Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Peru Education Post 2-Souvenirs, Bartering & Fine Art Shopping!

Well, we've touched on the food of Peru. Now lets talk about shopping! It is a similar feel to Mexico or Caribbean Islands, where people approach you from all directions, seeking to "help" you find the perfect souvenir. They either stand at their store front yelling to grab your attention, or they approach you with their loot in hand to offer you "good deals." In fact, the first interaction I had in front of our hostel in Cusco was from a street woman selling jewelry.  She was the first person to talk to me in the city. The people in the streets tended to be either selling jewelry, handmade clothing items, or, our favorite, paintings!
A typical shop in the plaza of Cusco. You could find sweaters, purses, statues, etc.
The artist carry around these black portfolios with their "original arts." I can't figure out exactly how this works, because they look hand painted, but we saw multiple copies of the same.exact.picture. Typically the artists were men, and they all approach with the same one liner- "I'm Pablo Picaso!" It makes you laugh and I guess that's all they need to have their in. Out comes the portfolio with hundreds of pictures. We would say, "Later," and keep walking. Mackenzie saw one picture that really spoke to her and we were going to get it--later... That night another Pablo approached Rhonda and she asked him if he had a hat on earlier. His response, "Sure." Man! They are so smooth! It took several more "Pablos" before we found the picture that Mackenzie was looking for. At one point, two Pablos were fighting over her. We actually found it in Aguas Calientes, a 3 hour train ride away from the first time we had seen the "original" art.
Mackenzie's "One of a Kind"


Many store workers said that they had a good deal for you! "Normally 30, but for you, my friend, 20!" I'm not very good at bartering, but I did get a few dollars off. Plus, the prices are pretty reasonable to begin with, so you almost feel guilty not just giving them their asking price. I didn't have a lot of room in my luggage to shop, as one of my suitcases was left in Chacacabamba as part of our donations, and we already packed minimal as it was. Rhonda and I both have the family tradition of buying a Christmas Ornament from each trip that we take. I love decorating the tree and thinking about the special trips that I was on when I got a particular ornament. I LOVE my Peru ornament. It was very difficult to find though. We probably asked in half a dozen stores before we finally found one with a small assortment of ornaments. Rhonda and I got similar ones.
This is the bulk my shopping In Peru. I had to have the guinea pig dressed up in the fancy clothes of the villagers
My Christmas Ornament-- "Little Big Shoes." More about him later.

The Peruvian Currency is called Soles and it's valued at about 3X our dollar. So if it was 30 Soles, it would be about $10. Almost all vendors took dollars though, so we didn't have to exchange for their currency. Unfortunately, the villages where we did our mission work did not take dollars. I regretted not having many Soles to shop with from our "village family." They had many handmade purses and blankets for sale. I wanted to buy some, just to show support, although I couldn't imagine having room to pack a blanket home. Abbi and I bought miniature llamas from the young girls of the village. We had enough Soles to buy seven, which Abbi gave to her friends for souvenirs.  If I get a chance to do another mission, I will remember to bring local currency to the village. With all the donations we brought, I was still not satisfied that we had done enough to support and love these sweet people.
My sweet friend, Jeannie, with a purse she brought from a guy in Quisicancha. That is him to the left and his loom behind her. He had recently quit working in the field to start his own textile business. He had 6 kids! He had a beautiful blanket that I would've loved to buy. He wanted 200 soles for it, or about $65. It was worth that, but he didn't accept dollars.


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