Space in Cusco: Sidewalks and Yoga Mats

I have never been one for personal space: I am a big hugger, I have never minded crowds, and I feel comfortable surrounded by strangers. However, on my very first day in Cusco I knew that this city would test even my comfort levels regarding personal space. 

Drivers in Cusco seem to be even more reckless than drivers in Paris, and the streets are incredibly narrow, allowing for just one car on most side streets. Drivers race up and down these tiny streets, with little regard for pedestrian safety, crosswalks, and their proximity to the cars in front and behind them. On these same streets, sidewalks ranging from a few inches wide, to maximum maybe two feet, force pedestrians needing to pass each other to step into the bustling streets. This seemed surprising to me: Cusco is such a big walking city, with little need for taxis or buses (at least for what we need to accomplish- walking to lunches and dinners and classes), so why would drivers seem so impatient and city planning so inefficiently make accessible sidewalks? One hypothesis I have is that this lack of personal space when walking around the city, or even driving, seems to be a natural cultural phenomenon in Cusco. People do not seem to get frustrated when bumped into or jostled about, and the minuscule sidewalks that force people to walk on top of one another seems like a part of daily life. In a city of half of million people, and oh so many tourists, it makes sense that space could be a problem. The prioritization within the downtown part of the city of restaurants, hostels, hotels, and plenty of tends has obviously minimized the width of streets and sidewalks.

This space problem is not limited to city planning however, for our experiences in classes have demonstrated how buildings themselves tend to be more cramped. In our second week, we attended a chocolate making class (absolutely amazing) that was registered for at most 12 people, but there were 16 people in our class around one small table. In our yoga class, there was not a single inch of free space for anyone who arrived late. This did not stop one tourist from arriving 15 minutes into our silent meditation, and hovering over me looking for space. This was especially clear when she dropped her heavy yoga pillow on my face! All of these observations on usage of space are of course not negative ones- they better represent cities like New York in the United States, that have a huge population and ample amounts of tourists, and continue to grow. You can tell that as Cusco continues to grow, sidewalks and streets and spots for yoga mats will continue to dwindle, until it becomes an actual problem that city planners must focus on.