5/28/15: Cusco History and Culture

Other than having to get up to catch buses, today was the only day that I had to wake up to eat breakfast, as it was served from 6-9 am. I got to the kitchen at around 8:45, and ate a little pancake/naan piece with jam, drank coca tea, and chatted with two guys that were eating around the same time. One was from Seattle and was on "extended leave" from his job, and the other had just quit. It was so interesting to meet people that were able to walk away from their jobs like that and pursue something that they were so interested in - they just took the leap and left. The longer I'm in Peru, the more I realize that people are doing that, and the people who have these types of mindsets - ie travelers - are the same ones that I want to be around. They think outside the box and strive for the extraordinary, are willing to put up with uncertainty, are independent and action-takers, and truly awesome. It's that sort of mindset that I love about traveling.

After breakfast, I took a quick shower (yay for hot water!!) and headed out to meet Olivia, a friend from UT who was an orientation advisor with me! We had talked about taking a chocolate-making class, but since it cost 75 soles (about $25), we decided to go to a museum instead. On our way, we passed by some protesters in the street. Olivia said that they were protesting about working conditions in mines near Puno, and that the organizers were trying to bring the protests and strikes all over the country. Interestingly enough, the lady who worked for the organization Olivia was with claimed that this sort of thing happened all the time and was nothing to worry about. Still, the streets were lined with police. At no time did we feel unsafe, though.

We made it to Qurikancha, which was beautiful! It was a lot like many of the other cathedrals that I had seen around Peru thus far. What made it unique was a beautiful view of the city and some art in the temporary exhibition. The picture of all the pieces of cloth apparently symbolized the connection of various people through the city/museum, and anyone could pick up a cloth and tie it wherever they pleased. The other part of the museum with tapestry art was a representation of modern Peruvian culture in cloth, which was really beautiful. Those were made by Maximo Laura, who is apparently world-famous for his artwork. It was definitely worth checking out.

After that, we walked around and found a little restaurant that had no English whatsoever - I assume that makes it a little more local and less touristy, but I didn't have the guts to try something super out-there. I ordered "arroz con pollo" - rice with chicken - that came with green rice. Very interesting, and delicious all the same! It cost 12 soles, a little less than $4.

At that time, Olivia had to leave so I was alone again, and went to the chocolate museum to check it out. It was fun, and I got to try the regular chocolate pieces as well as chocolate tea and jam - interesting, but I probably wouldn't ever buy it. The cool thing about ChocoMuseo was that they had all their text in English, Spanish, and French instead of just the standard English and Spanish. It turns out that I could figure out the meaning of the signs just by reading the French, which was exciting! I can't wait until I go to somewhere that speaks French and I can test out what I know. There were a few signs that I couldn't fully understand just with French, but I'm learning! The museum also had a small terrace that overlooked a nearby park, which made for a pretty view.

I decided to keep moving after that and the closet attraction I had wanted to visit was the Casa Concha Museum, which basically has all the information you ever need to know before visiting Machu Picchu. It had all types of artifacts from the original archaeological digs in 1912 and a replica of the area, which makes me really excited to see it! The third picture below is a huge pot that is used for corn beer (apparently very popular among the Inca), and the last is quipu, the Incan  method of record-keeping that I briefly learned about when I took World History my junior year of high school. This museum surprisingly took me about 2 hours to browse, which was more than I expected but fully worth it!

At the end of this museum was actually another temporary exhibit of Maximo Laura's work, so it's clear to me that either (1) the Laura Museum is doing a really good job of advertising, (2) they are really proud of his work, and/or (3) it is actually that good. I should be in the general direction of the museum tomorrow, and I might go in depending on the price. Since I've already seen so much of his work, though, I'll leave that decision for tomorrow. Still, his work is quite beautiful. Keep in mind that this isn't an oil painting - it's cloth, resembling a rug.