Making a Living in Cusco

Tourism is hugely important to the Cusco economy. Moreover there are tourist academies where one can study how to be travel agent, run a hotel, or be a guide. And then there are all the shops selling arts and textiles...and the locals who pose for pictures (for a donation) and all the street sales people. Today, noting that I didn´t have too much time left here (I´m off to the Sacred Valley tomorrow and then Puno and Lake Titicaca the day after), I bought a couple of woven belts and hats on the street. Suddenly I was acosted by all itinerant salespeople and told that I must buy from them as well! Two small children just would not let up. To them it was completely irrelevant whether I liked their stuff--all that mattered was that I was the apparently rare "tipo" who would buy. Eventually I had them explain to me why no one else on the plaza was an appropriate mark. I pointed to an elderly German couple and they explained that Germans don´t buy from street children. Then I noted a bunch of hippie type Americans and they told me that they live in Cusco and are broke themselves. Then I asked about the many Latin Americans (from Lima, Brazil, Argentina, etc) and I was told they were all on tight budgets and that only Americans like me will buy. There logic was impeccable and so all I could possibly do in that moment was buy more stuff!