Touristy things
Gina. Cusco, Peru.
We finally got a room with a kitchen! Yay! It´s a tiny shared kitchen, but it´s clean and it works. It´s so nice to eat our own food. Even simple things like scrambled eggs or spaghetti. One thing I´ve noticed is that noodles cook very strangely here. I don´t know if it´s the brand of noodle we bought or the high altitude, but they come out a little mushy and creamy. But who cares! Food!
We had a pretty good time in Pisac at the market. There were so many stalls of weavings, knitted alpaca clothing, painted gourds, and every other imaginable handicraft. Everything was very brightly colored, so even though the day was a little overcast, the market was almost blindingly bright. We ended up spending some time talking to a very nice man named Oscar whose whole family paints. We bought one of his watercolors and he through in a couple of his younger brother´s oil paintings (very small little scenes) into the deal. We paid about $16 for the lot, so we´re pleased. The Pisac market is famous, so it was very crowded, especially since it was a Sunday–the biggest day. It being Sunday also meant that there were local people selling their produce and some livestock. I kept seeing little girls all dressed up in pink and blue walking around with baby lambs wrapped in a blanket hanging around their front. They were so cute and I just assumed they were buying or selling a baby lamb. But I realized later when I took out my camera to take a picture that they were just there for tourists! Three little girls with lambs immediately came up to m and started smiling and gesturing. They wanted me to pay them to take their picture! I guess on one hand they were very cute and it would have made a nice picture, but on the other hand how sad that these little girls are forced to dress up and walk around trying to look as cute as possible for tourists. It makes me a little sad.
But we´ve seen more of the same since getting back to Cusco. The big festival is on–the 24th is the biggest day, but the weeks before and after also have festivities. It was a little shocking to go from Cusco last week which was pretty calm and not crowded at all, to Cusco this week. You can´t walk anywhere without people trying to sell you things, give you an advertisement for massages or bars, or someone in native clothing with an alpaca wanting you to take their picture. It all feels very staged and sad. There have also been dancing and music performances in the main square every day which has turned into a crowded mob of people.
We leave Saturday morning (at 6:30 am) to start the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. We went to our tour agency yesterday to confirm our reservation and pay the remainder of our fees. We meet the guide tomorrow night–and presumably the other people in the group. According to the woman we spoke to at the agency, there will be 10 of us in all–all ages and nationalities. I´m looking forward to meeting everyone and learning more about the trek from the guide tomorrow night.
Yesterday we went to a few museums and did other touristy things. One museum is also a convent that was originally almost an Incan convent. It was a place where the most beautiful girls were chosen from the Incan empire and they lived there as virgins for their whole lives. They were considered to be married to the sun, since the sun was their main diety of sorts. The museum church had lots of murals on the walls painted in what´s called the Cusco School. They´re basically Catholic religious themed paintings that also incorporate some of Incan symbolism and local customs. We saw a painting in Lima from the same school that was of the Last Supper. But the food being served was a guinea pig and potatoes! The church we went into yesterday also had an example of one of the boxes the missionaries used to explain the Bible stories to the natives. It was literally a giant trunk that opened up into a scene complete with little carvings of people and animals. The carvings were attached to the box, so that you could just open it up almost flat and have Bible scenes. The birth of Christ was the main scene, but there were others as well. They also incorporated Incan symbolism like the sun, moon, and stars. It was really interesting, and it seems like a good way of explaining religious stories to someone outside of your religion–especially if you´re trying to convert them.
Otherwise we´ve just been relaxing. Walking around the city and trying to avoid large crowds. We´re both trying to get our energy up for the trek. Steve is doing much better with the altitude this time around. And my stomach is still not so happy, but I don´t feel quite as drained as I did.
Today we were going to go walk around some of the ruins just outside of Cusco, but we decided instead to relax (for Steve) and shop (for Gina). I really wanted to buy an alpaca sweater, but the nicest ones are very expensive, so I´ve settled with a pretty alpaca hat for 22 soles, or about $8. And then tonight we´re going to a free movie night at the South American Explorers´club house. I´m really glad we signed up with them–both for the information and for the socializing. It´s a nice place to relax outside of our hostel.
Tags: Peru
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