Less tourists, but more friends

We figured out where the tourists are... not here. After a delicious dinner we chatted with Matt, the Australian owner of a restaurant who's been living here for 6 years, and he told us that this is the worst december he's ever seen. Tourism seems to be at an all time low, even though Christmas time is usually a very busy time of the year. To put it simply, we were the only people at the restaurant where you usually can't have a table without booking in advance. It seems like the global economic slowdown is really hitting places like Cuzco pretty hard.

You never know what you're going to run into while walking around Cuzco

Otherwise we're feeling a lot better after a good night sleep. We're adjusting to the high altitude better and should be all set by tomorrow.
We've been roaming the streets of Cuzco, discovering the many alleys, deep stores, inner patios and interesting markets. We also made a friend, we named him Doug, who followed us for a while as we were walking the streets.

Denise and our friend, Doug

We're leaving for the Maccu Picchu in a couple days, so we'll keep exploring the nearby sites and get ready for the long, 4-day hike.

Until then, Hasta Luego