Cusco celebrates Inti Raymi on the 24th of June which is their most important festival of the year, attracting thousands of visitors to take part in the celebrations. While the official date is the 24th, they begin the fiesta weeks beforehand and so our last day in Cusco before hitting the Inca Trail was spent wandering the streets watching the endless parades between football matches.
We also ventured to San Pedro markets where we had been told by Dmi that the food was worth giving a try. It was a little overwhelming to begin with, especially when you have to navigate through the butchery with all sorts of unidentifiable meats lying around. We ended up deciding on Kari's due to her yummy looking avos on display. We weren't disappointed either as for 8 soles (about NZD$3.50) we both were able to have a meal of rice, fried potatoes, fried egg and salad. Ridiculous. The dining experience is definitely an eat for the sake of eating scenario though as you sit on bench seats facing Kari as she cooks and just hold the plate in your hand. Well worth the experience given how cheap it was and thankfully no funny tummies to follow.
You can't turn a corner in Cusco without being offered a massage, a painting (a front for drugs that are offered very quickly after you decline to see their artwork), jewelry or a photo with Peruvian woman dressed in traditional regalia holding a lamb. I finally caved and took a photo of three of them for the same price as my lunch had been. The main significance of the photo however is the stone wall behind them which shows the precision and strength of the Incas as they are original walls dating back hundreds of years which fit perfectly together without the use of any mortar to cement them together.
We found that the best atmosphere for the World Cup games was at Paddy's Irish Pub "the highest Irish owned pub in the world". My favourite part of the pub is the fact that they have singers as tables so I was transported back to our wedding day every time we went there (and we went there more often than I care to admit).
After a day of booze, fiesta viewing and football we finished off with some decent Thai food at Indigo and then it was an early night for us in preparation for our 4:30am pickup the next morning. It was hard to believe that the 18th of June was finally upon us, a date that had seemed so far away when I booked it back in January.
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