Capitol: Sacramento, Governor: Arnold Schwartzenegger, Hasta La Vista, Baby.

Day 3 in Cusco: Still no sign of Kevin. Dad is begining to worry he has lost his BFF (best friend forever)

Well, we've moved on to our next hotel, Casa Andina Cathedral. We said goodbye to our ricketty door, squeeky floor and girls at the front desk who hate us for using the computer for hours at a time :) We moved this morning and got a cab to take us three blocks. But at least it only cost 3 soles or US$1. We arrived here, checked in and had our breakfast. Dad thinks the french toast here is the greatest thing, personally I feel its too soggy but to each his own. After breakfast we decided to head out and try and find the famous 12 corner Inka rock. Its part of the original Inka wall that runs through Cusco. When we arrived we were told "This is the famous rock. More famous than Michael Jackson". (Dad says Michael Jack-stone...dont worry I'm rolling my eyes too) The leaf has gone to his head. This alley was also featured in "Motorcycle Diaries" for all you film buffs out there.


count the corners.

From there we decided to go find a shop that dad wanted to visit. Surprise Surprise it was a coca shop. We hiked up a giant hill (it can be seen as the first picture in yesterdays post). This area is known as San Blas and is where all the artisans lived in the heyday of Cusco. It is filled with litle shops and hotels. Dad and I hiked around taking in the scenery but damn, the shop was closed because it is the sabbath. Dad still has not recovered. Only now has he stopped crying but i'm sure upon reading this his hysterics will begin again. We went back down the hill and decided to make our way to the Plaza del Armas. We were treated to the pleasant sight of a woman peeing in the street between 2 cars. She tried to be sly but nothing gets past dad, especially if it involves bodily functions and fluids. Sorry no picture (not to say dad didnt think about taking one.)


There was another festival in the plaza today. This one involved miltary marchings, and much more Inkan influence. as we were walking around the Plaza we were stopped by a little boy who claimed to see us yesterday and we told him that we would get a shoe shine from him today. So dad took a seat on a park bench and he got to work. He told us that he was all alone and that he slept beneath Koricancha in the big field there (the ruins where we took the tour yesterday). He also told us he was trying to save up money to buy a dancing hat for his school´s show. Meanwhil a bunch of kids spotted the candyman and had heard of the crazy american handing out ring pops and grinding his teeth. So they staked out a spot to watch us. The finished product is kind of remarkable. I could do my makeup in dad´s shoes. they hurt to look at. But we gave him and his cousin some candy after paying him and were on our way.


We had lunch on a balcony above the Plaza del Armas. And when I say lunch I mean dad and i split some nachos and i had a soda and dad a pisco sour. So far we have our doubts about Peruvian food. I mean who screws up nachos? They cheese is like a powder and all of our drinks come lukewarm with barely any carbonation. But it{s a small price to pay for the experience we are having (but thats not to say I wouldnt kill someone for some chicken strips...dont forget Ranch. and a freezing cold diet coke) After lunch we parked it on a bench in the square and people watched. We noticed 2 people sitting about 50 feet up on a balcony of la compania de jesus. They were taking pictures and had a great vantage point of the festival. We spotted them soon after on a bench near by and dad went to ask them how to get up their. They gave us directions and we were off.


We bought our tickets into the church and took off Amazing Race style to find the staircase that would take us up. Eventually dad found it and we had a balcony all to ourselves. It would never be allowed or legal in the US to sit where we sat. Dad took some contraband pictures inside the church (sinner) and we continued to explore. It was a beautiful church. It was built by the Jesuits and had several murals and painting of St Ignatius Loyola (the namesake of both LMU and Ignatians Service Org) so it was a pretty special thing for me to experience.




our overlook is on the left bell tower above the man's head. that archway is where we sat.

this was the view. you can see how high we are!



inside the Compania de Jesus

After dad broke as many laws as he could inside the church, and you'll see first hand the fruits of his labors we decided to check in at the hotel. We had had problems with our power converter (thanks mom) and by problems i mean it exploded my battery charger.

***20 mins later***
Sorry readers! Dad and I just heard a parade going by our hotel so we ran out to meet them. Of course dad took forever to put on his shoes (I really need to get him some velcro ones) we ran outside to catch up only to find it was a marching band from Juliaca, near Lake Titicaca! Lord knows I cant resist a good marching band! They even played grandma's favorite song. We followed them for at least a half mile before deciding to go home. How those wind instrument players kept up is beyond me, these hills are steep and all cobblestone!







for a duck may be somebody's mother...

Where was I? Oh yea we went on a quest for a converter (Un transformador). We needed to go from the 220V they use here in Peru to the 110V we use in the U.S. We went to 2 different places and finally found it. Since we have felt perpetually hungry since arriving we caved in and went to Jack's again for some burgers. As we were waiting in line I noticed a girl 2 parties in front of us who looked oddly familiar. It ended up being Dani Dirks, a new member in Delta Zeta. Small World. Dad warned me this would happen but i didnt believe him. She is interning here in Peru for 2 months and is enjoying it a lot. We ate our burgers and busted out to cruise around the city. We ended up walking around the Plaza and went beyond to this little bakery just southwest of the Plaza. We shared a chocolate strawberry torte (the strawberries are small here, the size of rasberries) dad had a mocha and i had some half-and-half aka milk here.

We went to the market to buy some bottled waters to brush our teeth and were walking back to the hotel when a little boy approached us. he was selling finger puppets. We told him "no gracias" but he followed us and asked where we were from. Dad said the United States and he said "washington d.c.?". Dad said "California" and the brainiac responded in broken english (but better grammar then dad) with "Ahhh capitol: Sacramento. Governor: Arnold Schwartzenegger. Hasta La Vista Baby. I'll Be Back. Terminator 2". This kid was all of about 10! He was pretty legit. We gave him a ring pop and he went on his merry way. After that amazing encounter we walked back to the hotel, watched some good ole fashioned drag racin until we heard the band and now our night has come to an end.

Adios!