Greetings from Arequipa, Peru. I finally made it out of Cusco, Peru, a town I spent two weeks in but only planned on one. I soon must admit to myself that I am a slow traveller and prefer to get to know a place at my own pace. Cusco served some good purpose though. It was the first time Ive been totally healthy so far on the trip. It seems one sickness had morphed into something new.  The ailment that I overcame in Cusco was a throat infection, which after a week of gargling salt water and sucking Hall´s, I decided to go to the Cusco public hospital.
 
Upon entering, I spoke my broken Spanish to a women through a clear glass. I said ¨mi garganta duele¨´ or my throat hurts. She said to see the dr. I must  first pay in cash because their ATM was not working that day. I was led by the woman to see the dr . in an office he shared with another dr. As I explained my ailments., another couple 1 meter away was telling their problems. The dr listened to my problem with my throat and prescribed me two types of pills as well as a shot of some medicine that I would receive on my behind. A bit confused how a sore throat equals a shot in the butt, I said ´´si, por favor´ and followed them into for the shot. That night I felt totally healthy.
 
Throughout my time in Cusco, I saw how the cities economy really  is based soley on the tourist. It would be  physically impossible to walk through the downtown without someone asking you to buy a craft, eat at their restuarant, or let them give you a massage. If someone bet you that you could only answer yes to people and must walk through downtown Cusco, you would end up either really relaxed, or dead.  At times this pirhuanna-like mentallity of sales can be annoying, but  at one point it made me  realize the statistic of half of the Peruvian population lives below the poverty level. At 11 pm at night a little girl no older than 10 chased me down to try to sell me a woven finger puppet.
 
Thanks for checking in
Felipe