Cusco

     After returning to Pariwana from our Machu Picchu adventures, we stayed in for the night catching up on some much needed sleep. Wednesday we woke up, had breakfast, and went to look around the city with a couple of Australian girls we had met at our hostel. We had a good time looking around the markets to see some souvenir options and such. After a couple hours of wandering we all got lunch together at a cute little cafe in downtown. We wanted to wander a bit more so Chels, Lizzy and I walked through some other parts of town. We stopped at a chocolate shop for some treats and then stumbled upon the best jewelry shop. The women running the store is the kindest, most wonderful person. She spoke very little English which gave Chels and I some good Spanish practice, and her store was full of beautiful handmade jewlery that she had done herself. She had American pop hits blasting through the stereo and started dancing a bit with us for her love of musica de moda. Not to mention, her prices were the most reasonable we´ve found anywhere, and we were stoked to support this lovely women. She individually packed all of our purchases in bags for safer travel because it´s her love, and hugged and kissed all of us call us her amors before we left the shop. We all wanted to adopt her into our families she´s so fantastic.
     We wandered for a bit more around the city before heading back to the hostel. We grabbed a quick bite at the hostel and then hung out with some new friends that we'd made. There was a quiz night held for the activity that night and me, Chels, and three girls that we had met from Canada teamed up and ended up winning! We were pretty stoked and used our free beverage prize to make some more friends in the hostel. After waking Lizzy from her nap, we all geared up for our first night out dancing in Cusco. We had a great time living it up with all of our new friends and settled in to our new Cusco familia.
     The next day we woke up to head to the Chocolate Museum. We first planned to wander and check it all out, but once we got there we talked to one of the guys who worked there and he encouraged us to sign up for the lall that lets you make chocolate from bean to the bar.  We went back at 1:30 and started our class and lucky us the VIP treatment continued and we were able to take the class with no one but the three of us which was really fun. We learned a lot about the chocolate and got to make our own flavored candies. I also won the competition that our instructior had made for us and got some free cocoa tea which was awesome.
     We went for some lunch after finishing our class and then returned to pick up our chocolate. The evening class had about 20 people in it so we were stoked at how spoiled we had been. We spent the night in hanging out with all of our friends and enjoying the performances of our hostel buddies and a bachelor party that was now staying at Pariwana. An entertaining night to say the least. Lizzy even convinced Chels and I to see a Ke$ha song with her at one point for a break in the Spanish ballads.
     The next day we woke up and chilled reading and hanging with some of our friends before wandering out into the city. We wanted to check out some churches and stuff and our friend Nathan decided to take us up to a church on a hill over looking the city. The view was spectacular. We snapped some photos and hung out for a bit before wandering parts of Cusco that we hadn't explored yet and checking out new markets and churches and such. I was feeling a little tired so spent the rest of the afternoon reading and chilling until getting ready with Chels and Lizzy for our "splurge" dinner at this amazing restaurant called Fallen Angel. We'd heard really great things and had stopped by to chek it out and the decor and vibe were awesome. The meal didn't disappoint and we really enjoyed ourselves, I even got adventerous and tried alpaca and it was well worth it!
     We got back to the hostel and met up with our friends hanging out for the evening before we all decided to go out dancing for the night. It was another great night at Mythology with our friends with fantastic music, and we all wandered back later to crash after another wonderful day.
     On our last day in Cusco we went to the black market with our friend Jay to see if we could find some iPods or iPhones for Jay and Lizzy who had both lost technology since travelling. There was no luck at the market but it was definitely an experience to check out the culture that way. We wandered to the San Pedro market as well to see what else Cusco had to offer because we heard it was a must do. After wandering for a good part of the afternoon I wasn't feeling very well because (what I now know was an ear infection) was really starting to get to me and a fever setting in. I went back to the room and read and napped for most of the afternoon.
     In the evening I wandered out to find Chelsey and Lizzy and found our friend Margaret who was also feeling a bit under the weather. We decided to stay in and watch a movie together so a small group of us enjoyed The Departed together. Feverish and exhausted I called it a night and went to bed while Lizzy and Chels enjoyed our last night in Cusco with our friends. The next morning we woke up, packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed to the airport. It was bittersweet since we had made such fantastic friends and really enjoyed our time there. Definitely will have to go back some day!