1/8/2009

January 8th, 2009 by Leilah Feinstein

Today I walked around Plaza de las Armas in Cusco (I still have not settled on spelling Cusco with an S or a Z. I think it will fluctuate with my mood). I hung out in the square, reading my (awesome) guidebook from Wilber, and this 77-year-old guy came up and started talking to me. He was friendly, with good things to say, maybe what someone might call a “conversationalist”, although in 2009 I’m not sure what that means. We talked a bit about socio-economic disparity in Peru. Then he taught me some Quechua words and gave me the most elaborate dap I’ve ever participated in. When I asked, “What was that??” he told me, “That’s how they shake hands in America!” Who knew. Also this morning I made friends with 3 little kids in the square, they were very cute and I told one girl selling finger puppets about Macy, my main kid-squeeze at home.

Today we visited La Catedral and Iglesia de San Blas, both with unbelievable Euro-Andean art fusion, from woodwork to architecture to conceptual representatives of faith within culture. This is sort of a place you’d have to see to believe.

The 12-point stone in the Inca Wall is always guarded by an obnoxious boy who wants money to bombard you with explanations. Also, I had to pay 1 sol to take a picture of a woman’s llama on the sidewalk. I am starting to realize that here it’s best to pretend you understand only French when the market hawkers swarm.

Another tidbit: tonight we received our first counterfeit currency (in the change from dinner) in the form of a 5-sol piece. Our cabbie let us know real quick that we had just paid him in monopoly money.

I am noticing that in general, the people here are genuinely kind. Not tourism kind, but actually amiable, interesting humans willing to share some of themselves for a piece of my mind. I am hoping to find a little bit of peace-style up here in the mountains, a grounding that’s inherent in me but is prone to be muddled in my sonic-speed Boston life. Tomorrow I’m joining a new-found amiga, a woman from California also set to work in an orphanage, for a yoga class after we explore some ruins with Bon. I like this pace; methodic, melodic…