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Písac

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aardwhite
aardwhite
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4 out of 5
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1
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4
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Pisac Market

  • September 21, 2006
  • Rated 4 of 5 by aardwhite from London, United Kingdom
Pisac Market

Well, you’re in Cusco for a few days because you have to acclimatise and you’ve got time on your hands. What to do? One of the big favourites is a trip to Pisac market. The main market day is Sunday, where the market seems to go on and on forever, though there are smaller ones on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

There are frequent buses from Cusco, which cost about $1 for the approximately 30km trip, though I was travelling in a group of four, so it made sense to get a cab – it was hardly extravagant at $10 between us each way. If you are on a budget, though, the bus ride is a fine alternative and only takes an hour.

The journey is quite hairy, though, winding up and down the foothills of the Andes around hairpin bends with phenomenal drops. On reflection, I think the taxi was the better option. I may have seen The Italian Job one too many times to appreciate a bus journey on that route.

Pisac itself is a picturesque and typical Andean village. The market has retained its authenticity, despite the clutter of tourists and proliferation of knickknack stalls. A large part of the market is still where the people of the local villages come to sell and barter their wares.

It isn’t noticeably cheaper than buying in Cusco, but the sheer range of goods for sale is astonishing. If you have your heart set on some alpaca scarves, hats, and gloves, you will have the choice of every colour and design under the sun.

You will be expected to haggle. As a guilt-ridden capitalist Westerner, I have enormous trouble with this, negotiating over $1 that would feed the vendor’s family but I would scarcely bother to bend down in the street to pick up. (This is a figure of speech by the way; I am aware that it makes me sound appalling and appallingly spendthrift.) You just have to grit your teeth and remind yourself that it is expected—they have built it into their opening price at the start of the haggling process.

The market has become something of a tourist trap, as it is one of those things that appears on the "backpacker checklist," but it has it roots as a "working market" on display and retains enough of its authenticity to make it a worthwhile experience.

Throw yourself in. Enjoy the throng.

From journal Cusco - The First Step on the Inca Trail

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