Just arrived in Cusco after an 8 hour bus ride. Again it was a pretty irritating one. Like I said, not my preferred company, so it stopped every five meters to pick people up. Most horribly, at some point some woman entered with a big bag on her back. She put it down on the platform right in front of my seat, opened it, and the next moment she was hacking on its contents with a large butcher´s knife. Apparently there was some dead animal in there - fortunately hidden from my sight - which she was chopping up and selling to the passengers. I put my fleece in front of my eyes because the scene was too horrible (as were the smells and the chomping sounds), and the one time I looked, she reached over my seat with her hand to give some grisly, bony meat - or meaty bone - to the person behind me. I was briefly reminded of the Aztec sacrifices where the priest takes the heart of the victim and holds it in the air... Quite disturbing.

Tonight I am staying in Hotel Los Ninos (ninoshotel.com), which is way above my budget, but the profits go to a project with street children, so I figure it´s ok for one night. I´ll look for another place tonight or tomorrow. Now it´s chowtime.

stay beautiful

T