Picaflor's UNCONVENTIONAL guide to Cuzco and beyond

Food

After eating potatoes and quinoa for weeks, chifa (peruvian chinese restaurants) are a nice break...delicious and cheap! There are plenty all around the city, we recommend going to the ones that are full of people.

There are lots of cute little cafes, like cafe Meli Melo which have the best hot chocolate ever. add your own sugar and don't forget to try the empanadas and pastries.

Dont be afraid to roam the local markets. They have everything you need for the best prices. Get your shoe fixed for 1 sol and buy a kilo of coca. Check out San Pedro Market, the largest covered market in the city and full of great deals.

For the tourist restaurants, Jack's and Two Nations Cafe have our best ratings.

Shopping

The supermarkets have interesting products you may not find at home, such as Cats Claw tea, maca and quinoa pop.

At the end of gringo alley, on calle Tecsecocha, there is a little hippie store with cool clothes, a movie chillout area and a charming vendor who will give you a free didgeridoo vibration massage.

Also on gringo alley you can also find all sorts of trekking goods for your hike up into the mountain. Dont worry about buying everything before hand, since you can rest almost anything including clothing.

The pharmacies are a great source of lots of meds you need a prescription for in the USA. You can buy antibiotics in case you get a bout of upset stomach, although it is better to call the doctor in severe cases (the tourist doctors are excellent, we know from first hand experience). The naturalistas or herbolistas are a great source of alternative medicines.

If you are tired of vendors hustling you on the street, there is a wonderful fair trade shop on calle Tullumayo, for all your souvenirs.


ETC.

If your stay is long enough, you can rent a cell phone at the airport upon your arrival. Quite convienent when you need an emergency taxi.

The tourist buses which go long distances like Cuzco-Puno are worth your buck. For $12, you have more legroom than in the airplane, a luxury for the 6 hour ride.

Forget about expensive hotel laundry. Any store will wash your items by weight for a fraction of the price and all in the same day.

Beware of the random holes on the sidewalks, you can seriously injure yourself!


Most of all, enjoy the people, small balconies and dont be afraid to explore little alleyways. Cuzco is a city of surprises :)

taking flight

It is hard to describe the feeling of the mystical city of Machu Picchu. It is like coming home; you can dream on the rocks at the quarry, give an offering to Pachamama, replenish yourself at the place where the sun rays are tied to the earth, have a chat with your neighbors, talk to the surrounding mountains and drift along the winding river.

Most of all, Machu Picchu is a place of flight, the place of the condor.

There is a flying rock that you can sit on and fly off right into Potokusi, the mountain of joy. You must let go of all fear and let yourself be carried away by the wind, waira.

It is this fear of the unknown that stops us from fully experiencing life.

So far some of us have had to overcome a fear of heights, others the need to escape when something becomes overwhelming and others have even had to overcome physical illness.

We encounter these obstacles as opportunities to release a part of us that is holding us back, a fear or pain that is within and we drag along, heavily. In order to really be present we must be aware and release those heavy energies and fears.

We all have wings to fly, we have just forgotten how to use them.

slowing down

Yesterday we arrived in Cusco where we met our amigo Lorenzo, who is a Q'ero elder and is our host in peru for this journey and our film.   We also met a new friend, Carrie, at a local ex pat cafe called jack's.  We were all hungry and tired after our over night flight and when our food arrived without stopping or thinking we dove into the food like a pack of animals and began to devour it.   Lorenzo and Carrie's food arrived a minute later and i looked up from my feeding trough and in unison and in the same focused energy they held their hands over their food and muttered a small blessing of thanks before they began to eat.   the contrast in energy and behavior was remarkable.  
Later that evening we told lorenzo what we noticed about our selves.   he smiled and said,  so from now on ,  you will slow down and pay attention ...

Today the six of us in our little crew climbed aboard a local bus and road out of cusco  to a sacred apus called waina picol.   (waina means the feminine apus)  and there he performed a ceremony called a despacho, an offering to pacha mama,  to introduce us to the apus and to ask for protection and blessings on our journey and with our project.  as our despacho was burning an eagle soared overhead.   It was a sign of great luck,  according to Lorenzo.
I think that we all felt more present, more focused.  and when we returned to cusco later that day and sat in a tiny little restaurant for lunch,  we all without hesitation held our hands over our food in acknowledgement of pacha mama,  of our being human and the great gift that is and that we are here and the earth is always here for us.  gratitude... overwhelming awe and gratitude.   and we are doing it.   we somehow are here, in peru,  the guests of the q'uero and being given tremendous support by Jorge Luis Delgado, and we are making a movie that we hope will bring everyone who sees it across the hummingbird bridge with us.