Many tourists visit Peru and leave believing the “real” Peru is Machu Picchu and taking their picture with colorfully dressed women holding baby animals. Fortunately, our Natural Habitat guide, Francis, wanted us to experience the “authentic” Peru and, as a result, we saw some memorable things.
How did we discover the authentic Peru? By actually witnessing how Peruvians live today.
On our first day in Cusco, we happened upon a parade staged by locals. These parades pop up periodically in Cusco, according to Francis. Francis thought this one was in honor of the Madonna. Participants were carrying a huge doll-like replica and a band played. The people marching in front wore sashes with their names and 
carried a banner. Apparently, they were the donors who paid for the parade. The others in the parade are usually friends and family. We followed the parade down the street and into the main square, Plaza De Armas.
We later visited a local market, San Pedro Market. Markets are not considered “markets” as we might think of them but are more like gathering spots. This market was a huge building with stalls where all sorts of wares are sold: fruits, vegetables, meats (all parts of the animal including bull noses and
cow heads), spices and a large number of food booths where you could get a breakfast of soup with noodles and a piece of chicken, head soup, or Cuban rice. We saw fruit we’d never seen before (such as breadfruit), and sampled two types of passionfruit, one sweeter and one bitter. We glimpsed papayas and avocados larger than any at home and found 
BIG cigars. We also smelled homeopathic remedies such as rue and maca. The market spilled out into the street, where people without booths sold their wares.
When we left town, we climbed to over 12,600 feet, and drove down some random dirt roads to observe how Peruvians live in the Andes. It was surprising to learn there were actually small towns where people lived that high in the Andes. We witnessed people herding sheep, 
pigs or alpaca, making adobe bricks, building houses and plowing fields with oxen. We saw a man using a team of donkeys to tamp down his lima bean crop. Francis said most homes are a work in progress. Peruvians didn’t buy the land or get a mortgage to build; they just work on the house as they get 
money.
One of the small towns we visited in the Andes was Maras, a Spanish-influenced town. 
There were a lot of blue doors and balconies (blue to ward off evil) and carved mantles over doorways. In Ollantaytambo, we saw four teenage girls dressed in fancy dresses and fancy hats. Hats on women denote what area they are from, and these hats told Francis the girls were available, and they were from another area near Ollantaytambo.
We visited a local “bar” in Urubamba where corn beer (“chicha”) is made in a tub by locals. The bar was the courtyard of the local’s home. When a batch of corn beer is ready, they put out a red flag on a pole 
signaling they are open for business. Everyone drinks the beer, even kids, as it’s light, and doesn’t have a lot of alcohol in it. Francis received a very large glass (1 liter) which the bartender, an older woman, scooped out of a metal tub. We smelled it. At least it smelled like beer! I looked in the metal tub, 
the contents of which looked like a lot of foam.
We heard squeaking and discovered the family’s herd of guinea pigs, which were hungry. We were 
invited into their kitchen. I initially didn’t realize it was their kitchen due to its dirt floors and lack of modern appliances. The guinea pigs roamed freely on the floor and eagerly gobbled up the long grass fed to them. Too bad they were destined for someone’s dinner. Guinea pigs are high in protein and are a common meal in Peru.
Our final stop on the Authentic Peru tour was a salt mine in the Sacred Valley that has been in continuous operation for 6000 years. Salt water (brine) flows naturally out of the mountain and feeds hundreds of pits, with the water evaporating over time, leaving salt. Families own the pits and come to scrape up the salt into bags/baskets. Francis took us on a scary journey on the narrow, salt-encrusted walkways between pits. The workers use the walkways to get to and from their pits. We witnessed men, women and sometimes their children, harvesting the salt.
When we arrived back in Cusco, we witnessed another part of everyday life in Peru – protests. I was in Peru during the height of the teacher’s strike where they were putting stones in the road and disrupting trains to Machu Picchu. We watched a protest parade wind through Plaza De Armas in support of the teachers.
Thanks to Francis, for every Pisac or Machu Picchu we saw, we also saw a lot of authentic Peruvian life. I now have a better understanding of Peruvian culture as it is today as well as during Incan time. And yes, I even had an unauthentic picture taken with a colorfully dressed little girl holding a lamb.
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