Shopping

I went to buy my Machu Picchu tickets. I missed the street twice. They should have said look for the building with the long line outside. I waited in line for a while and finally got to the ticket window. I got my 2 dates I wanted and was told now wait in the other line to pay. Just like Mexico. Next stop Peru Rail to make sure I can get there on those days. Good thing too. My first pick for return time was booked but the next later one wasn´t. Then the the artesan market for souveniers. I have a whole laundry list to buy. Most of the stalls have all the same shit but I am able to complete most of my shopping. Heading back to the hotel I stopped at a chicharoneria. In Mexico chicharones are fried pork skins. Here it´s fried pork. I got an order and they brought out 2 large chunks of meat. I cut into the first one and it was pork ribs. Yum! They were crispy on the outside but moist and tender on the inside. Returned to the hotel to down load my shit and headed back out for more shopping. I went to one of the main markets and walked around checking out all the different produce. I came across a booth selling caldo de raña: frog stew. There is also a tub of live frogs and some skinned ones. I go to take a photo and the woman waves me off.I bought a cute straw women´s sun hat. Walking around the market district I saw some suckling pigs. That woman also waved me off. I wandered into a courtyard and saw several cages full of guinea pigs. I didn´t even bother to try a photo. On the way back I found a shop selling religious items and got a nice St Miguel statue for Gwen.
   I went to dinner at a hole in the wall restaurant with a large wood fired oven. I swore to myself that I would not eat any pizza on this trip, as most countries(US included) have dubious quality pizza at best. But Peru has all the ingredients here plus a tradition of wood fired ovens. The personal size pizza looks perfect but I have already ordered stuffed pepper. It took forever. While I was waiting the owner´s 7 yo son was running around bugging all the customers. He came down the stairs and said" Daddy someone said I have a girlfriend!" I said "Probably 3" and we laughed. He stuck his tongue out at me. He came down and started bugging me. He was puckered up trying to give me a kiss. I said "Kiss your girlfriend" I sent him upstairs to bug the people there. Later he came back and crawled under the table to sit next to me. He said"I think you want to give me an enormous kiss" "I´m not that kind of guy" I replied. Then he was talking about Barbie. "Who is Barbie?" I asked. "Me" He replied."Don´t say that!" I said.
    At Amazonia Aquariums we had a gay employee. He said when he was in first grade the kids called him Barbie and he was queer as a 3 dollar bill. The kid crawled in my lap and whispered "Joto". That´s it you´re out of here. Can you say child sexual abuse?
  Finally my food arrives and I realize why it took so long. The pepper is filled with peas, carrots and ground beef. Nothing is pre- prepared, meaning they have to boil the veggies,cook the meat, then make the stuffed pepper. It´s delicious. I´m going back tonite for the pizza.
   I´m partying in the hood tonite so I go a few doors down from the restaurant to a hip bar called Km 0
A hippie was playing guitar accompanied by a guy playing a wooden box with a hole in it like a guitar. They were really rocking out for 2 guys. They are named after a little known ruin near Ollantaytambo. After the set the guy explains to me where it is and what its for. Its like an overseer´s site that can see 2 differnt agriculural areas at once.