Day 9- Pisac

Some beautiful tapestries in the market in Pisac

Yesterday was awesome. I went to Pisac, which is located in the Sacred Valley of the mountains outside of the center of Cusco- about an hour drive from our hostel. One of the best parts was that Georgina’s friend who is volunteering through a different program, Carlota, went with us, and she’s been to Cusco before and knows her way around (she’s also from Barcelona). She doesn’t speak much English, so Phoebe and I had to practice our Spanish a lot in order to keep up with the three Spaniards (Carlos from Sevilla was also with us- he’s a UBELONGer).

We took a bus for about 15 minutes until we got to the outskirts of the city, where we could take a van to Pisac. The van was actually really nice, and only cost 4 soles (a little over a dollar) for the whole trip. As we got farther from the center of the city and more into the mountains, a few things happened:

1. I got more and more nervous about how fast we were going and how close we were to toppling over the side of the mountain,
2. I gradually became carsick and had to stop taking pictures, as
3. The landscape became absolutely incredible, with gorgeous views of the Andes around every corner (and there were lots of corners- they don’t really slow down for corners here).

Here’s one that I managed to get before giving up and focusing my gaze straight ahead for the rest of the trip:

When we got there, the effects of the view were even more incredible. We were in this city with people and dogs and noise, and surrounded on all sides by towering mountains. I was amazed by the views down each new street.

Those colorful flags are everywhere- they have to do with Inca tradition, not gay pride

When we got to the center of the city, we found ourselves in a giant market, filled with vendors asking us to come in and try on this sweater or look at that bracelet selection. Before today, I had been told that I should bargain, but wasn’t confident enough in my Spanish and my knowledge of the value of things to really try. After watching Carlota haggle with a few vendors, I realized that things are ALWAYS worth less than they initially tell you, and that being firm is different from being rude. I also learned that no matter how good my Spanish is compared to other Americans, things will always cost more for me at first than they will for someone who isn’t blonde. After struggling to figure out the art of bargaining, I finally had a working script that went something like this:

Me: How much does this cost?

Vendor: [Insert the gringa cost of something].

Me: Ah! Way too expensive.

Vendor: Yes, but it’s [handmade/pure alpaca wool/precious stone].

Me: I know, but it’s still too expensive for me.

Vendor: How much are you willing to pay?

Me: [Insert some value that I hope isn’t insulting but also is less than I’m truly willing to spend].

Vendor: Ay, no! It’s worth [insert some value way less than the original now that I’ve proven I can kind of speak Spanish and am only slightly clueless].

Me: I saw it for [even less] over there! (I got more confident saying this after talking to a lot of them and figuring out how much different vendors were charging)

Vendor: *Either lowers the price or tells me they won’t budge*

Me: *shakes head and starts to walk away*

Vendor: (if I’m lucky) Wait! I’ll sell it to you for [Insert final cost here].

The best part about all this was that I only actually made one purchase today- for the most part I was practicing, trying to see what was effective and what wasn’t… preparing myself for when I really see something I want. Here are some pictures from the market:

This plaza is also called the Plaza de Armas- apparently there’s one in every city

This picture is great because 1. I’m wearing a funny hat and 2. Carlos is wearing a Patriots hat.

This woman tried to sell the cat tapestry on the left to Phoebe for 130 soles… someone else offered the same thing for 40.

Phoebe and I in front of the market- gorgeous view!

After all the bargaining in the market, I fell asleep for the whole ride home. I was going to say “sound asleep,” but then I remembered that I had to be somewhat alert in order to hold myself up as we whipped around those turns. This little guy said bye to us on our way out:

For dinner, some of the other volunteers and I decided to splurge and go to a nice restaurant called Uchu, where we heard we could get delicious Alpaca steaks. I can now back that up- it was absolutely out of this world. Towards the end I started cutting my steak into smaller and smaller pieces so that it would last longer.

The steak came out still cooking on that stone slab

I was so full after that meal that I couldn’t move, let alone go out with some of the other volunteers. I curled up in bed and wrote this post on a word document, because the Wi-Fi doesn’t work very well at the hostel anymore. We had 12 new volunteers arrive this weekend and even more other travelers are now in the hostel, which is awesome and exciting, but the router is not happy with all the traffic. I’ll be posting less frequently now, because I have to go to a café to use their Wi-Fi in order to post (I’m currently sitting in a Starbucks feeling like a total idiot for being here while I’m in Cusco, but it was one place I could guarantee internet). I guess I’ll have to actually sit down and have real conversations with people- I’ve heard that’s what you did in the olden days when there wasn’t internet and you had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to school. Maybe I’ll even learn how to use a typewriter.

¡Hasta la próxima vez que tenga internet! (Until the next time I have internet!)