The Pedicure

I'm off to Colka Canyon next. A canyon twice as deep as the Grand Canyon where I hope to see a close up view of condors with a 3m wing span rising up on the morning thermals. I hoped to leave on wed but there is no bus until Thu so I'm in Cusco 2 more days instead of 1.

My legs are as stiff as old boots! I did nothing all day except research buses and accommodation for my next phase, write and sort out my photos for my blog. I even (nearly) uploaded my zip wire video, but this stoopid thing ran out of battery just before I finished! It doesn't charge unless it's off so I found myself switching off, charging for an hour or so while I sat in a cafe reading, drinking Pisco Sour (my new favourite tipple), and reading my book. Then do a bit more research.

2nd day of rest. The Pedicure

In Cusco, as I've said before, everyone is fighting for your money, selling things. One of these things is a massage, manicure or pedicure. I'm constantly telling these young ladies no thank you. But as I was having to hang around and wait for my chrome book to charge (and my bus in the morning) I thought why not? My feet needed a bit of TLC after all the trekking. So we talked money and I followed this young lady through a narrow passage, up some stairs and into this wee room which had 3 massage beds in it separated by net curtains. No other customers. I was asked to sit on one of the tables and put my feet up. I sat on a dirty thin foam mattress with no clean towel over it. I even noticed some dark hairs on it...not the pubic kind you'll be glad to know! She boiled some water in a kettle on the floor while I plugged my chrome book in. While waiting for the kettle to boil she cut my toenails with great concentration - her face approx 5 inches from my feet. My feet were then plunged into a dirty washing up bowl full of hot water which she'd placed on the foam mattress in front of me. This was swishing around, spilling over the mattress as she cleaned one foot then the other, adding creams and potions to the water and to my feet with much aggression. Then the cheese grater appeared. She went for it. Almost to the bone. During this whole procedure, her friend wandered in, told her a funny story then wandered out. And her cutest little 2 year old child was in and out all the time wanting attention. My lady only gave them the minimum attention as she was so focused on my feet. I found myself playing peekaboo with her child to keep her happy. Peekaboo can be understood in all languages right?? After my feet had been scraped and buffed back to the softness of a baby's bum, she put more creams and potions on my dried feet (dried with a disgusting dirty, stained towel) and gave me a choice of nail varnish. This next procedure took another 40 mins or so as she coated, then wiped...getting stuck into the cuticles with her own nails...then coated again, then corrected her mistakes.

I found myself with a (scared?) grin (grimace?) on my face throughout and I'm not entirely sure I can say it was a relaxing enjoyable experience. But it was definitely an experience and my feet are now beautiful!