Things to Do in Cusco Besides Eat...

As I prepare to leave the city that has become my first South American homebase, I am almost sad to leave the city that stole a good portion of my possessions, refuses to let you flush toilet paper in the toilet, runs out of hot water throughout the day, runs out of water period after 10pm if you happen to live on the second floor, and has a taxi fleet that Im pretty sure are just regulat civilians who get bored and decide to offer tourists a ride in their unmarked vehicles.  I have almost adjusted to the packs of stray dogs that eat the food you drop and bartering for everything from hotel room prices to the cost of directions (that in America we are stupidly and courteously giving out for free lol).  My stomach has recovered from eating fish served bare-handed and cold after sitting out all day and I now know where to watch burned DVDs shown in a movie theater setting (cost: $3 USD...the evil guy in the last Batman movie sounds even more hardcore in Spanish on a bad speaker system).  Heres a few of my adventures around town, for better or for worse...

Hiking to Cristo Blanco
Do not do this the day before you leave on the Inka Trail.  Or the day after.  If you have a few days though, it is a great way to start acclimating to the altitude, along with coca leaves of course.  If you go through the main entrance, it costs money.  But if you wander side streets asking directions from strangers and practically crawl up on all fours through a "path" that isnt...its much more exciting and free.

Other people have recommended hiking to Saqsayhuamen (Sexy Woman), but to be really honest, Ive started to view Inca Ruins like Italian churches...how many can you really see before they start to blur together??? 

And what better activity to do after your hike than a massage?  Or in my partner in crime´s case, after 4 days of hiking the Inca Trail and no shower?  Im pretty sure the masseuse is still washing her hands...

Get a massage.  In Cusco, there are massage parlors on every corner.  For 25/S. I had an hour long massage.  That is $8.  I repeat.  $8.  Granted, you get what you pay for, but a massage is a massage.  We were ushered into a large room with 20 beds.  They drew a curtain around two of them.  Privacy, Peruvian-Style.  After giving instructions, the masseuse left, only to return 2-minutes later to do who knows what, aside from see us very exposed?  Very puzzling.

It was a hot stone massage, using only one kind of oil/lotion that Im pretty sure was equal to Johnson & Johnson Baby Oil.  The masseuses would whisper to each other while they worked, as if you couldnt hear them in the silent room.  Or at least it was silent until other people came in and they pulled more curtains.  All in all, the best $8 Ive ever spent...I apologize theres no pictures of this one...lol.

Cusco is filled with museum.  I have visited several, including the Museo de Inka, Museo de Coca (of course they have a museum filled with facts about the Peruvian wonder drug), Qooricancha.  But at the end of the day, I am on vacation, so of course my favorite museum was the Museo de Cacao...or the Museum of Chocolate. Including a 2-hour choclate making demonstration where you take home the final product.  We might have gone a little overboard.

Cacao is rapidly becoming the most important export in Peru.  The government is even encouraging farmers to switch from growing coca, which obviously cant be exported, to cacao.  The high quality of Peruvian cacao makes it in high demand, even in luxurious Swiss chocolate locales.  Plus, its good for you.  Or at least thats what I reminded myself as I had European hot chocolate, Mayan hot chocolate with chili powder and honey, chocolate raisin buns, brownies covered in chocolate, and chocolate candy made by yours truly.

Another great part of the city is San Blas, the local artists community.  The drawback being that it is at the top of a very steep hill.  I had the great pleasure of making this hike two nights in a row.  My teacher had told me about a music festival that started at midnight, with bands playing all night and into the next day.  Now what kind of Austinite would I be if I missed a live music opportunity?  Using a combination of charm and sheer desperation, I persuaded my friend at 5 strangers from our chocolate class to stay out drinking until it was time for the festival to begin, then walk up the hill in the pouring rain, only to find it was the wrong night.  Oops.  I guess my tour guide side was on vacation.  However, the next night I returned with a fresh group of unsuspecting victims.  We were the only Gringos in the entire place.  I couldnt leave the side of my guy friend without being propositioned things I couldnt understand...and probably didnt want to.  But the music was great, and of course I love local experiences like this.

Note the extremely drunk Cusqueñan that dominated all of my pictures...

Something I would skip.  Horseback riding.  Usually a sure-footed animal, my horse seemed to find it difficult to walk on flat land, much less trot, gallop, or ascend small inclines.  It was a depressing tourist effort, not to mention that the wonderful sites we saw were more or less rock piles.  Our guide took naps while we were given "free time to explore the ruins". 

Shopping.  Everyones favorite part of traveling right?  I must have missed that girl gene.  But I survived the Pisaq Market, a giant maze of bargaining and identical looking alpaca clothing, by using a rotation system.  Shop, empanada and beer, shop, empanada and beer.  I was terrible at bartering...I guess I find something heartless about arguing over the equivalent of $3 USD with a woman who has children selling candy on 12-hour shifts.  But maybe thats just me...lol.  For the record, the goods available in Pisaq are the exact same as those available in Cusco.  So if catching a van out of someones garage and riding in the wrong lane while rounding blind curves at breakneck speed doesnt sound like your idea of a good time, stay in the city.  It was much quieter, though, and of course any drive through the Sacred Valley is a gorgeous way to pass the time.  Who doesnt love a morning of counting crosses on the side of the road with beautiful mountain views?  Note-guardrails are not as common in Peru as they are in the United States.  Pisaq is also a good place to see the luxury palaces the guinea pigs live in before winding up on peoples plates. I also had a first-time chivalry moment here...which given that Im a small-town Southern girl I pretty much thought Id seen about all the various versions of door-holding and chair-offering there were.  But I can officially say that Market Day in Pisaq was the first time a guy has ever bought me a turn in a toilet lit by candlelight.  Yeah.  I didnt really know what to say either.

I was going to include the foods of Cusco...but upon further reflection of how much Ive eaten...I think it deserves its own post!