Llama Face

Ok when my son joked about doing a Llama Face picture, I had no idea it would be this funny!  I think he and the owner of the llama have the better llama face then the llama.  Oh and there is no Kustopia but there is a palace and we saw a water slide. 

Cusco has a great vibe about it, in the tourist areas.  The vibe reminds me a lot of Queenstown NZ.  A lot of young kids doing the adventure travel.  Cusco has more hippies though.  Our apartment is about 5 miles outside of the tourist areas.  Quite the contrast to see real Cuscan life.  Very ragged, dirty, and looks like a tough life all around. There is no concept of trash collection.  The areas outside of the central tourist areas are extremely dirty and trash everywhere.  Within earshot there is always 5 or 6 horns blowing, and being in a vehicle is interesting in that it is who does not want to get hit - yelds way.   Even so the people have been friendly and we have enjoyed mixing with the locals - even though we stand out like giants.  We are careful but we do feel like we are welcomed.  I am trying to arrange staying in some of the surrounding towns to get a bit more of the local feel and not just be a tourista.   I hope to enjoy the real culture as much as I can.

Real life here is harsh and picking through roadside trash piles is a common sight.  If you are finishing a drink in a plastic bottle, someone will ask for it as you finish so they can put something in it (I am sure it is not cleaned) and sold to a local person.  Sanitation is not a priority.  The market is scary not so much because of every part of any beast, animal, insect part imaginable is for sale, it is because the sanitary conditions are reprehensible, but that is just the way life is.  Drinks from a bucket on the corner is common, sharing the glass with everyone else is nothing compared to the water source used to make the drink.  The best description over all is that most of Peru is 3rd world poverty.

We are going to do a tour tomorrow of some of the Inca Sacred Valley.  Looking forward to it.  And please give Mi Hijo a hard time about his llama face!

Manana