A Miraculous Trip to the Market

An exciting and fun experience at a market in Aguas Calientes, Cuzco, Peru.

We were on our way back to the hotel “La Casona de Yucay” in the Sacred Valley, or at least that’s where I thought we were going. The bus was loud as always, it was as loud as a soccer game at half time. Speakers filled the bus boisterously with extremely loud music. Every window vibrated because of its loudness. I just wanted to sleep. I was genuinely tired because we had just finished the Machu Picchu tour. It was great, better than I expected. I saw huge, rocky mountains full of intense-green vegetation. Throughout the tour of the historical city, my head was full of questions about the Incas and how they were able to build a city like Machu Picchu with their basic level of technology and as a result, build one of the 7 wonders of the world. I was now on the bus going somewhere I really didn’t know. I was just too fatigued to ask were precisely we were going.

I was looking out the window of the small, gray bus, looking at the enormous mountains and the unusual animals that lived there. There were some llamas and alpacas eating grass, these are common animals in Cuzco. Their wool is precious and it’s used for making a variety of things such as carpets and sweaters. Alpaca wool items could be very expensive too. Suddenly, I heard a loud, high pitched squeak. It was a dry and rough sound. I could clearly identify the sound coming from outside of the bus. Then the guide stood up, she was short with long hair and had a purplish eyeliner. I saw her grabbed tight to the mike and gently said: “We have arrived to the local market, please take all your stuff with you”. I clutched my ukulele as well as my back pack. We absconded the bus and walked a couple of streets to get to the market. The guide and the bus driver were all part of a tour company called Harmony Travel which, guided us through the whole trip. We finally got to the entrance of the market, it was a narrow, cramped pathway. We were now in Aguas Calientes, a town close to Machu Picchu. Before we approached the market, the guide said, “ We will first go all together through the market and we will show you where our meeting point will be.” We entered the pathway. It was huge! It looked as if it was an enormous maze. There were stands everywhere, everything was colorful. There were stands where they sold clothes, textiles, others that sold gleaming and luminous rocks. The textiles were handmade by the local people and were from alpaca wool, very pliable and comfortable. There was this constant background noise of people talking which really miffed me at first. We arrived to our meeting point which was a modest courtyard next to the Peru Rail’s train station. “Alright, you may now wander around the market, and buy stuff but, you must be here in 30 minutes,” the guide said. Everyone rushed rapidly and vanished inside the market.

I was falling asleep but I had a little bit of curiosity about the things they sold. So, I seized my wallet from my backpack and slipped it inside my pocket, ready to buy anything that captured my attention. I approached gently and tranquil towards the nearest stand to our meeting point. They sold gleaming rocks in shape of pyramids and spheres. They were really nice but, it wasn’t worth buying one of those because it was something you can find everywhere. The rocks were at 10 soles each so, it wasn’t worth it anyway. The woman on the stand had really dark hair and was short, she had on a blood-red jacket with the word “Cuzco” emblazoned on it. It was compelling to watch the people on my grade negotiate the prices of the things they wanted to buy. I believe that the biggest difference between buying something in a store and buying something in a market is that you can negotiate the prices. I walked casually and slowly away from the stand and moved to another stand.

Ten minutes had already passed and my wallet was still on my pocket, there wasn’t anything interesting to buy yet. It was very exciting to watch at all the cool things people were selling but none of them were worthy of buying. Finally, I lost hope of finding anything interesting to buy so I justed headed back to the courtyard. I turned my body exactly 180 degrees counterclockwise and I was shocked. I saw a substantial, ample stand, it was much bigger than the rest of stands. It was immaculate and was the most shining one in the entire market. The best element of this stand was the fact that it was congested and jammed with musical instruments of all sizes, some were hefty, some were minuscule and others somewhere in between. The instruments were all organized and radiant. I was as elated as a child getting candy. I spent about five whole minutes contemplating the spectacular instruments. There were some string instruments as well as percussion and wind instruments. I could only recognize two of the many abounding instruments that were there which were, the bongos and the zampoña. I walked slowly towards the man at the stand and asked the name of most of the instruments there. I asked him the name of the instruments that were hanging gently from the ceiling of the stand. “Charangos,” he said with an immense smile. I had heard the name before but I didn’t actually know how they looked. The Charangos are typical andean stringed instrument originated in the Quichua and Aymara, they are typical in Cuzco. They are usually made of a wood called “Mara” which resists to climate changes.

I ended up playing and trying almost all the instruments in the stand. I even annotated some names of instruments on a piece of paper in case one day I want to get one. The instrument that I liked the most was the charango because it was similar to a guitar. It was the size of a ukulele but it had a round body and 12 strings. When playing open notes, the sound was really relaxing and high pitched. I spontaneously asked for the price of one charango. I was appalled after listening to the man’s response. He wanted S/.350 for one charango. I swiftly looked at my dark-blue watch. I had to be back at the meeting point in two minutes. Time had passed flying, as if it was a humming bird. I was so interested and focused on the instrument that I obliterate completely about the time. I gave a last glimpse at the stand and I spotted an appropriate sized bongo. It was simple and nice. I asked the price of it, “20 soles,” he said. I grabbed tight to my wallet and took exactly 20 soles in 2 ten-sol bills. He said: “ thank you”, and I nodded back. I quickly rushed through the whole market with my backpack, ukulele and my new bongo.

I finally got to the meeting point, everyone showing each other the cool things they bought. I quickly spotted my advisory teacher and followed her. We then all headed to the train station to returned to the hotel. I was pleased and satisfied with my new bongo which I inserted inside my backpack. I presented my train ticket to the lady that granted us access to the train. The ticked displayed my seat number which was seat number 15, the cost of the ticket, $54.60 and the name of the train company, Peru Rail. I remembered that the cost of the ticket to go to Machu Picchu was $60.00 so the round trip was about 120 dollars. I entered the train and proceeded to my seat. I settled all my belongings on the train floor and leaned my seat backwards, ready to sleep a three-hour nap. I was so cheerful and content with my new bongo, and hoped we would go to another market during the trip.