Today is the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001 when a bunch of cowards from the Middle East decided to hijack planes, run them into buildings and kill as many Americans as they possibly could. Our freedoms were altered that day, many lives were lost and many had to overcome the pain and suffering but with all that carnage, life still goes on. We got up around 7 a.m. that morning and started getting ready for our day. That was the first thing I thought of and never in a million years did I think I would be in a foreign country 20 years later getting ready to go to the Sacred Valley in Peru. Mom said that she was glad we weren't traveling on a plane and hoped that nothing weird happened today because of the anniversary. Thankfully, nothing did as far as we know.
We spent some time consolidating our stuff into a back pack because we could only bring a smaller bag with us on the train to Machu Picchu. It was pretty difficult to pick and choose what goes and what stays in my suitcase but we got it done. We met Amy and Rhonda at 8 a.m. in the dining room for breakfast. We had the same spread as yesterday except they didn't have the puffed wheat cereal available. We ate, chatted and then finished getting ready. I used the restroom one more time because I knew we would be in a van most of the day driving around.
We checked out of our hotel but left our suitcases with the front staff while we were gone because we would be coming back on Monday night to Cusco. We met our guide, Fabrizio and our driver at 9 a.m. in from of our hotel. We got into the van and got started on our journey. On our way to our first stop, Fabrizio shared a little bit about what we were going to do and where we were going to go. He had the personality made for being a tour guide. He was hilarious and you could tell he loved his job.
Our first stop was back up the hill near the Sacsayhuaman site but this time we went to learn about the White Jesus (Christo Blanco) statue. It is a very large statue that towers over the city and can be seen from just about everywhere in Cusco. It is a 26 foot high white structure that was a gift given by the Arabic Palestinians who sought refuge in Cusco after WWII. Fabrizio spent about a half hour talking to us about this statue, the history, culture and significance of it and then took 10 minutes taking pictures of us with it. We all had a great time.
We hopped back into the van and they took us out of the city and to our second stop, a textile/animal sanctuary. We went inside and he took us around outside first to go see the different types of llamas and alpacas. I guess I really never paid attention to how many different types of llamas and alpacas there were. There were the ones we're used to seeing and then there were the ones with braided hair. The locals call those Bob Marley's, haha. There were a few alpacas, some vicunas and a couple goats and native deer. It never occurred to me, or any of us, for that matter that the llamas and alpacas are related to the camel. As soon as he said that, you couldn't help but see the camel face everywhere.
He took us to the grass hut to learn about how they dye the llama wool. Depending on what color you want it is either bugs, minerals or plants. There is this specific parasite that grows on the cactus that they use for some of the colors they produce. It was interesting watching him pluck one off of a piece of cactus and squeeze it. We also watched a woman work on one of her weaving projects. He said that she will work on it to get a few centimeters done a day and it will take her about a month to finish it.
We went into the store and were pressured into buying something. We got a quick lesson on how to spot real baby llama wool versus the fake factory stuff you buy at the markets. She said that everyone will claim it's real baby llama. I honestly didn't care. Mom, Rhonda, Amy and I bought at least one thing. There were no prices so we had no idea how much anything was. I ended up getting a scarf and everyone else got sweaters. When we paid, they threw in a couple things for free. Fabrizio told us that they will wrap up our stuff and package it so when he goes back to Cusco later that night he can drop it by our hotel. We didn't want to bring anything extra with us since we were limited on what we could bring on the train. We thanked him for doing that for us.
We used the restroom and the toilets didn't have seats so we had to squat above them. They had toilet paper, soap and water though. I went back inside and Fabrizio told us that they had a condor that was being rehabbed because it was poisoned. He said it was extremely rare to see a condor in the wild, therefore, making it a treat to see one. We went followed him and the care takers out to the pen. They were getting ready to exercise the bird. It was a female juvenile so she wasn't fully grown even though this bird was huge. They struggled to get her out of the tree but they eventually did. She came down and spread her wings as far as she could for us. It was pretty awesome. We thanked the sanctuary workers for letting us have that priceless experience. We went back through the store, thanked the ladies and got back into the van and drove to our next location.
We drove through the mountains and around many switchbacks on the PE-28G until we reached the Sacred Valley. The next place we were going to learn about was Pisaq, which is known for its silver and jewelry making. We stopped at the top of the hill and Fabrizio gave us a history lesson on the town, the area in general and the terraces you could see on the mountain side. He even showed us a fossil and some hematite that we got to pass around and examine. We got back into the van after about a half hour lecture and drove down into the town below.
The next stop was the silver jewelry store in Pisaq. We were shown the process of how they melt, shape, put in the shells, gems, etc., polished and set our for purchase. I am not into jewelry so I really didn't partake. Amy, Mom and Rhonda bought some jewelry though. Mom picked out a llama necklace and we both picked out some Machu Picchu earrings for Erika as her souvenir. When Mom went to pay they threw in a free fabric bracelet. We definitely stayed too long here and we could tell by the way Fabrizio said that it was time to wrap up so we could move onto our next location.
We got back into the van and drove through many small towns to Urubamba. It was roughly lunch time and Fabrizio and our driver took us to a buffet over the Urubamba River, up the hill to a fancy buffet restaurant called the Don Angel Inka Casona. We parked and we were escorted inside. I felt super under dressed for this place. He showed us what we had to do. It was broken into three pieces: salads, entrees and desserts. We all tried many things and some of it we didn't know what it was because it was in Spanish. We all had water and Amy had a Coke. We listened to the band play songs up front as we dined.
There were probably four birthdays celebrated while we were there eating and every single time after the end of the song, a waitress dropped a metal serving tray and each time it scared us. We used the restroom and paid our bill. We met Fabrizio and our driver in the parking lot and headed out to our next place but first we stopped in town really quick at an ATM machine so Amy could get some cash. We also saw at the nearby gas station that gas was roughly 15-17 sols per gallon (yes, they have gallons here) which is about $5 a gallon. It was so expensive. We saw a lot of tuk-tuks, which Fabrizio called kamikazes because they just come out of nowhere and cut you off when you're driving.
We drove through many small towns on our way to Ollantaytambo, a town with one of the major ancient archeological sites in this area. This was our last stop of the day because most places close at 4:00 p.m. This town is literally where this main road ends as well. From here on, you have to ride on trains to get you to towns beyond here. We got to the town square and we saw a bunch of people waiting in line for their Covid shots. These people will literally wait in line all day to be seen.
Our driver stopped at the cul-de-sac and we all followed Fabrizio into the entrance of the ruins. It was amazing. We were probably there for an hour or so learning about the mountains, the structure, the significance of why the Inca's did what they did because everything had a purpose, whether it be with the Earth, the sun, the moon or a solstice. Even the placement of the roads had a purpose. He told us many things and even told us a story about why the condor was important to the Peruvian culture.
We walked around a little bit more, found the traditional cache, Ruinas Ollantaytambo (GC8GHRD), took some photos, soaked it all in but we didn't have enough time or the lung capacity to walk up to the top of the terraces. I was going to do the earthcache, Ollantaytambo - La Ultima Ciudad Inca (GC77KB0) anyway since I could figure it out from home. I got my necessary photos of what I thought I would need. We walked back towards the van but stopped by one of the small stores in the square to see if they would exchange some dollars into sols. They could only to a little bit of our money and I bought a razor because I forgot mine and really needed one. We got back to the van and drove back to Urubamba so we could check into our hotel for the night.
We checked into the Tierra Villa and it was super nice for the area we were staying in. We were escorted to our rooms, 101 and 102, where we got settled in. It was super windy and could hear it howling through the valley. We decided to walk around the property with the amount of daylight we had left, sat in the hammocks and saw the restaurant didn't open until about 6 p.m.
We went back to our rooms and hung out for a little while. Amy and Rhonda asked us if we wanted to go to the restaurant for a light dinner. We walked to the restaurant and were seated with some English menus. We got water and I got a Coke Zero. We all ordered the chicken soup except Rhonda, she got the mint soup and some tea. The soup was very good. We all shared a brownie and ice cream for dessert. Mom was super excited for the brownie. We paid and walked back to our rooms to get ready for bed. I stared at the stars for a little bit since it was a clear night. We rarely get to see these stars and the Southern Cross because we live in the Northern Hemisphere and not the Southern Hemisphere. It was nice to have that experience again.
We plugged in our phones with our special Peru adapters, I did some Facebook stuff, made an album for our pictures, watched Grown Ups in Spanish and I eventually got a shower in and the shower head was super powerful. I got dressed and organized my stuff for tomorrow.
Mom went to bed earlier than I did. I did eventually wind down and managed to go to bed around 11:30 p.m. but I couldn't get comfortable. I slept pretty bad that night.
Next Adventure: Peru: PeruRail Train Ride, Aguas Calientes and First Visit to Machu Picchu (Day 6)
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