May 9 2025
Today was a more or less lazy around Cusco day. Tomorrow I’ll be taking a colectivo to Ollantaytambo again. I’ve booked two nights in a hotel there. So, I can potentially go see some more Incan sites in the Sacred Valley, or I can just hang out and be lazy in a place with small town charm I enjoyed. In two days I’ll take a tourist bus to Santa Teresa (the bus is actually heading to Hydroelectrica, I’ve asked to be let off early and they said yes, but, with my luck of that on this trip….) I have a room booked for two nights in Santa Teresa, so I can be lazy in a town with hot springs that isn’t Aguas Calientes. And, after that I’ll hike up to Aguas Calientes to finish my trek as planned and on schedule.
So that’s the plan.
Today I did end up getting suckered into buying art I didn’t particularly want.
This makes me 2 for 2 in being suckered into buying art on an international trip. Though this time was far less costly. The two paintings I got in Nepal totaled nearly $700. This one I got for $28. There were definitely differences in the purchasing. The kid in Nepal had spent the day walking me around and showing me the sites, keeping pushy people away, and actually getting to know me and giving me a chance to get to know him, so that I essentially knew what cause I was supporting with my money. Dude here was just some random hustler in a park, who I insultingly lowballed thinking he would leave – he wanted 600 soles, I stuck with an offer of 100. But, I ended up leaving with the painting.
After briefly being annoyed by that – I’m not a person who collects art, afterall. I have to sort of accept that it’s now a tradition, and I am now in fact an international art collector. So I need to make sure I have an art budget for future trips.
The other thing I did in this visit to cusco is eat. So far I think I’ve only really talked about the “odd” things I’ve eaten – the alapca’s and guinea pigs.. Peru has plenty of “normal” food, and it’s all super delicious and cheap. This is the land where you can walk into a gourmet restaurant, order a fillet mignon, coctail, and fancy desert, and spend no more that $20, including tip, often much less. Samplings of what I’ve enjoyed in the last day:
