The Science of Tourism

There´s no getting around it, the Cusquenas (the people of Cuzco) have raised to a fine art the science of separating tourists from their money. The local churches and state-run museums, most of which are fairly inferior, have banded together under the umbrella of the city government. To gain admission, you have to buy a ticket from the city administration for about $25! They post guards at the doors of the churches to make sure that gringos can´t enter for nefarious purposes, such as praying, without showing their badge of having paid the price of admission.

Today I visited the "Inca Museum." There was a lengthy section on pre-Inca stuff, and a lengthy section on the Spanish conquistadors, but pitifully little on the Incas themselves. Understandably, part of the problem is that the most worthy relics were hauled off by the conquistadors and are sitting in museums in Europe.

However, the conclusion I also came away with is that the best example of Incan culture is its architecture. Here in Cuzco, one can see the foundations of buildings where the stones are set incredibly flush to each other, looking like they could survive ANY kind of assault or earthquake.

As we already know, the purpose of Cuzco´s existence is to separate the tourist from his money, sometimes legally, frequently illegally. At the entrance to the museum, the ticket-taker asked me if I´d like to have a guide, who would work for a tip. I said okay. The young guy was obviously in a big, big hurry. I wanted to look at the exhibits and try to conduct a conversation with him about some of the work. It became obvious: 1. He didn´t know much about the subject; 2. Had little or no interest in the subject; and 3. was interested only in getting his tip. He wanted to rattle off his memorized speech as fast as possible and get back to the entrance where he might get another paying customer who shared his impatience with the exhibits.

I´m having a difficult time reconciling myself to the fact that almost every person in Cuzco is out to gouge you for money. It´s a bunch of little things. For example, I bought a newspaper and started to take the one on top of the pile. The lady seller stopped me, took a paper, folded it in half and handed it to me. Only half an hour later, in a restaurant, did I notice that a good part of the front page had been ripped off. For me, it´s a very big turn-off. The people in Puno were friendly enough. I´m hopeful that the rest of Peru is not like Cuzco.

If the Cusquenos are not out to take your money legally, then they´re out to get it illegally. All over South America, I´ve read or heard of stories of people who were robbed or pick-pocketed, etc. Fortunately (knock on wood), I´ve been lucky. Cuzco is different in that EVERYONE tells me to be careful: the people in the South America Explorers Club, the desk person at the hotel, the travel agent, etc. Note: these are all locals. I have been warned by locals here in Cuzco to be careful more times than in all my travels in South America to date.

Yesterday, I asked the nice waitress in a nearby cafe where was a movie theatre. She took my map and started to point out a spot and then backed off and said "You´d better not go there; it´s too dangerous." Then she started to mark a second spot and she stopped again. "You know," she said, "you really ought not to leave this part (the gringo area) of town." Again, I hope this kind of problem is unique to Cuzco and not all of Peru.