Occasionally cuy are accidentally imported into the US. It happened in California recently, a pet store had "giant, monster" guinea pigs that were, at a young age, 2-3x larger than pet adults. Some of them were about the size of a small rabbit.
Most cuy are a red color. Red colored guinea pigs, even non-cuy, tend to be larger. If I were you, I would find as many large, red guinea pigs as I could and try making your own breed.* They do not have to be solid red, as long as they have that red/orange fur gene. It seems to be connected to size. As guinea pigs breed quickly, I do not think it would take too long to increase size.
More people raise cavies/guinea pigs for meat in the United States than people realize. The cuy breed is also around, but from what I have read, people do not allow others to know when they have breeding stock.
The topic of cuy comes up frequently on this message board. You should keep this thread updated and let everyone know if/how you are making progress.
*If you do start a breeding project, I think you could make a profit selling some, since so many people are looking for large cuy.
is there an advantage to raising guinea pigs as opposed to rabbits?
There are some. Cuy is, nutritionally, different from rabbit meat. For some people, caring for guinea pigs simply works better. For others, rabbits are a better choice. The two species have different care requirements. Some people raise both. In some countries, cuy is more than half of a person's total meat consumption. It is said to be very healthy and does not have the same problems of "rabbit starvation." For that reason I know they are popular with preppers.
