Day 2 pt. 2: authorized exploring
Once we all went out exploring together I was even more in awe of the city and its beauty. We went and got our first Peruvian meal (which was really good) and then went to the Machu Picchu museum. Walking through the Plaza de Armas was so incredible, it is such a beautiful site. Then we went to the market, which was when I first felt a sense of culture shock. There is a definite difference in the way they handle their meat... There are full animals hanging from vendor’s tables and they eat much more of the animal than we do and much more animals than we do. Above you can see what I mean--pig heads, hanging intestines, and full dog bodies are all typical meats in Peru. As unsettling as it was, I loved seeing it. It was really interesting to be able to see such a drastic difference between our culture and another. Late that night we went to see a cultural show that represented all the regions of Peru, which was cool but freaked me out a little bit. At this point everyone was so tired they could barely keep their eyes open, the long day of exploring and walking all over really wore us down and we were ready for bed.