Caral - 6. Chapter 6

That evening Carlos took Toby to a small restaurant on the outskirts of Lima. “A lot of students come here. The food is good and reasonable.”

“Do they have pizza or hamburgers?”

Carlos laughed, “No, but you’ll like the local food.”

“I was kidding. When you visit in December, I’ll take you to a similar type of restaurant.”

When they entered the restaurant, Toby heard a group of students calling Carlos. Looking carefully at the group, he recognized several from the dig. Toby smiled and followed Carlos to their table. Before Toby could say hi, two chairs were brought to the table.

As Toby listened, he decided he was going to learn Spanish. Every once in awhile, Carlos would translate for him. While he was sitting there, one of the girls from the dig pulled up a chair and sat beside Toby.

“Hi, how are you? Ready for the dig again?’

“Yes, what are you doing here? I didn’t expect to see you till December?”

“My dad had a meeting with Dr. Viego, so I tagged along. What is your opinion of the dig?”

That started a conversation about the dig, which overflowed into archeology in general. Toby got so wrapped in the conversation he didn’t realize that Carlos was feeding him food. Carlos knew if Toby knew what he was eating, he wouldn’t even try it.

Carlos just sat back, enjoying the conversation, adding his two bits occasionally. If you have ever been in college and had the opportunity of participating in a free discussion, you have the picture of Toby’s experience.

Walking back to the hotel, “You seemed to enjoy tonight.”

“I did, you have a great group of friends. I enjoyed the conversations, and the food was very tasty.” Toby stopped walking. He just realized that Carlos had fed him bits of food from his plate. “You fed me?”

“Yes, I knew if you tried some of the dishes, you would like them. But you seemed a little squeamish when I suggested something like the ceviche. You didn’t want it till you tasted it, then you had a complete serving.”

“So, what did I eat that I wouldn’t have eaten?”

“You remember me telling you about ‘earth oven’?”

“Yes, that was food cooked in the ground. I told you I wouldn’t like it.”

“Yes, but you ate it today and asked for more.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did. Remember the chicken you ate, that was cooked in an earth oven.”

I looked at him, “I’m glad I didn’t know that I was eating it. Is that all of the strange food you fed me?”

“No, I fed you some Cuy.”

“What was that?”

“It’s a small animal. They are similar to a rabbit, more or less.” I wasn’t about to tell him it was a guinea pig. “You liked the potatoes.”

“Yes, even if they were purple.”

“The early people grew potatoes as a main source of food, for human use as well as animal feed. There are at least 200 varieties of potatoes. These varieties fit into one of seven type categories. You probably ate at least two of these varieties, and now you can add one or two more.”

“I only know russet, red skin, and baking potato.”

“Well, now you add yellow and blue/purple.”

“Blue/purple, I never ate those.”

“You did tonight. Those fries were good, weren’t they?”

“Next time, I’ll not talk so much and watch what I eat.”

Arriving at their hotel, they met Toby’s dad. “You both look like you had a good time tonight.”

“We did, Carlos took me to a restaurant where I met a lot of his friends. Some of them I had met from the dig. It was a lot of fun.”

“He even tried some of the local food.”

“Even guinea pig?”=

Carlos nodded his head, yes. “I didn’t eat guinea pig. They are pets.”

Carlos and Dr. Bently laughed. “I have to watch what I eat and don’t just accept what you feed me.”

Saturday, Toby and Carlos did the tourist bit, visiting the typical tourist sites in the mountains. Toby wanted to see Machu Picchu. “That would be a full two-day trip, but we can go to another site where you can look at Machu Picchu from there. It will be cold up in the mountains.” Toby was ready in 15 minutes, grabbing a piece of fruit as they left.

They walked through Lima and headed into the mountains. As they walked, they talked about school, the dig, and what they might find. “We should have visited the museum at school. They have a lot of artifacts from their sponsored digs and some great books on the history of the Indians of Peru, the Incas.”

“Maybe we can do that when we get back.”

“I think it’ll be too late. What time are you leaving tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask my dad. I’ll do that tonight when we get back.”

The rest of the day, Toby enjoyed the walk, unsure if it was the sights of the ruins they saw or just being alone with Carlos.

When they got back to the hotel, they ordered room service for dinner. Toby pictured that this is what his future would be. Working a dig alongside Carlos, coming home and having dinner together while discussing the day’s events. “TOBY, where did you go!”

“I’m sorry, I was thinking how nice this is, just the two of us. I can’t wait till school is over, and we can be together all the time.”

Carlos just smiled as he looked into Toby’s eyes. There was no question there was love there, and he hoped that Toby saw the same in his eyes.

Finished eating, Toby wheeled the cart into the hall. “Hi, Dad, what time is our flight tomorrow? If we have time, Carlos and I would like to go and check out the University’s archeology collection.”

“How was your trip today?”

“We went to see a few small digs, Carlos said we would need two days to go to Machu Picchu.”

“Some people camp there for two or three days. You can do that this summer when we come back to the dig. Our flight tomorrow is at three, so you have time in the morning to go and see the University’s collection of artifacts.”

Toby smiled and wished his dad good night.

Toby woke up he noticed it was 10 o’clock morning. He was still a little tired, but he knew if he wanted to visit the archaeology room at the University, he had to get up. Carlos, sleeping by his side, complained when Toby tried to wake up. “Carlos, come on, wake up. I want to see the exhibit, and if you don’t wake up soon, I won’t be able to go to the University.”

Carlos begrudgingly opened his eyes. “We have only been asleep for 4 hours. I’m still tired.”

“Hey, you are the one who wanted to play last night.”

“Making love is not play; it’s a serious business.”

Toby pulled the covers away and threatened to pour cold water on him if he didn’t get up.

Finishing his morning shower, Toby called room service for breakfast for Carlos and himself. “Carlos, unless you want room service to wheel the cart in while you’re still in bed, you better get up.”

Carlos mumbled as he pulled the sheet over his head. Fifteen minutes later, a knock on the door announcing room service got Carlos out of bed. Toby laughed as Carlos rushed into the bathroom but not before Toby swatted him on his bare ass.

On the way home, “Dad, did you and Dr, Viego have a good talk?”

“Yes, we did. I like that man, he’s an excellent archeologist, and I doubt if anyone knows more about Peru’s archeology. I have convinced him to write a book, which I offered to edit for him. I don’t think I’ll need to do much except for the English version.”

“Wow, I can’t wait to read it. What little I saw of the ruins, I definitely want to go back and see more.”