Malone Travels (London/Paris, Yucatan, Peru): Pisac

Yesterday was great, we slept in a bit and headed to the Pisac Sunday market for the better part of the day. The Sunday market at Pisac is supposedly one of the great highlights of the Sacred Valley as it draws hundreds of vendors from all over the Cuzco area to sell to locals and tourists alike.

We were able to snag a taxi for 35 soles (roughly $12) to take us to the city, which is about 45 minutes one way. I'll try to take some pictures of Taxis tomorrow, this one was probably the most rickety we've had so far. Nearly all of the cars here are from Japan. I don't think that I've seen one US-made vehicle. Nearly all of the Taxis are either Toyota Corollas or little Daewoo go-karts basically. Yesterday, we were in a go-kart that had tape holding parts of the door together. It was great fun.

Anyway, we arrived at the market without problems. The market was HUGE, it must have taken up a 4 x 4 city-block space, with a few buildings in between. Honestly, it was overwhelming. We walked around for about 45 minutes, constantly getting asked if we wanted to buy something. It's weird, they ALWAYS ask Amy if she wants something, not me. It took a while, but I finally managed to get my feet wet with bartering. I wanted to get Amy some gourds that were painted like owls... the lady asked for 80 soles (about $28) for 3 gourds and I was able to get her down to 50 ($18), but I still don't think I got that great of a deal. We bought a few other odds and ends, but nothing terribly exciting until the end.

We had lunch at a little cafe behind the market, Amy ordered the chicken plate, I ordered the steak plate. Mine looked/tasted like salisbury steak and came with fresh potato fries, veggies, and rice. Amy's came with the same. It was quite good. During our meal we had decided that we weren't any good at bartering and we were going to head back to the hotel.

On our way out, Amy saw some really cool masks at a brick and mortar shop where we bought three very cool masks to take home, no bartering necessary (they were cheaper than at the market.)