My Last day in Cusco

By Tina Lin - Guest blogger traveling in Peru. Today was the last day for me to shop. I left the house at 9am on the quest to buy lots of souvenirs and alpaca goods. First stop was Mercado Artesanal or Mercado Rojo. Everything was irresistibly beautiful and unique. I cannot help but wonder into these cute shops and chat with each vendor. After buying many things, I walked to Plaza de Armas. I wanted to take a panoramic picture of this gorgeous plaza and its fountain. I am especially emotional and introspective today. The guide book to Peru was right. Cusco is such a lovely place that once you lived here, it is hard to leave. I continued to walk toward San Blas in the quest for quartz and crystals. My mom believes that crystals can bring positive energy to our house. I have been putting off my shopping list until now. With some luck, I found a lady by the street with a small collection of crystals. I bought some from her and made sure to write down the name of each and their uses. On my way back to Plaza de Armas, a woman tried to ask if I wanted a massage. To be polite, I asked her how much it would cost and it turned out to be very cheap in US standards. I thought it would probably be a long time before I can have another Incan full-body massage. So, I walked into the nice and cozy room for a half hour of massage. This is the first time in my life getting a somewhat professional massage. It was blissful. I wanted more after the half hour if only she had asked. Afterwards, I went to Mercado San Pedro to buy some flowers because it is the my host dad's birthday tomorrow. In the afternoon, I went to my last day of class. Laura (our instructor this week) took us to a curandera at Huasao. We took a cambi bus to Huasao (it only costed 1 sol). Huasao looked like countryside in comparison to Cusco. We saw a hen walking with her 6 chicks on the street. As a rule, we would have to each buy our own coca leaves to be read. Then, the curandera picked out the leaves he wanted to use, asked for my name, then started to drop 3 to 4 leaves on the table at a time. He told me that my travel plans may change in the near future. Also, he mentioned that I will not have a love life for five years because of my studies. It is very interesting to see how the leaves were read and listen to my other classmate's fortunes. After coming back to the school, we had 45 minutes of class on future tense. After school, it was hard to say goodbye to everyone. I hope I will come back to Cusco again in the future.