What about carrying around large amounts of cash and valuable items?

The hotel has a safe in each room.  We highly recommend using these for extra cash and passports.  Do not carry your passports with you!  However, you should bring a copy of your passport around with you.  If you buy a piece of art, the artist will need your passport number to fill out the paperwork necessary for traveling with artwork.  It will save you time to have it on you.