The Armaru

The Armru Hostal in Cusco was a luxury after days of hiking and staying in backpacker hostals - sharing rooms and bathrooms. We each had our own bedroom. The bathrooms on the hike were not really bad, but they were usually small and had all facilities in one tiny room - toilet, sink, and shower without a shower curtain. Everything in the room got wet.  I don't really understand why they did not have shower curtains. Strange! And hot water was iffy.  Most places said they had hot water, but not really. The hostal in Cusco did have hot water, although it did have the electric wires and a switch in the shower - kind of scary. It did have a shower door and that made me happy.
 A view from the upper balcony near our rooms. Main patio pics
The downside of arriving at Cusco was realizing my camera was gone when we got to the hostal. I consoled myself with knowing Jesse had her camera. Then, POOF! Hers was gone too. Such a bummer!  Hopefully our friends will come through with some Machu Picchu pics. It is the personal pics - Lindz with a critter on her back - that are gone for good. I don't want to think on it anymore.  My loss is nothing when I think of all my friend, Jo, lost when her house burned to the ground. 

Toby and I took it easy the next day.  We walked around the San Blas area which is very artsy and lots of artesanias. The hostal was also close to the main plaza - Plaza de Armas. There was some sort of festival going on every day here - not sure if it was just a tourist thang or some actual fiesta. Peruvians will use any excuse to party. Here are some pics of the walk to our hostal - can you tell which are Inca walls?

Here we are at local restaurante that served some great Peruvian food. We did eat well.  We shopped well, too.
 In my downtime, I painted from the back patio.

When I opened up my travel watercolor set that Jo gave me (thanks again, Jo) I had forgotten my travel brush. Having a nose for art stores, I found an art supply store and bought a horse-hair brush - very cheap, but it worked well. I wish I could have painted more, but we still had things to do and places to see.