June 1, 2011 (Day 7)

After a good morning and breakfast, I got to school and our group decided that lunch out on the town sounded like a good idea. The only problem is that not only are we not well acquainted with the city, but we are also a very indecisive group of people. No one really had a clear vision as to what they wanted to eat, and so we wandered around for a good 20 minutes or more. Finally, we decided on a place close to the Plaza de Armas. I had the hamburger with french fries for 9 soles, which converts to about $3.33! Not only was it cheap, but it was pretty good. Afterwards, we made our way back to the school and relaxed in the courtyard before our afternoon class.

When classes concluded, we all decided that we should try to walk around town and check out some of the shops and cool places to go. However, Angie wanted to find an ATM to withdraw some money. That wasn't too much of a problem other than the fact that we couldn't find one that would take her MasterCard! We went to at least 3 or 4 different banks, which were not close to one another, before we found an ATM inside a large market that took worked. When that was over with, we went ahead and browsed around in the market since we were already there. I didn't really find too much, but there are some possibilities there that I might return for later.

When we all had finished shopping and were starting to catch taxis to go home, I noticed there was a large group of people, all with Ollanta flags, congregating outside of the hotel across the street. I asked one of the ladies that owned a little shop outside of the market what was going on. She told me that the hotel across the street was the hotel that Ollanta was staying in while he was in Cusco. I was standing 100 feet away from the place that the presidential candidate was staying! Wanting to be a true political scientist, I followed the mass of people as they started to parade down the streets to the plaza where Ollanta was going to speak. There were SO many people there! All with flags waving and spirits high. I will go ahead and say that Peruvians know how to have a good time. There were bands and dancing before the presidential candidate came on stage to speak. Unfortunately, it was getting late and I ran out of memory on the camera. So, I headed back to my house to eat some dinner, and to get ready to go out to "Los Perros" later.

"Los Perros" is a pretty cool place right next to the Plaza de Armas. It is a small, yet quaint restaurant/bar that offers some pretty good choices of food and drinks. I really didn't get much knowing; A) I don't like to drink a lot in the first place and B) I still had to make sure everyone got home safely as well as myself. However, it was a pretty good time, but it is time for bed now.

Until later, ciao.