The Market

I guess there are only certain parts of the alpaca needed for wool...

I've been intending on buying a cell phone for a couple of weeks now, but my friend's Peruvian boyfriend 'Norberto' kept insisting I needed to wait until the 'special' Saturday market. I have been feeling a bit jaded about the racket that is Commercial Stores because the prices are generally jacked up for touristas and all the locals insist you can get things cheaper.

Before we left for the special market yesterday, Norberto said that Dana and I should dress 'thuggish' and don't wear jewelry, bring purses, or wear anything that has many pockets. My week-long worn Prana cargos (and thusly, very stretched out and baggy) and best dirty t-shirt had to suffice for thug-attire. I hid my money in an old chewing gum packet (thanks Rachel) and put on my best thuggish sneer. The market was located in a ramshackled, dodgy, dirty part of Cusco (as opposed to the main square where women with face masks go around sweeping up individual cigarette butts all day long). Envision an American swap meet with absolutely no space, lots more creepy people (just smaller), and even more things you don't want or need. And as soon as I got there I realized why everything was cheaper: everything is either stolen property or was found in someone else's garbage can. When I bought my cellphone I instantly felt like I had many more friends in Cusco as my list of friends on the phone is quite long (Daphne, Rodrigo, Diana, Alex...) - I even discovered that I have a grandma (abuelita) right here in Peru! I can call her up anytime! And this new sparkly phone with all my new friends cost about $15 U.S.! Granted, I pretty much held onto Dana's hand (and she held on tightly to Norberto) the entire time we slithered through the packed market, and rest assured that I will never visit this market by myself.

Here are some things you can buy at this market: old, creepy, dirty, naked dolls missing various body parts, flat screen televisions freshly swiped from someone's house, pickaxes, freshly shorn and very dirty clumps of wool, batteries (lightly used), broken faces for cell phones, chicha ('beer' made from human-chewed-spat corn), police vests (I assume these were for sale, otherwise old men in their dirty sweats with vests were actually the police), underwear (fortunately not used), bearings of all sizes, and dead and dried baby llamas (to ensure longevity of your house). My friend asked one vendor for some tissue to blow her nose, and when she was done and asked for the garbage can, the woman laughed, waved her hand and said 'the peruvian way' - which means: throw it on the ground. On the way back we stopped at a slightly cleaner market and had cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and pan con nata - nata being some kind of cream the texture of sour cream. A coffee and bread was about $0.50 US. I purposefully did not look to see how the cups and dishes were cleaned and instead optimistically focused on the bright smile of the cook.

All that being said, you can now call or text me if you wish at 011-51-84-930-4963.

Also, the coffee here sucks. There is seriously other stuff mixed in with the coffee none of which is caffeine. So if anyone would like to send me some coffee or even some cool music to listen to while I drink my coffee, or postcards, or anything that shows how much you truly love me you can send it to:

Tonya Pepper, Estudiante

Escuela Amauta

Calle Suecia 480

Cusco, PERU