9-22 (Monday)



After breakfast we packed up, checked out and hauled all our stuff down the hill to the new hostel. Thank goodness it was down, we could NEVER have pulled our stuff up hill.



We walked down to the Plaza de Armas with its two extraordinary churches, the Cathedral and the Jesuit Iglesi a de la Compania. We shopped around the square and took pictures.



We went back to the pharmacy and bought more altitude pills to take with us to Lake Titicaca. I tried to get more cash our of the ATM machine but was refused. PANIC! I went to another machine and no problem. I guess the 1st machine was out of money.



We went into the Cathedral for a look around. It was fabulous.



When we came out we heard chanting and a lot of noise. It was the start of some demonstration. We went into a restaurant and sat upstairs on the balcony so we could observe what was happening. Several thousand people must have gathered around the square with banners, sign and speeches. Apparently they were demonstrating against the government. It lasted about an hour. We walked down some of Peru´s oldest streets. We saw a woman weaving belts. Barbara bought the entire weaving apparatus from her including the rusty nail with which she had it attached to the floor. It´s authentic! We walked on to the Temple of the Sun where we also took the tour. Barbara bought a carving of Christ to help a boy´s carving school.



It was getting cold and dark so we went back to the hotel to get ready to leave for Machu Picchu in the morning.



We went out to dinner (chicken which we split) where we met a couple of guys who just arrived from Seattle. They´re going to Machu Picchu in the morning. We stopped and did a short internet.



We don´t like our new hotel! It has hot water but not in the sink for washing our clothes. I had to wash my shirt in the shower! The shower curtain was too short and water got all over the floor. The window was at the head of the bed and the cold air came right in on me. I turned around with my head at the foot of the bed. the blanket was so heavy you could hardly lift it. The wheel fell off the heater that we rented! I was super stressed when I realized I left my sleeping pills in the last hotel.



When we got in bed we were bitching about the "tourist ticket" we bought for $45 and only used twice. I thought we paid $22 but that was the day I was so out of it with altitude sickness that I didn't´t know what I was agreeing to. On the internet tonight we found out we could have changed our La Paz/Lima ticket for $6.44 instead of buying a new one for $144.


We started laughing our heads off when we agreed that we would try to find another hotel when we get back from Machu Picchu.