Sunday April 13 - Urubamba

We packed for the next three days, as each of us is only allowed five kilograms of luggage.  This means two changes of clothes, toiletries and meds in my back pack (for both of us) and Patty’s purse.  We had a nice breakfast at the hotel.  I went for a walk and got more bottled water.  At 8:00, we boarded the bus and spent 30 minutes going to other hotels to get other tourists and then set off for Pisca.  Our guide for the day was Raul – he was most enthusiastic and extremely knowledgeable about ethnobotany, flora and fauna, and pre-Inca, Inca, and post Inca history, building techniques and more.

Our first stop was at Willka Pukara, an Andean handcraft market and workshop.  They had four llamas for visitors to see, as well as about a dozen shops.  They also had a small demonstration garden with recently picked potatoes (a little larger than my thumb) of two colors, still growing quinhoa, mint, and other Andean crops.  I had a fresh out of the oven queso y jamon empanada (ones on earlier days had been reheated in a microwave, but this was right out of the oven – yum).

Next stop was Awanakancha – a project of private initiative associated with 14 communities (420 families) of native people, who have made the weaving by ancestral process their principle activity and way of life.   We learned about the seven types of South American camelids (all related to the one and two humped camels): Llama Q’ara (short hair), Llama Ch’aku (long hair), Guanaco, Alpaca Huacayo (short hair), Alpaca Suri (long hair) and Vicuna.  They had very informative posters about each and we were allowed to visit with, pet and feed them.  We also learned about the Andean Condor, which is now an endangered species.

We did have the chance to feed them handfuls of grain

We next stopped at Mirador Taray, a scenic vista along the highway overlooking the town of Pisac.  It amazing to see the amount of terraces on the sides of the mountains and how high up we were.

One of the things I bought while at Mirador Taray was a collection of seeds, each of which was labelled.  For ten Peruvian Soles, I got this collection of several dozen types of seeds.  Here are a couple of them.

We continued on to the Inca ruins which I unfortunately did not learn the name.  This was another amazing location that was another of the four Incan Sun Temples.  Again, an amazingly large amount of hillside terraces and buildings that were difficult to walk to – never mind how difficult it was to build them.  It makes the climbs we were making in La Florida seem like a cakewalk.  There was also an Incan cemetery – they buried their dead in caves they dug in the side of one of the mountains.

People would put their hands in the niches to either side of the fountain and lean their head into the water to be cleansed.  Our guide Raul demonstrated how this was done

The holes are the entrances to grave sites.  The graves were made on the side of this hill, some 40,000+ graves.

Then it was on to Pisac.  Our first stop was in a store that did silver smithing and a short demonstration about the types of silver and rocks used in producing their jewelry – how to distinguish between inexpensive junk and real silver jewelry.  On Sundays, artisans and farmers from the surrounding mountain villages come into town for the market.  It is amazingly large.  I bought a new belt that has a secret compartment in it, in which I was able to place $60 and 50 PS for safe keeping.  The belt is obviously had made and hand sewn interior to the visible exterior – very attractive, for just 35 PS (a little more than $12).  Patty had been searching before as well as here and finally found one of the good luck charms put on roof tops by Peruvians – two bulls with an Incan cross between them.

Silversmith shop demonstration

Sylvia shopping in Pisac

We then had lunch at a very beautiful and popular restaurant -  it cannot be seen from the road, but as we drove down the dirt drive and into the parking lot, we saw at least another five or six buses and many other vehicles.  It had a great buffet including some traditional Peruvian dishes, American dishes and great desserts.

Many wonderful desserts

We then drove on to Ollantaytawan, another Incan Archeological Park.  Even more impressive pre-Incan and Incan ruins than the others we have seen – and I believe that Macchu Pichu is supposed to be even bigger and better.  This had buildings, terraces and trails on all sides of the valley – a massively impressive place.  I hiked up about 80-90% of the way, but then turned back.  Patty was one of only four to make it all the way to the top with our guide.  Raul had explained to us and showed us how the Incans cut the rocks so that they fit together and have not been destroyed by earthquakes.  Among other things, they used rocks from meteorites to cut the rocks, and sand to smooth the rocks.  It is obvious that they had a good understanding of geometry and architectural processes.

There were storehouses on the side of the mountain across the valley from Ollantaytawan

Some of our group went all the way up - I made it about 90% of the way before turning back

Our day ended with a drive to Villa Urubamba, a very secluded and nice hotel.  While we might hear the owner’s dogs during the night, we certainly won’t hear any traffic.  They had wifi and I was able to do my classwork and upload the texts for my blog entries.  Then for dinner, I went to the bar and found out that I could order room service.  I ordered a caprese sandwich and a Cusqueńa for Patty and a chicken sandwich and Cusqueña for me.  Since it was after dark by the time we got there, my photos of the hotel and flora are not the best.