Being a Tourist in Cuzco

So, with a broken mitt I decide to be a tourist for the day.

First stop, the tour office, where I regretfully tell them I need to take the real tour and not ride my motorbike to Santa Teresa.

Next, I figure I will go see the market and pick up a sweater since I left my fleece behind a couple countries ago (Cuenca, Ecuador) and it might be cold up at Macchu Piccu.

It´s Semana Santa (still) and so all these folks are lined up in this plaza selling cookies…doesn´t make sense to me, all these people selling the same cookies, but oh well. Peruvian cottage industry.

Whoa! I just realized (and too bad it´s a month later!) I actually caught a picture of a robber…

The woman with the green scarf was walking along with her man, and I stopped to take some pics of the hoardes of people at the market…well I lower the camera and my eyes fizate on a peruvian lady lifting this chick´s camera. Someone else must have seen it, because I hear someone yell ¨devuelvelo¨and so I start yelling it too (¨return it!)¨. I see the robberlady pass the camera off to someone else, I am still yelling, and actually the robberlady walks over to the (shocked!) woman and hands the camera back. The stunned woman takes a few minutes to get around to thanking me, and then puts her camera back in its flimsy holder around her waist.

!!!

I go back to her and tell her to zip up her coat because her camera is easy to grab, and still she does not do anything different so I shrug and wish her luch and I am off. And I am thinking what a great target I am with one hand obviously bandaged and string around my neck, so I just leave.