Apparently My Shoes Are Dirty

While Cusco is an absolutely gorgeous city, there are annoying street vendors everywhere. This is Beth with the finger puppet she bought from a little boy who sat next to us as ended up asking for ever-increasing amounts of money (culminating at one million dollars):

And the fountain in the Plaza de Armas:

Anyway, the street vendors are selling watercolor paintings, carved gourds, jewelry, woven belts, woven water bottle holders (for the hard core tourista), and there is a cadre of shoe shiners who follow those wearing leather shoes around asking if you'd like your shoes shined. Beth and Talia are both wearing canvas Converse (or Converse-esque) shoes.

Mine are leather.

I have been followed by so many people I've lots count, and Beth informed me some of them have said, in response to my "No gracias," that I need my shoes shined because they are so dirty!

Last night we decided to get massages (they were only $20 for an hour!), so we had a small bite to eta and a beer or three at a second story bar and grill overlooking the Plaza de Armas. While we were enjoying our libations, Beth noticed this photo above the area where we were seated. Notice first the photo of the cheetah relaxing regally on a log. Then, look at the photo on the right.


We laughed really, really hard. You can't quite get the full effect, but Max is naked and covered in cheetah-esque spots, also relaxing (I am reluctant to say regally) on a log.

Anyway, the massages were at 8, and were wonderful, although two of us had to share a room. But hey, they did a good job and were trying! Of course, post-massage we were in bed e-a-r-l-y...

So this morning the ladies slept in and we didn't get moving until around 10:30 or 11. We headed back up to the San Blas area to finish up some shopping and so Beth could order her custom spider necklace that will be ready tomorrow.

Today's culture was a museum that's on our Boleto Turistico...

Let me back up - in Cusco you have to purchase a Tourist Ticket for the regional ruins and some museums. It's 70 soles and lasts for ten days. However, there's no way you can ever get to everything no the ticket, and most of the museums we want to see aren't on the ticket anyway. So today we decided to get our money's worth - we headed to a small museum attached to a Cathedral that was built on an old Incan temple - Incan foundation still present and visible. In fact, most of central Cusco uses the old Incan layout, and you can very clerly see that buildings - colonial style and white - are built on top of the perfectly-fitted Incan stones. It's impressive and bizarre.

Anyway, this church was rebuilt twice, after the earthquake in the 1600's and again in the 1950's, but the Incan structures were left unfazed. Does that tell you anything?

There are some ruins adjacent to the church, and a little museum below it that accepts the Tourist Ticket, so we did that. They had mummies and some skulls that had undergone a surgical procedure to remove part of the skull - I can't remember why they did this back in Incan times, but it was to relieve something or other. There were also skulls that had been wrapped tightly with sticks and cloth to reshape the head after birth - it was a sign of social status to have this misshapen, oblong head. Very bizarre.

Outside the museum - it spits you out in the middle of a huge lawn:

The ruins:


Anyway, we peeked at the ruins, then took a taxi to go to the Centro Artesanal, or artesan central, where we shopped like crazy. Now it's a quick siesta, then off to the Museo de Arte Contemporano (or something like that - contemporary art anyway!), which is also on the Tourist Ticket... Have to get our money's worth! Tonight we're meeting the boys (Tom and Justin) at a bar called Fallen Angel, but not until later. I expect we'll find another good bar overlooking the Plaza before we meet up...

Shopping schwag:




Photos of Cusco's cobblestone streets. You can very clearly see the Incan stonework - two types - on either side, and the colonial buildings next to it. On top of the stone on the right is white colonial structure, although you can't see it in the photo - most streets looked like this in the downtown area, and it's the Inca layout of the city:
The San Blas courtyard and neighborhood. The Plaza is lined with cutesy art shops and restaurants...
And the Plaza de Armas at night, from the bar with the Max photo:

More later!