Pisac is a village 1 hour away from Cusco, and a popular stop for tourists, which as a result, have converted the whole village into a big market. It also has some ruins - as usual - up in the mountains. We took a local minibus to Pisac, where again we were the only tourists on board. We visited the market, and this time I tried to do more people photography, even a few times bending my own rule of not paying the subjects (otherwise it would have been impossible). We then went to the ruins, which were underwhelming, and pretty windy. Honestly, we are tired of visiting ruins by now, and after visiting Machu Picchu, all other ruins are just ruins. On the way back, the taxi driver started talking with us (of course in Spanish), and I asked him if he speaks Quechua (the native language of the people in this region, and the language of Incas). He said of course, and started teaching us Quechua! He would say something in Spanish, and then say the word in Quechua. He would even ask us how we say that word in Persian! We of course don’t know much Spanish, so the whole thing was really funny!When we got back to Cusco, we saw this small carnival going on close to the terminal. We of course started to follow it, and I did a lot of photography there. It was a fun carnival with some dressed up characters, groups of dancers, statues of Jesus, and of course a llama! We asked a guy what the festival is about, and he said it’s celebration of the anniversary of Mr. Jesus! We followed them till the end, when they started firing up fire crackers. Apparently the people here really love fire crackers. The night before, around 1 AM, we woke up to the horrible sounds of explosions, which turned out to be freaking fire crackers, and they went on and on and on. Unbelievable. 

Later in the evening, we went to the Centro Qosco de Arte Nativo, and watched some dance and music shows. It was OK, but nothing special. The next day, we checked out of the hotel, and left our backpacks with the hotel. We then went to see Coricancha, aka Temple of the Sun. Coricancha was the most important temple of the Incas, and before being looted by the Spaniards, it was covered with so much gold that it was considered the richest temple in the Americas. The temple was ruined for the most part, and on top of it, a Dominican convent was built. This was a common practice in the old days, as churches would be built on top of mosques/temples and vice versa, when one would dominate the other. We then went to the San Pedro Market, which was quite an experience! They sell anything from fruits, meat, food/juice, to handmade textiles and souvenirs, all in the same place! We even dared to eat there, which believe me, was not an easy thing to do (check the photo below)! The eateries are stalls with the cooks (mostly ladies) 4 feet or so wide, with a menu on top, and benches in front. They cook and serve you right there. The market was a great place to do people photography, but as most people don’t like to be photographed, I resorted to the old-fashioned hip shooting. The Sony A6300 is particularly adept at hip shooting because of its excellent auto focus and auto ISO. This is not my favorite type of photography, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

Later in the afternoon, we visited the Chocolate Museum, which was fun. I learned a few things about chocolate, and we tasted a few different types of chocolate products. We are now going to take the overnight bus to Arequipa. We’re going to take a Cruz Del Sol bus, which is supposed to be pretty good. Hopefully we can sleep in the bus, to be fresh tomorrow morning!Anecdotes:- I’ve been withdrawing cash from ATMs to pay for everyday expenses, and I’m so cost conscious now, because I’m spending real money that runs out, and I have to get cash again. It’s been such a long time that I spent cash like this. I always pay things by credit card, and I just don’t care. Maybe if you want to save, it’s a good practice to spend cash, and not use credit cards. Also a free plug for Charles Schwab’s checking account that doesn’t charge any transaction fees, and returns the transaction fees charged by the ATMs all over the world. Check it out.