believe what a difference a month or two can make! 

August 29, 2012

TIPON, only half an hour outside of Cusco, is one of the amazing Incan sites featuring the intelligence of the Incan culture, pre-Spanish times, with their intricate systems of water channels and irrigation works  Photo taken last year on the South Valley Tour

August is also the month for flying kites.  It is windy, and apparently the 'thing' to do with school-kids, Sunday school classes, families and friends.
 

More interesting fruit in Peru...

 

It is a little past the peak season for tuna, but seems to be something you can still find year-round.  Not to be confused with the fish, tuna is the Spanish word for this interesting fruit that grows on a cactus plant (also known as prickly pear).  The inside looks a bit like beets, but with seeds.  Different varieties here have either an orangey-color or more beet-colored flesh.  It is not a juicy fruit, but rather somewhat like the consistency of a baked potato.  They need to be peeled properly, to avoid problems that could result from the little spines being injested.  Usually, if you buy them in the local market, the vender will peel the fruit for you.



The bulbs on the top of these cacti turn into the Tuna fruit

 

Tuna fruit

 

This cactus plant is also a famous source of a natural red-colored dye.  There is a worm called Cochinilla, that makes it's home on the paddle cactus leaves, forming white patches on the cacti.  If you rub these white forms, it will produce a red dye that the natives here use for dying wool, and have said can even be used as a natural lip color or blush.

 

Cochinilla on the Tuna Cactus  Photo taken in the Sacred Valley in late June

The red dye created by rubbing the white substance from the worms that habitate on the cacti (you can see in the pot to the left of the girl)  Photo taken on the Sacred Valley Tour last year

 

Trip Home...

Just over a year in Peru, I am gearing up for a trip home and Walter is getting excited for his first visit to Canada!  We can't wait to see & meet everyone, to enjoy autumn in Alberta and all the other things that Canada culture will offer!