Around Cuzco

Rene took us for a very special city tour.  He asked if we were interested in seeing the 'real' Cuzco.  Of course!  He suggested that we go to the local San Pedro market.  We walked from Casa Andina to the market.  Along the way, we saw a lot of unemployed men standing in several queues trying to get some work for the day.  They could be paid as low as 15 sols for 8 hours work.  This is really quite sad.  Unemployment is a problem for Peru.  The people here are very hardworking and will pretty much do anything.

Unemployed men waiting to get some work for the day

The San Pedro market is divided into different areas: the flowers, fresh meat, dried goods, fruit & vegetables.  Just outside the market there were local Indians selling fresh herbs and plants for medicinal purposes.  Rene pointed out the things there were unique to Cuzco and at a shop where you could buy items needed for traditional offerings to the gods, he pointed out a dried baby llama carcus.

It was just fascinating to see all the different vegetables and herbs being sold.  Local markets are great places to get a better insight of the inhabitants of each region.

After the market Rene suggested we go to the southern end of Cuzco to see the new most exclusive suburb of Cuzco.  Here there were many half built mansions, poor roads, rubbish and junk everywhere.  This area used to be covered with trees and was very beautiful but as a result of greed of some and those who want to live in an exclusive area, you have this disaster.  There was an area which was protected by an armed guard to stop 'poor' people from entering.  Honestly, it was just ugly.  However, it was interesting to walk around and see what is going on.

Then we walked down to the private university which Rene attended 8 years ago.
We caught the local bus back into the city.  It was 0.60 sol per person.  The local bus is a van with a conductor sitting in the back yelling out the bus route and collecting fares.  The conductor must have good memory as he/she has to remember who has paid and who not.  It was an interesting experience.  We did get to see quite a bit of the real city.

We had a late lunch at the main plaza.  Rene said that it was one of the oldest tourist restaurants.  The food was very good.  The prices were for tourist but still reasonable.

Trout with mushroom sauce

It was raining so we took our time with lunch.  Then we walked to the Temple of the Sun or Qorincancha.  The temple has been incorporated into a Dominican monestary called Santo Domingo.  We saw great examples of Inca architecture and cosmic symbols.  Rene explained the Inca constellations in the Milky Way and how it included condor, llama, puma, plaedies, snake, toad and other constellations.  All this symbols also appear in their sacred practices.  The inca construction here is an excellent example of fantastic stone masonry.  It was a pity that the Spaniards built their church on top of the Inca building.