Happy Birthday, Mike

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Geo: -13.52, -71.99

Today was a little squandered by a second night of poor sleep. After breakfast, we went to the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art. It was pretty disappointing. It's not that the artifacts or their age were not impressive, but the information provided was scant and the commentary was awkward and a little silly. In one room, for instance, an entire wall displayed dozens of the same item. Nowhere did we find an explanation of what they were, where they were found or what they were used for. I could maybe get past the lack of context at an art museum, but I can't learn history without more help.

I had to go back to the room for a nap. There we exchanged birthday texts for Mike with the kids. While I slept, Mike did some shopping and settled in at a place for lunch. When I woke up, I was able to make my way up the hill to the San Blas area and track him down. He had a wood fired pizza and I had yellow potato soup at Pachapapa. The term "pachamama" is the local dialect for, essentially, Mother Earth, so I'm sure the restaurant name is a riff on that. We really enjoyed chilling in their courtyard; it was simply a relaxing place to be in the good weather. I'm really enjoying the wonderful blended fruit juices that have been available at all the restaurants we've visited.

We walked around the San Blas area for a little while longer, supporting the local economy with small purchases including chocolate for the hike. Cusco is delightfully short on American chain stores, with the exception of a subdued Starbucks and very empty KFC in the main square. You do see multiple locations of the same tourist stores like Sol Alpaca and Choco Museo, but I don't find this as objectionable somehow. In fact, I was delighted when I found the Sol Alpaca location that had a clearance section in its basement; I'm a sucker for a bargain.

We spent a little more time fussing with our bags before going to our appointment for a birthday massage. I'm savoring my last day of comfort before the Big Test starts tomorrow at 5am.

Dinner was crepes at La Boheme Creperia. Yum!

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Photos

The San Blas church
There is a school in the square. San Blas borders on a more residential area. It's clearly very poor so I did a double-take when I saw what looked like a hovel with a "for sale" sign from Sotheby's: not what I think of as their target market.

My reaction to the museum
I don't judge the art, just the presentation

Condor
Sometimes you see these around here and they look like Hokies, but this is clearly a mighty condor

No marking or explanation at all
Hard to learn much with no text

Maria making our crepes
Maria is from Barcelona, but decided to stay here after a volunteer gig 4 years ago. She teaches during the day and runs the crepe bar at night

Birthday crepe
The birthday crepe had dulce de Lexie inside and ice cream and birthday sprinkles on top. The savory crepes are made with a cousin of quinoa, I'm told