Buying religious paintings in Peru by jumpingnorman
There was a nice little souvenir shopping arcade near the hotel where I stayed at in Cusco - the hotel was part of the vacation package and I forgot its name already, but I remember it was near the roar of a nearby creek (strong current). I decided to go around the stalls and vendors were calling me into their shops. I went into an old man's shop and went through the souvenirs, went at the back of his store and saw this nice painting hanging on the wall. I asked him If could buy it, and he hesitated a little bit (I guess he liked the pic himself) but eventually sold it to me. He said US$80 and I thought that was really cheap for a nice oil painting of the Blessed Virgin with the sacred infant Jesus and Joseph and the angel Gabriel. I paid in US$.
He wrapped it up so carefully for me since I did not want him to remove it from its old picture frame. I checked it in at the airport and lo and behold, it came out intact! Thank you sir! But I did give him an extra $20 when I saw that he wrapped it up so well with cardboards and lots of tape...nice old man.
There's a lot of religious paintings in Peru and I wanted to buy one with the Last Supper where the guinea pig is on the table, but I did not see any (except for the original famous Last Supper which I think was at the Cathedral). So, when in Peru, look for these nicely done paintings and buy stuff (not only to help their economy) but also because they have really good artists and craftsmen!