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Shikashika
Shikashika is a shaved ice drink made from glacier ice in Peru and Bolivia. In some rural communities, the extraction and sale of ice continues to be a primary natural resource for local economies. Ice merchants extract the blocks with an axe by hand and transport them down from the mountains atop mules. The unit of sale is usually an ice block of approximately 40 kilos which is sold to Shikashika vendors. Each 40 kilo block sells for approximately 17 USD. In turn, Shikashika is sold for approximately .15 cents in plastic bags with colorful sweet syrups at Andean festivals and on market day. The word Shikashika is from the Amerindian language Quechua. The word is an onomonopiea. An alternative word for Shikashika in Spanish is "raspadilla"; therefore, in South America it is common term for the drink.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Shikashika
