Pisac

I knew I couldn't bring a lot of souvenirs from my trip but I at least wanted to buy a few things here in Peru as I wouldn't need to carry it around a lot more. In Arequipa someone recommended the market in Pisac, a small town near Cusco, for this. Apparently this market was every day but on Sunday it was supposed to be even bigger. As daytrips from Cusco would get there around 11 every Sunday morning - and I had some spare days anyway -I decided to be clever and go to Pisac for one night from Saturday to Sunday and get to the market before the tourist busses arrive. Pisac should be nice enough to spend an afternoon there. When I got to Pisac I found my hostel and dropped my daypack before heading back into town. It turned out the town wasn't more than a few streets with a market square in the middle. The highly recommended Chocolate Museum wasn't more than a little store with some information panels and a lot of cafes and restaurants weren't even open. So I was done exploring within an hour and got back to the hostel around 4 to spend the afternoon reading and writing my blogg. I had a private room as the hostel didn't offer shared rooms and the price was the same anyways. I saw a few other people coming in or leaving but didn't really talk to anybody.
When I went back out for dinner some of the restaurants were still closed. Maybe they only open for the tourists on sunday? I found a nice little place with a cheap menu del dia. After I ordered I realized that the 2 other guests were just finishing up their meal and leaving. So I sat there by myself while the owners of the restaurant didn't try to hide the fact that they would like to close up as soon as possible. Weird little town.
I rose early the next morning and went out motivated to do some shopping before heading back to Cusco. But people were still setting up the market stands and had still covered most of there stuff. Also the Cafés around for breakfast were still closed. It seemed this town only existed to please the tourists coming on a tour. Around 9 I found a nice Café with a balcony overlooking the market square where I had breakfast watching the market finally coming to life.
After breakfast I explored the market and actually managed to buy everything I wanted quickly so I was on my way back to Cusco before 11. So in the end I never saw if the town actually does get more lively once all the tourists arrive.Read more