El Molino
Anastassja took me to this covered market where all the Cusqenos do their shopping. We visited the food part first and now I understand how she caught salmonella when she ate like the locals do. The meat part was the worst – flies everywhere, a particular smell, and the severed heads of goats and cows… luckily in the American-run Family House where Anastassja lives and I’m staying, South American exoticism only runs to fajitas and home-made pop corn! The rest of the market sold everything from lipstick to mountain bikes – not forgetting pirated versions of all the latest films – Avatar seems to be a current favourite, projected on the enormous flat screens of all the CD/DVD stalls.
San Blas
San Blas is the “arty” part of town and I spent a very enjoyable late afternoon looking at the more up-market souvenirs on offer there. In one jewellery store, I got chatting
(in Spanish!) to the young artisan whose creations I was admiring and it turned out that he knows Anastassja! She was his teacher at Maximo Nivel, the language school where she recently passed her TEFL certificate! A small world! This encounter put me in a very good mood and I decided to add a bit of culture to the day’s menu by visiting the nearby Iglesia de San Blas. I’d never heard of this saint before (Saint Blaise in English) but apparently he was a 4th century Armenian Christian martyr who, like the poor Molino goats and cows, got his head cut off too… as pictures on the wall of the church confirmed. He is also the patron saint of throats… so let’s hope he does something for mine - but not too drastic please! This church is famous for its exquisitely carved pulpit, made from a single tree trunk. Perched above what is allegedly the finest example of colonial wood carving in the Americas is the skull of the craftsman whose legacy it is…. All in all a topping day!
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