Day 4, Cusco

I love Cusco! We also really like our hotel, Los Marquese, a quaint combination of old wooden timber construction coupled with Spanish style tapestries, heavy draperies, interior courtyards, and we loved finally getting a shower! I think I took a short, but luxurious nap while Doreen accessed the hotel's internet (When I travel, I like that feeling of having dropped off the edge of the world....I never make contact with anyone. This time, I left my cell phone at home.)

We both felt pretty good after the busboy whipped us up some sandwiches in the tiny hotel kitchen. I felt like I was home. I love Cusco! Doreen and I agreed that "the energy" was here, and it was absent in Arequipa and Colca.

The city was crowded with tourists! Many, many more than last year. (sigh) Machu Picchu would also be crowded, we feared. Still, for me, I don't think Cusco can be ruined. I love the combination of international flavor, colonial architecture, and overall....a friendly and happy population. The street vendors, on the other hand, are getting a bit annoying. :-) It's the whiney voices uttering the same phrases which got to us. "Ees teepical. All naturall. I made it myself. Missuus', please buy...ees teepical. Maybe tomorrow? You pro'mees?" I took note of the fact, that there were other tourists who were not hounded! :-) We really needed to wipe those smiles off our faces!









I'm quite sure that this same dog was sleeping on this same stoop last year! I remember the beautiful contrast of colors!

Look at the door on the far right. That is the door of "Magic Hands" which belongs to Je'sus de Jarnu. We walked over there both this day and the next one, and found the door tightly shut. We had run through several scenarios on the way there, with me joking that I would do PSYCH-K on him to see whether he really believed he is a shaman. I think I decided that was silly, as I would just know. We also wondered whether Je'sus could top his story of last year, and whether he had made different "talismans" for us. We also discussed the possibility of letting him know about the power of the Internet......I haven't any idea what we actually might have said to him had he ever been there! In retrospect, I should not have written him to tell him when we were coming. Still, the only thing I am mad about is the fact that I fell for a story of someone as uncreative as he. The same pendants, the same colors, the same past lives, the same stories.
Je'sus de Jairu is a fraud. May he not get any more tourist money.


Blue is the favorite accent color! It's the color of Cusco's sky.



























You never know just what surprises await in the steep, narrow streets of Cusco! Here I found a would-be Inka, only too happy to allow me to be his "wife" for a few pennies.







This street is barely wide enough for one car, and I kept stepping off the uneven, narrow side-walk. Doreen had to worry about my getting run over. Given the uneven ground, and the altitude of 10,800 feet, I definitely felt a little bit unsteady. The drivers are excellent, though! I knew I had a much lesser chance of getting run over in Peru than I do on my own street here.

Oh, did I say that I love Cusco?