Stephen did not drink “cocoa” tea. Cocoa, or cacao in Spanish, is grown in Peru and is used to make chocolate. Stephen drank coca, which is used to make cocaine. It does relieve altitude sickness. He got sick from something else.

Soups at local menus are as he described. And while the meat he had may have been consistently overcooked past his preference, it certainly was never frozen. Freezers are quite the luxury item down here. After the astronomical investment in buying a freezer, the electric bill after running it would wipe out those little places’ margin.

I agree that cuy is gross. And it is guinea pig. Not hamster.

Many people commented on Stephen’s blog that he is a wimp or should have prepared better. Fuck that. He had an adventure. Even if those people could write as well as he does, their stories probably aren’t worth telling.