Day 28

Today I had my first excursion out of Cusco.  I went to Pisaq Ruins and Ollantayambo Ruins. I tell you the Incas were proliferate builders.  I heard that often when they start to dig like to build a house they run into ancient walls.  At least from where I am there are ruins and ancient temples everywhere.

What makes them even more spectacular is that they are built as high up on a mountain as they can get.  For two reasons, primarily because they felt the higher up they were the closer they were to their gods.  Secondly because.then you can see for miles any trouble that may be headed your way.  And believe me after making the trek up to these places you had to really want to fight these guys to make that trip.

The mountains, of which there are many, are sculptures with terraces for their farming.  This way they could farm directly on the side of some pretty steep mountains.  But back to the building.  These places were made of huge stone that was sometimes quarried miles away.  They pushed them bit by but from the original location then up this steep hill.  Now that is some dedication to your work. I don't even want to work when my manager doesn't leave me the right towels!

Lunch was a stop in a small village where they set up a buffet.  The salad was crisp cold and delicious.  As was everything in the line.  A lovely dish of guacamole I was forced to just admire. ( if you don't know avocados upset my stomach).  

Because I book a tour with an agency that was not recommended by the school I was a little apprehensive.  Would I be on a run down van or what?  When I was at my appointed place in the morning a girl came up and said she was with the tour , follow me.  We walked to a plaza where she had me wait while she went to collect another passenger.  The we walked to the next plaza where again I waited while she ran off.  Just as I was getting worried she came back and connected me with the tour guide who then had me and 6 others walk to yet another plaza to get on a bus.   But the bus was every comfortable and nice and I was happy to be on my way.  I bought a water from a street vendor.  At the first stop I took it out and realized the top was not sealed.  Now it is very possible I opened it and took a drink before.  But I had a half bottle and was finishing that one off first so I really do not remember.  So I threw it away.  It was a 70 cent bottle of water not worth getting sick over if she had just refilled the bottle with tap water.  Which I was warned could happen.

The first bathroom stop you had to take a small bucket of water in with you to pour into tank to affect a flush.  I'm telling you if beautiful clean bathrooms are your thing.  This is not the country for you.

At lunch I was advised to load up on fuel because our next stop would require walking up 243 steps to get to the top of the Sun Temple.   About now I'm thinking what if I just say I will stay in bus.  But I'm here, don't know when or if I will make it back.  I made myself do it.  Mind you I am doing this at nearly 12,000 ft above sea level.  The air is thin and tends to make some people sick.  Fortunately I've been here long enough to get a little accustomed to it but still that was a work out.

Of course beautiful views and I just cannot believe the work that went into these temples with huge rocks.  I have a picture from the site of the mountain where the boulders came from.  It is miles away.  She said they also discovered there quite a few bodies.  Well yea, I can see how you just might give out trying to move these things.  And they are meshed together expertly with fault lines even so they would be stable in the event of an earthquake.

On the return we climbed even higher up the mountains.  I was surprised to see meadows and fields atop.  In the distance you can see the snow topped mountains.  We stopped at a textile factory where they demonstrated how they made the yarn from the alpaca or llama or sheep.  From cleaning the wool, making it into yarn, dying process and then finally weaving.  We were served tea made from coco leaves while watching.  Underneath the stove top was a cage of guinea pigs.   They were so cute it was hard to realize they were not pets.  That was their ranching.  Those pigs are slated for dinner sometime soon.

The prices were disappointing.  I thought that my going straight to the source we might get a discount.  But alas no.  But I did find some better pieces for my gifts at a reasonable price.

I thought we were coming back very late but made it back by 6:30.  I have to admit I went ahead and had Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner.  I was too tired to worry about if I was finding a good place to eat.  I just wanted to eat and go home.  Tomorrow is an early start for a very tiring two days.  Up next... Will I make the trek from Hydro Electrica to Aqua Calientes?