Cuzco...or Cancún???

This place confuses me. Cuzco is home to a weird combination of Hippies, Hipsters, Geriatrics, and Peruvians.

When I was in Ayacucho the locals there warned me, ´There are more gringos there than Peruvians.´ They were right! I have not been anywhere thus far with sooooo many tourists! The town is shapped accordingly. Complete with a McDonalds right on the town square.

First for the rich geriatric group.

There are a myriad of fine dinning establishments, of the likes are hard to find anywhere else in Peru. Not that the food there is necisarily better, but they certainly have the high prices, white table cloths, and suited up wait staff that we would expect at a resturaunt with extroidinary food. I´m not positively sure, but I have fair reason to believe that the food in Lima is better, a little cheaper, and bit less formal. Also present are a nice collection of hotels that look way too nice for the rest of the town. Prices at the shops near these hotels are actually more expensive!
Second for the hippies.

The central plaza, the plaza de armas (as all towns in Peru have in the center of town) is nearly overtaken by hippies, from all over the world. I never saw the haight-ashburry street in San Fransisco during the 60´s...but I imagine it is a similar scene....maybe with out all the violence and anger towards the man. This is all purely speculation as I have clearly not lived through the 60´s, and am admitedly chosen to be on the outside of the hippie scene here. All I do know is there are a lot of them here crowding the town square, they sit around all day long in circles of about 10, playing bad music from whatever sort of strange instruments they have dreamed up, sitting in the grass, swaying back and forth, and smoking a lot of pot!

Lastly the hipsters.

For the first time in my trip- I wish I had my tight black jeans, my chuck taylor converse, and my black leather jacket (ok its actually pleather, but that just makes it cooler, right??). Man, I would fit in. At least with one of the groups! The hipsters have their cheap hostels, dark obscure lounges...and all night discotechs. Which cater to the unobliged, drugged up partier. One hostel here, called Loki, reminds me exactly of senior trip to Cancún. First of all, its huge. Holds about 100 people, and is totally booked up! And its the off season down here. It comes with the all important bar, and throws parties almost every night...usually with a theme. Hell, the people who stay there even have electric green wrist bands! This crowd is so rowdy, that in the three days I have been here, one friend woke up to a couple having sex in the bunk above him, and another woke up to someone else throwing up on his bag! I decided to stay elsewhere.

There are undoubtedly other groups here in town, but there are much less well represeted. The good news is all can appreciate the towns good saftey, fun local people, and impressive history. Cuzco was the capital city of the all influential Inca civilization. And nearby is one of the seven wonders of the modern world....Machu-Pichu.

I leave tomorrow for what should be a memorable trek culminating with the arrival of ¨The Lost City of the Inca´s¨.