Cusco, Curanderos etc

We stayed at the Hotel Don Carlos. Cuzco is a pretty city, and skies are blue here. Tourism has meant that there are many, many beggars or people selling small curios, very much "in your face." And that was disappointing. Because we came to Cusco at the end of our tour, after going to the towns along the Urubamba River, and to Machu Picchu, where there was active selling in the markets but not much in the streets, I found it disconcerting to always be avoiding the vendors and beggars. One old lady would hold her hat out for a donation and bat you with it if you didn't produce.

We were nothing if not active when in the Sacred Valley. We gave the schoolkids the gifts we'd brought them, and the Curandero gave us a remarkable gift of peace and well-being...

 Women with their weaving, and the alpaca knitting factory provided the opportunity to acquire beautiful hand-made pieces.

The walls built with no mortar at all, standing for 6 centuries or more. Gorgeous day!