Cusco enchants us
Trip Start
Aug 10, 2007
1
54
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Trip End
Dec 27, 2007
Cusco,
Peru
Saturday, October 13, 2007
There were 1000's of people around and we realised there was a children's parade taking place. Groups of handicapped children paraded around the square, until the parade ended with the military doing a very high goose step march. The rainbow coloured flag of Cusco flew proudly beside the rec and white Peru flag.
The big crowds gave me an opportunity to get in close and take photographs of some locals. If you take a photo of a person, they expect to be paid.
The square is filled with cafes and restaurants. The way it is set out is on the bottom floors are shops and the cafes are on the second floors, with balcony's facing onto the square
A traditionally dressed Cusco family
.We managed to get a balcony table and had a snack and some coffee. So far the coffee had been lukewarm and quite crappy, however, the coffee in the café was brilliant. We had our lunch and made plans for the next week before going back to our hostel to see the Springboks humiliate Argentina with one of the highest World Cup semi-final scores of all time.
In a jubilant mood we booked a river rafting grade 3 trip, our Machu Picchu train tickets and our trip to the Amazon Jungle Eco lodge in Porto Maldona.
We had a funny moment when Jules was accosted by a local child. Mums dress themselves and their children (and puppies if they have no children) in traditional dress and then charge for photographs. We took a photo of one family and were heading down the road when a traditionally dressed child started to shout at Jules and grab for her orange juice. We agreed to take a photo and had to give our juice as well to stop the child screaming!
We purchased a few local crafts and then shared a delicious pizza for supper. As we were still feeling the effects of the altitude, we did not have big appetites, but we did have a good look at the local food and we will be trying the Alpaca (a kind of llama) and the local favourite, a whole roasted guinea pig.
