days spent in the magical Cusco

     Besides working in the school, I spent most of my days in the markets; which are amazing! So full of energy and color. I never had experienced such a busy market, with entire pigs and chickens laying on the floor before- hoofs and all! Funny how quick you adapt to things though. Surprisingly enough, I never had anything stolen from me or felt unsafe during my daily market trips. I trust people very easily though, and don't really show too much fear as some tourist may. As a whole, I always felt safe in Peru. The people are very humble and honest, I always trusted that somebody would help me if I got into a bad situation. There are also usually a lot of tourist around as well. Sometimes I would like to veer off into the areas with no tourist at all, just to get outside of the box- the worst that would happen were millions of stares and a few cat calls. The two pictures below I did get from a friend's facebook pictures though, she had a camera phone and was able to take quick pictures- while I only had a DSLR so it was hard at times to take pictures while in these markets, without causing a lot of attention, so I unfortunately don't have too many pictures of the awesome little places. I also hate looking super touristy, and taking pictures everywhere, which is something that I am totally over now that I look at myself as a photographer and hope that next time I travel I will think of it as an art, not just evading on their lives.

     Although I had lived in Miami, and with a Peruvian roommate prior to coming to South America, I had never tried Peruvian food ! I assumed everyone ate ceviche all the time, but now I know that I was totally mislead. A typical Andean Peruvian is usually some kind of dark meat, rice and veggies. Many restaurants have “menus” that is like a set price for a soup, entree, dessert and drink- for about 5 s./ to 20 s./ ! I am world’s pickiest eater, and I don’t like dark meat.. but I pushed myself outside my normal boundaries as far as I could. Many locals eat Cuy or guinea Pig, I unfortunately couldn't bring myself to try it. I stuck with fish most of the time. I also got sucked into the pastry shops, street food and chocolate stands a lot. My absolute favorite restaurant there was Presada- a vegan and vegetarian little restaurant located in San Blas. It was the first time I tried many different vegan dishes, and fell in love. YUM! Just thinking of the food right now sounds amazing.- and so cheap, about $2 per meal. Talking to locals is how I found the best places to eat, but other blogs are also great. Lonely Planet tends to show the more touristy places, but if you have the money- then go for it! I was just on an extreme budget.

xx SLW