Day 83 – Cusco, Peru

April 27th, 2019

This day we also had to rest with no activities planned.  This was really good because I still felt awful.  This is the first big city where I haven’t taken one of the free (tip-based) walking tours.  I was hoping to today, but just didn’t feel up to it.  We walked around some through the central market and around the plazas. 

There were ladies who kept advertising a 20 sol full body, one hour massage (about $6 USD).  I was of course very interested in this because I thought you could only get massages for those prices in Asia.  Since I didn’t feel good enough to do anything else, I asked Brendan if he wanted a massage before we returned to the hotel to lie down.  He said okay, and I was feeling pretty good when I negotiated two one-hour massages for 30 sol.  The lady showed us pictures of all the types of massages you can choose from and said we would be very happy.  I wasn’t expecting too much out of a $5 massage but thought any relaxation would be worth that.  She led us across the street and up the stairs to where they had their massage tables set up.  We went to the back where two tables were set up and she told us to undress to our underwear and get on the tables.  So, we did.  Then a lady came in with the same sheet that had all the different massages listed and said she needed some more information.  This of course was not information like “do you have any trouble points or areas you would particularly like to focus on?”  She said we needed to choose a specific massage.  The first picture was of a beautiful lady looking completely serene and at peace and was labeled “full body”.  She said this is what would be two for 30 sol and demonstrated what that would be.  She rubbed her hand back and forth on our bare skin with no pressure and said it would be that for an hour with no lotion or oil.  The next massage would have compression and oil, but that is 50 sol per person and it just went up and up from there and the different options.  I was going to stick with the dry hand rubbing back and forth for 30 sol, but she was insistent that “we don’t recommend this massage, this is not a good massage”.  Of course, a totally different tune than what the girl had who sold it to us on the street.  Brendan was just ready to leave but they have you in a vulnerable position when they have you undressed and on the table after we thought everything was already negotiated.  We kept saying no, that we were not going to pay 100 sol and Brendan said we would leave, and they finally offered it for 30 sol a person.  This still only ended up being $10 for each of us so it wasn’t about the money as much as the bad sales tactic making us feel trapped, literally-caught with our pants down. 😊   At least, I enjoyed my massage and thought it was okay, but Brendan said his was terrible and he didn’t like it at all. ☹  After that, we went back to the hotel so I could rest and try to feel less sick before our first adventure tomorrow in the Sacred Valley.