If you ever come to Cusco (and I recommend it) you absolutely, positively, without a doubt must tour the main Cathedral located on the Plaza des Armes.  It is one of the most beautiful cathedrals that I have ever seen.  It is actually three churches built together under one roof with the main Cathedral in the center, flanked by two smaller churches that were added later.  In the time of the Spanish conquest Cusco was the parish seat for most of South America and the richness of the decorations inside the building reflects that fact.  Along the aisles of all three churches are many small chapels each with its own alter piece and icon and dedicated to a different facet of Mary or Jesus or a specific saint.  Each has a story and a purpose of its own.  On the walls of the main cathedral are painted 54 different scenes from the bible, all completed by Andean artists hundreds of years ago. The wood work in the choir and the sacristy will hold you spellbound for hours-it is so delicate and intricate and amazingly beautiful.  I could have spent all day there just sitting and taking it in.  The entrance fee was 25 soles (about $9.00 US) and comes with an audio guide, available in English.  Don’t miss it!  Pictures are not allowed, unfortunately, although I am not sure they would do the amazing art work justice, but if you check out these links you can learn more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8q8hC2rxQo

http://www.cusco-peru.org/cultural-cusco-churches-cusco-cathedral-church.shtml

First set of steps leading towards Cristo Blanco

Saturday was a full day mainly spent just wandering around and exploring the parts of the city I had not been to yet.  First thing in the morning I decided to climb the hill where the Cristo Blanco is located.  The Cristo Blanco is a large, probably between 30 and 40 feet high, statue of Christ that is on top of one of the hills surrounding the city just behind the Plaza des Armes.  From the house where I am staying it is only a short 15-20 minute walk to the stairs (the inevitable stairs!) leading to the top of the mountain.  My map was deficient, however, and I ended up at first following the wrong road up the mountain and ended up at the Sacsayhuaman ruins, an Inca ruin which is located on the hill next to Cristo Blanco. No problem though as I simply turned around and retraced my path back down the road, located the correct path and steps, and went back up again.  Who says I am not getting good cardio workouts?  At the top of the steps I had the ruins now on my left and a narrow dirt path up another small hill that led, finally, to

Second set of steps leading to Cristo Blanco-more like terraces

the statue.  Once at the base of the statue I could see the whole city of Cusco laid out before me.  Scenic views are not in short supply here.  On the back side of the hill, facing away from the city were lush green fields and trees, the type of picturesque, vibrant landscape that those of us who live in Houston have become unaccustomed to.  Milling around at the top of the hill were tourists come to see the ruins and Peruvians out for a walk with their families. There was even a stray llama munching peacefully on some grass by the side of the path.  The foot traffic constantly passing him by did not bother him in the least- the grass must have been very tasty.

Cristo Blaco at the top of the hill

I stayed on top just enjoying the view (and getting my breath back) and as I looked around noticed that there was an alternate path down. A different small dirt footpath led down to a road that went off to the left. (I had approached the hill from the right).) I decided to take it and see where it led, assuming that at some point it had to lead down into the city somewhere.  The path was slippery due to the rain the night before and my hiking shoes were shortly caked with mud to the extent that I was walking on mud and not on the tread of the shoes.  I fell once but managed to catch myself with my hand and not get completely muddy.  Once down on the road I had to spend a few minutes trying to find the bottom of my shoes again.  I walked along the road as it carved out a byway on the hillside while I simultaneously enjoyed the view and tried to figure out where it was going to dump me into the city.  After a bit, looking ahead and not seeing the road turn downward, but rather continue on its path along the slope of the hill, I decided to find a more direct route down.  As it turned out right next to a baby alpaca woolens store (which I have to come back and visit) there were some steps, fairly steep ones, leading down. Here was a potential short cut back to the city center so I started down hoping they would lead me where I wanted to go.  You know stairs are pretty steep, by the way, when the Peruvians you pass climbing up them are all panting.  I was VERY happy to be climbing down, although to get back to the alpaca store I will have to reverse directions and go up.  There will be lots of rest stops during that endeavor!  Sure enough the stairs led down to some of the older streets just above the plaza. I am using the word “street” but it was more like an alley and no car will ever be seen in some of these very narrow back passageways.

Stairs I walked down from Cristo Blanco (thankfully not up!)

View from Cristo Blanco

I popped down to the square to find the McDonalds to use the bathroom — that remains a constant the world over- if you have to go to the bathroom when you are out and about, simply find a McDonalds.  I was surprised to find one here but when I saw it I marked where it was for just such an occasion.  (It is on the Plaza des Armes and located nearby is a KFC and a Starbucks but that is the extent of American fast food you will find in Cusco.).  With some of the morning still left I decided to go and explore the San Pedro market, the market I mentioned in an earlier post that is located near the train station.  I had only stuck my head in before and today I wanted to wander down each aisle to see what kind of things were on sale.  Like everywhere else in the world Saturday is market day and there were people everywhere buying and selling and carting bags around, sitting on the plaza in front of the market socializing in small groups and generally milling about.  It was very lively.

The perimeter of the building was occupied by stalls selling some of the usual tourist goods, alpaca sweaters, scarves, shirts, mittens, and purses and other little nic-nacs  The center aisles were reserved for produce, meat, cheeses, grains, and flowers. Walking along the meat aisles i noticed that chicken and pork are very popular meats here.  There were many stalls that offered naked whole chickens ready to go and also whole small pigs and any other kind of pig parts you may be interested in.  I passed a guy with a hacksaw working on reducing a pig to its constituent parts.  I also passed one stall where I think the meat was llama, based on the legs that were on display.  If you want to eat exotically, this was clearly the place to be.  In the produce aisle a variety of fruits and vegetables were picturesquely arranged waiting for buyers.  I recognized a lot of it but there were several fruits that I will have to research to identify.  In addition there were some strange small orange spherical masses that I think was a seafood product but I am not sure.  I am going to take a picture of a few things I did not recognize and ask our house staff if they can tell me what they are and how to eat them.  (The projects are building up quickly!).

Juice Aisle at the market

There were also several rows of juice stalls.  From the menus it seemed that you could get any number of juices or mixes made to order.  Something to try in the future.  Also at the back of the market were row upon row of food booths with various dishes of rice, ceviche (another thing to come and try) and soups available made to order.  People were taking advantage of these Peruvian fast food stalls and it was practically standing room only.  A popular dish I noticed was a plate of rice with some vegetables mixed in, perhaps tomatoes, red onions and either squash or cucumber, with a piece of meat on top, either chicken or ham, and french fries on top of that finally topped off with a broth of some kind.  With three thousand species of potatoes in Peru (and I am not exaggerating!) french fries seem to be a common food and are actually really good here.  Since I had not signed myself out for lunch I felt compelled to return to the house for the meal so the market stalls will have to wait for a future trip.

After lunch I took it easy for a couple of hours and lounged around the house since the clouds which had been threatening rain all morning decided to finally deliver.  After it stopped raining I returned to the market area to investigate that part of the city, an area somewhat removed from the city center and also on the edge of my tourist map. I walked out the back of the market and found myself in the local shopping area.  People were everywhere and the small shops tucked in tightly along both sides of the small narrow streets were busy.  The streets themselves seemed to have themes, somewhat like the hardware store street that I found earlier.  I found the clothing street, the mattress/furniture street, and most importantly, the bakery street!  While I was meandering around I noticed that on a hill across from the railroad tracks a bunch of blue tarp covered stalls-it looked like another outside market.  I decided to go check it out.  It was exactly that and, except for the part about the hill, reminded me of the very large outdoor market that was located in Moscow near the tourist market of Izmalivya.  We used to call it “ the outdoor K-mart” because in its densely packed rows of stalls you could find anything.  This market was exactly the same.  Everything from clothing to tires to flea market types of items, like used TV remotes and glass bottles, were on display.  It was another sensory overload moment.  This was not a place frequented by tourists- I only ran into four others who were wandering around.  At least I now know where to go and get anything I might need if I cannot find the appropriate store…

Local shopping area

I slowly made my way back to the old city center because I wanted to tour both of the cathedrals on the plaza.  The main cathedral I have already mentioned but there is another, smaller one adjacent to it, the Cathedral of the Society of Jesus, which with a 10 sole entrance fee is worth seeing as well.  You can climb to the second story where there is a great view of the square.

I was meeting Carrie, another volunteer, at Maximo Novel at 6pm and I barely made it in time since I wanted to linger as long as possible in the main cathedral.  Tonight’s plan involved a search of a wine bar I had read about and Carrie agreed to go with me.  We walked back up through the plaza to the street with the wine bar on it, which I had found earlier on my way up to Blanco Cristo.  We searched up and down the small alley-like street but could not find the bar.  After asking a nearby shop owner we learned that the owner of the bar was on vacation, due back at the end of February.  The good thing about being here for so long is that I will get a chance to check it out later after it re-opens!
From another volunteer Carrie had learned about a free theater event that was taking place that evening so we decided to go investigate since the wine bar was a bust and we were not really hungry yet (I had tried two pastries earlier when I found the bakery street, yum!).  She had an address and using our maps we got to the correct street but could not find the right number building.  We walked up and down asking shop owners where the address was but could not find it.  Our meandering brought us to a chocolate shop so after asking, yet again, where the building was we were looking for, we bought some chocolate.  The chocolate is very good here, tending to the darker varieties, rich but not too sweet.  The lady at the store pointed us back in the direction we had come from but told us to go further, another block or two.  We followed her directions and finally found the building which turned out to be kind of cultural center.

Not knowing what to expect we entered the theater to find the performance had already started (we apparently had spent about 45 minutes trying to find the place so were late).  I am not sure what kind of performance it was even after watching it for a while.  There were about 12 people on the stage in dresses of various kinds (two were guys) and they were moving in slow motion to some kind new age music with pictures of flowers flashing on the screen in the background.  It actually looked rather graceful and beautiful.  But the next number was rather strange.  They started moving around as if they were zombies, with short, staccato, abrupt types of movements and empty facial expressions.  It was rather odd and after about 30 minutes we were bewildered enough that we left.  I just could not understand the zombies- some statement about the autonomy of life perhaps?  Anyway it was time to eat.
We found an organic vegetarian restaurant which was great as I was craving some leafy greens- a week of heavy carbohydrates will do that to you.  I had been warned that the quality of the lettuce here was not great but I was willing to risk it.  It turns out that the salad I ordered was wonderful and no repercussions from bad lettuce were forthcoming.  We both tasted the Peruvian beer, Cuscana, in its dark variety, and it was very good.  Much like Guinness but not as bitter.  Apparently it is brewed in Lima.   After dinner we headed to Maximo Nivel’s building as they were having an party for all the internationals, something that they apparently do once a month.  It is also kind of a graduation for their TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign Language) program participants.  They offer a month long course for people who wish to get their TEFL certificates at the end of which they are able to get jobs in different countries teaching English (and getting paid for it!). I got the impression, talking to several of the students, that it is a fairly intensive program.  At the party they had different kinds of drinks and some food and music and dancing.  There were many of the international volunteers present as well as some of the Peruvian students who attend the english classes at Maximo.  There were a few of us older folks there but mostly it was a young crowd.  It was fun and I had a chance to meet a few more people.  All in all it was a full day!