Cusco

I have travellers diahhrea. :-( It started yesterday.Bus ride to Cusco was long. I think I slept in short fits. The bus was also COLD and I had shorts on and a t-shirt and a light jacket to try and keep me warm. But, this was my last long bus trip of my travels. Lisa is not going to go on the cheap for night bus trips anymore, though.We arrived in Cusco about 8:00. We ignored the touts at the bus station offering accomodation and bartered for a taxi to the Plaza de Armas. A woman approached us at the plaza and offered accomodation for 15 soles each at her hostal, just a block from the Plaza de Armas. That's cheap for Cusco, so we checked it out and it was fine. We checked in, I showered, we had breakfast, then we went to South American Explorers club so Lisa could get free internet and we could checkout trip reports for Salkantay and Lares Valley. Then we headed to Scotiabank and took out some US dollars so we could pay the balance of our Amazon trip. We paid half before leaving to South America.Then we went to all kinds of tour companies looking at trek options, either Salkantay or the Lares Valley. We weren't sure which one we wanted to do, but after hearing opinions, we decided on Salkantay. It's a a 5 day/4 night trek that ends in Machu Picchu. It's a less travelled alternative to the Inca Trail, and you don't have to book it months in advance.At 1:00, I went back to the room and slept, after the crappy bus sleep, and Lisa went shopping. She bought a long sleeve shirt for the Amazon. Later in the afternoon, after I woke up, I went shopping, bought some long pants for the Amazon and bought a fake ring and a birthday card for Lisa. Her birthday is Nov. 18, so I won't be here for it, but decided to get her something silly. Men in South America can be very forward toward women, and she has often joked about getting a fake engagement or wedding ring to travel with. So I got her one for her birthday.When I got back to the hostal and met Lisa, she told me that while she was shopping, a local approached her and said "Hey beautiful. You want me to take my pants off so you can look at it?" She just ignored him.At 6:30 we went out for pizza and I gave her her birthday present then. After that, we went for ice cream, then I went to bed shortly after 8:00.There's soooo many tourists in Cusco, and soooo many touts offering massages, rooms, food, treks, etc., it gets annoying after a while. Lots of high-end shops too, selling jewellry, art, fine clothes and fabrics, fancy restaurants, high-end hotels. It really shows the type of tourists that come to Cusco, they have lots of money.They're also really pumping halloween here.