Cusco and Beyond

We stayed in Cusco for about 4 or 5 days. We met up with some old friends and met some great new jugglers. We didn´t do much though, just kind of laid low, reading, mending tattered clothing, and Lebn made me a smokin new club. We saw lots of Incan walls as they are everywhere, found the market with the cheap eats, and some good places to juggle. Cusco is a nice town, but its overrun with tourists, and what´s worse, its overrun with pushy people trying to get the tourist´s money. You can´t get 10 paces down any street without someone persistently trying to get you to buy something. It was tiresome, so we headed off to a retreat.
We´re in a little town, outside of a little town, outside of Cusco. Its a house in the country with lots of land, rivers and mountains nearby, and about 20 lovely people staying there. The rent comes to about 75 dollars a month and generally seems to be earned by selling cookies in the streets of various nearby towns. Yesterday, we had a workshop for the local kids on circus and artisan crafts which is to be a regular thing. And next week, a huge circus tent is being purchased to set up in the corn field out back after its cleared and leveled. It all sounds like a great project to work on for a while, and it may be difficult to leave. People are always working on their art - weaving, djembe and diggeridoo making, juggling, and whatever you want. Its a creatively stimulating environment with positive, good, fun energy, and I like it. Though that road to the North is always calling.