Home Journey Writings Photos Talkback Wedding
About Us About the Site Credits

Christmas Eve Market in Cusco

Click on a thumbnail to enlarge the picture. When viewing the full-size pictures, you can also view the remaining pictures "slideshow-style" by clicking on the "Prev" or "Next" buttons.

Christmas Eve in Cusco — Everybody up for the big sale! Welcome to the Christmas Eve marketplace, a last-minute shopper's paradise.
Cusco Market — The Plaza de Armas is packed full with vendors selling anything and everything for the upcoming festivities.
Baby Jesii — The Cusco Market on Christmas Eve has all your nativity needs, and what nativity scene would be complete without a Baby Jesus figurine? (And I thought it was a hard decision growing up just picking out a Christmas tree.)
Tonka Trucks? — The Peruvian version of Tonka trucks for the tots.
Cuy — %lt;em>Cuy%lt;/em> is a delicacy in Ecuador, and in some areas of Peru. For those who don't know, this is a guinea pig, and it's always served this way — head and all. (The eyeballs are the sweetest part.) As adventurous as we've been with new foods, even I, the carnivore, wasn't willing to get close to this thing.
Take Our Picture! — While many locals earn their living by selling something tangible, others take the easy way out and just walk around getting tourists to take their picture for a few soles. Some women (like the one we spitefully cropped out on the right) are more aggressive, and just walk into your picture whether you like it or not, then demand the money.
Take Our Picture, Too! — It's cute, but not awe-inspiring. However, we paid for this picture, so dammit, we're going to show it.
Politically-Correct Nativity? — A nativity scene depicting a very fat baby Jesus and the three wise men...as Incas. Of course, we all know this to be false, as everyone knows the Incans didn't have frankincense. (They did have quite the surplus of myrrh, though, since they couldn't figure out what it was for, either.)