What's up everybody? Welcome back to Vagabrothers.
Right now we are in Cusco, Peru
and today we have a very fun challenge for you.
Cusco has been a natural crossroad since before Incan times,
and the markets here are some of the most colorful in Latin America.
So before we go home, we decide to challenge each other to a souvenir shopping challenge.
It's going to be a shop -off.
We each have 150 solos, which is around $50 American.
We're going to take about an hour and hit up some of the indigenous
marketplaces here and see who can get the coolest souvenirs.
You will be the decider.
Are you ready? I was born to haggle.
I was asking them. Oh well. Yeah, are you ready?
I'm ready. You got your cash? I got my cash.
You got your haggling? Goy my haggling.
All right. Vamanos. Let's go
So on today's shopping adventure, I will be joined by my good buddy, Carlos.
He's going to be helping with the camera work.
What are your thoughts on Peru so far?
Peru's a beautiful place. There's a lot of
interesting people and things and situations to look at and photograph.
From a photography perspective, this place is incredible.
We're going to dive deep into it by heading over to the first market.
The challenge is this: I want to get alpaca.
Alpaca has the smoothest, softest, warmest wool, and it's also the most expensive.
So I was just talking a guy over there,
and I'll an alpaca blanket right off the bat....
He's asking for 120.
This is going to eat my entire budget.
So the challenge is: I'm going to have to haggle to try to get a nice little pocket scarf.
Looking for a sweater too, and then hopefully something for Carrie within my budget.
So it's going to be hard, but I think we can do it.
Tiene alpaca?
Un scarf? Y alpaca? Y tambien un sweater.
Don't know how she just did that?
But this is kind of cool.
I like it. Sold
I think I found something.
I need to get something for Carrie.
I know that she loves dainty little earrings,
and there's some pretty stuff in here.
All right. Well, that's kind of a good deal.
For 50 soles I can get these really beautiful earrings that have two little Inca ladies on them with turquoise
inlaid and then on the back a diety
called Altuni who is the god of medicine.
If I buy it for her, she'll always be healthy.
I think we should head over to the main market, though.
You know anything about sewing machines?
An old Singer is like... these are antiques.
Super expensive, very reliable.
You guys, this is pretty insane.
We found these little guys.
These are actually the fetuses of cows.
They say that they use them for making offers to Pachamama
so that they have like a plentiful harvest.
It's pretty incredible stuff that you can find in these markets.
All right, so my brother was just in the San Pedro market, which is the biggest one.
That's where a lot of people go,
but I know that I want artisan crafts,
so I'm going to go specifically to the artisan market.
There's a bunch of expensive boutiques here that have really high-end versions of ponchos and everything.
You don't want to buy there,
but they can be really good for kind of seeing the type of thing that you want
because it is kind of more curated for tourist's tastes
Next up I bought some quail eggs,
only one sol for four of them.
Gracias. Okay, let's go.
We just got in here, and you can already see it's a gold mine.
It's full of awesome artisan textiles.
You can probably get stuff cheaper if you go to the
little towns where they make this in the surrounding valleys,
but this is a good combination of being close to where the tourists areas are and also a great selection.
Let's go take a look.
Those are really cool, but they were 150 soles, all sheep's wool
Really nice, but I blow my whole budget on one thing.
The average price I've heard is about 70 soles.
I'm sure we can get it probably a little bit less.
I see a good spot around the corner. Let's go.
I found a awesome sweater made from alpaca wool with a llama design on it.
35 soles which is just about 10 bucks.
I'm stoked. I got a sweater; got poncho;
got some shot glasses and stayed under budget.
I'm calling it a happy day.
Go meet up with Alex and see what he got.
Finish up this competition.
The sun has gone down.
We have finished our day of shopping,
and I would just say, first and foremost,
that was overwhelming.
So much to buy. It's just like a feast for the senses.
This entire town is a vibrant, bustling marketplace.
It's really hard to choose what you want,
but we did get some cool stuff
Let's show what we got. Start with you, bro.
I wanted to get a sweater,
but I tried a few on and none of them really fit nicely.
So I ended up not getting one.
But, an essential for up here in the Andes and because it's fall back home,
turning into winter, is a scarf.
I found this scarf.
Not only is it a scarf bro, but you can take it,
and you can tuck it in on itself.
Ooh, and turn it into into a beanie. Whoo
That just happened.
This is good because this is also a good minimalist
packing thing because you're really packing one scarf and you get a beanie out of it, too.
I am always looking for good gifts for my girlfriend.
I bought her a necklace before.
She loved it. She likes turquoise and blue stones.
So I bought her these beautiful little earrings that have...
They're silver and they have turquoise inside of them.
She'll like that.
And they have little Inca ladies on the top, and on the back they have the deity of
medicine and good health.
Shopping for girlfriends notoriously difficult,
but a gift like this is small enough that if she doesn't like it,
she can hide it in her jewelry box
and it won't be taking up room in the closet.
Lately, we have been going to some
events where we have to wear suits and ties, dressing up.
I figured I could spice up my regular suit with this lovely tie, hand embroidered.
And yeah, you know this guy cost me 15 soles.
I got some Palo Santo.
This is used in religious ceremonies down here in Latin America.
This is a very expensive back home in hipster shops in Venice and Silverlake.
They'll charge you an arm and leg for this.
It's nice and cheap down here.
And then last but not least, one of my favorite things to do when I travel is
to pick up local artwork.
I am a big fan of paintings, especially
acquarella or watercolors, and I
found this beautiful painting of Cusco,
and I couldn't say no.
So I got this with the last 50,
and I still have ten soles left.
So that's probably enough for a beer.
I must say very nice choices, Alex.
Thank you. Very good selection.
You went for a lot of smaller things.
I took a different route.
I went for two big items;
so I decided to look for some ponchos.
There's a couple types.
The full poncho is really, really big. It's a lot of fabric.
It would be impossible to pack my bag.
I already know that whatever I bring,
I have to bring wearing on the airplane.
And also it's one of those things where it's so big that
you know that you're never really going to wear it back in Southern, California.
I ended up going for a smaller design poncho.
It's not a full poncho.
It's kind of more like a cape... just a little wrap.
It's cool. So if it's cold at night,
I can put this on over me when we're out front from the fire,
and it's not anything too crazy that I wouldn't wear it back home.
This whole thing was only 45 soles,
which is a great deal.
That's less than 15 bucks.
You know what is good about this thing is like if you have a long night out partying
or if you're by the campfire, you can just take it off and use it as a blanket.
It basically is just a wearable blanket
It's a Snuggie. It's a Snuggie, an Indian Snuggie.
Here you go.
The next thing I got was a sweater.
I have a black sweatshirt back home,
but I wanted to get something I could wear that'd be comfortable.
So I got a zip-up sweater.
It's nice and soft, super soft, also alpaca fur with a llama on it.
It's actually an alpaca, bro.. It's not. I checked.
I thought it was alpaca fur with an alpaca design,
and it's an alpaca fur with a llama design.
That's like treachery
I don't know at the deepest level.
How did the alpaca feel about that?
They're like...oh, you're wearing my fur but you put a llama on there?
Anyways. I like this one
This is just like ...this is cool. It's casual. It's a sweater
I don't really have a good sweater. I have a sweatshirt,
and this is a nice little....it's a hooded sweater.
It's a hooded one.
There were ones that came with just a collar,
but the designs wern't as good.
I got this, and this was only 35 soles, ten bucks.
Okay, so still between the two of them,
we were at 80 soles, which is half my budget.
The market was closing early;
I had to wrap things up early, so I just got a quick little gift here.
Machu Picchu
Four shot glasses
from Machu Picchu, 20 soles.
The good thing about a gift like this is that I can give one of these to each of my friends,
and it's an easy gift to bring back home,
and it's a way of bringing your trip back to your friends.
Just remember that when you are shopping here in Latin America
and pretty much anywhere, don't just accept the first price that's offered.
Play around a bit. Be polite.
Don't just low ball people.
They put a lot of time and effort into making these things, especially all of this hand-woven stuff.
But this is a really cool tradition.
Your tourist dollars help feed families, and they help
these types of activities continue into the future.
Definitely, like you said. You're putting food on the table.
Don't bargain too hard and give a fair price.
You're still going to get it for a lot cheaper than back home,.
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Tomorrow we're going to Machu Picchu.
In the meantime stay curious, keep exploring, and we'll see you guys on the road.
Peace. On the Inca Trail. Bye.
This is awesome, officially awesome.