The directions to the market took us into an entirely non-touristy part of Cusco. Infact, it's safe to say with our cameras and our periodic squeals of excitement, we stood out in the crowd like a sore thumb.
The market itself was the central point of daily commerce in the town. Rows of stalls hawked all kinds of fruit, vegetables, groceries and local eats. I was dying to try the tamales, but eating them here on the road would have been sure ventral suicide. Instead, I absorbed in the surrounding bustle at every stall. All around us, people were variously browsing, bartering and bargaining. Somehow, amongst the hundreds of stalls in the market, Delta and I managed to locate the one which had plastic garbage bags, in which we could pack our clothes for water-proofing during the hike.
Three of our group had come down with severe cases of Delhi belly. Luckily, it seemed I was still okay. Then on the other hand, as it turned out, my stomach was only saving my turn for when we were actually on the hike. Typical.
Later that evening, we headed over the LlamaPath office for our briefing. All fifteen people who would be in our group were present, and as subtly as possible, we were all trying to suss eachother out. Instantly I panicked. Everyone looked fit and healthy. A couple of them looked like avid hikers. There was no one who looked like they might have difficulty hauling up the mountain.
On the other hand, everyone looked pretty friendly, and if you're going to be with a group of peeps day and night for five days, they might as well be a group ready for a laugh.
As it turned out, our first impressions turned out to be prophetic. We turned out to be hiking with the best group we could have asked for.
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