To market, to market

Finally made it to the Pisac market today. Sunday was apparently the big market day but I had other things going on. So I snuck out of my section meeting and headed off to the market with two other friends. For one of the less busy days, it was still pretty amazing. The stalls of vendors stretched on and on in many directions. Down every alley the mountains around Pisac loomed.

When we got there we ran into Ken, a friend of mine from Oregon. He gave me some sneaky advice about how he shops.   He asks for a certain thing that he knows the vendor doesn't have. They apologize and say they don't have that item and then he is free to browse and look at things without them bothering him. It actually works pretty well. There are tons of these finger puppets here. Ken used to always ask for an angel finger puppet and there never were any. But then they started making angel finger puppets, so then he started asking for penguins or something like that. I just have to figure out what item to ask for at each shop!

There are loads of shops selling earrings, necklaces, rings, hats, sweaters, blankets, scarves, shoes, statues, bags, t-shirts, baby clothes, slippers, nativity scenes, polished stones, magnets, and lots of other things. Most things are similar from shop to shop. Lots of bright colors and Peruvian designs. This afternoon there were lots of children running around and dogs all over the place. Some of the vendors were starting to close down their shops. At about 4:15 the church that the market was surrounding started ringing its bells. A lot. It seemed like a weird time for the bells to be ringing. We asked some vendors and it turned out an elder in the community had died and they were ringing the bell for him.

After spending some time perusing everything I only managed to get some ice cream and a pair of earrings. I figured I'm only halfway through my trip and there will be other shopping opportunities. I was very pleased with myself about my small suitcase, but I already have no room for more things! So I can't buy too much anyway. But I did want to get to the Pisac market while I was here.

Dogs everywhere, as per usual

The market ends, then there are cornfields stretching on to the mountains. 

These are the church bells that were ringing out the passing of a community member. 

sleepy doggies!

The main street through Pisac.

This is one of the hairless dogs that are known in Peru.

Dressing dogs in silly outfits is a thing here, and not just for the hairless dogs. I saw a lot of very silly outfits on dogs!