Wow, where do I start? The past two days have been crazy incredible! On Tuesday, I got up a bit earlier to have breakfast and wait for my tour to pick me up. I made sure that I had time to let the hotel's front desk know that I would be gone overnight and thus did not need housekeeping to freshen my room on Wednesday. So I was ready at the desk about 10 or 15 minutes before my pickup. The young man at the desk was in the mood to talk, so we talked while I was waiting and keeping an eye out the front door for the minivan. He went to school for history, but worked in a hotel near the end and realized that he loved working with people and loved working in a hotel. So we talked about Inca and pre-Inca history as well as local food. I noticed a man standing on the sidewalk. I guessed that he was waiting for a ride. He eventually came in, turns out that he was my driver and the van was parked across and down the street (it is a divided, very busy street). We then went to pick up the other person and the guide. There were only two of us on the tour. I had originally booked my tour for March 2020 when the world shut down a week before I was to leave to Peru. They asked if they could keep my deposit through the pandemic to keep them afloat and I agreed. So then I went to rebook and they didn't have the tour planned that I wanted during the time I was there, but offered a different tour. Well, no. So I asked them to refund my deposit and I would book with a different tour company. Then they were able to book me for the tour I wanted, but it would just be me. Luckily, another woman was looking for the same tour a week ago (last minute plans) and they booked her on mine. Her name is Melinda. She is a teacher originally from Seattle, but is now a teacher at an international school in Argentina. We talked a lot over the next two days since it was mainly just us two. The tour company is Alpaca Expeditions. They are named in the Lonely Planet Peru guide and I heard about them from a you tube series episode that Randy sent me a link to when I was originally planning my Peru trip. That was the company that the couple in the series used.
Our tour was for the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. I think most of the tours they do include hiking part or all of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. With my back problems and asthma, I wasn't sure if I could keep up on a hike of the Inca Trail, climbing up mountains. It would have loved to, but I don't want people to have to wait for me or feel that I am a burden. So, I chose the tour that still involved hiking up mountains to see sites, but wouldn't be the multiple-day hike of the Inca Trail and included more sites to see. (Also, I was kind of happy to sleep in a bed instead of in a sleeping bag on the ground!).
On our way to the Sacred Valley, we stopped at an alpaca farm. We met the alpacas, llamas, and vicuña. They were all so cute! The Vicuña are endangered, so they are behind a fence. The only part of them that people use is their chest fur. They were hunted almost until extinction just for the skin and fur of their chest. The farm that we visited also has a showroom where you can purchase items (of course), and they have some vicuña items that were taken from vicuña that died at the farm. They have to have each one certified. The vicuña fur is SO soft! The alpaca and llamas are fully used--the alpaca and llama fur is sheared and they are also used for meat. Peruvians also eat guinea pig and there were some of those there as well. We watched three native local women there weaving and we saw where the dyes come from for the alpaca wool. One of them comes from a parasite of a plant. Our guide put one of the parasites in my hand, had me crush it, then added whatever is added and it became orange. Melinda took a video of it and shared it with me. It was kind of gross crushing it, because it kind of exploded orange "blood" in my palm. I did end up buying an alpaca hat (I keep getting holes in my current wool hat) gloves (I can never find warm enough gloves) and socks (I wear wool socks from October through April--whenever I'm not wearing sandals, so I can always use an extra pair and I loved the colors of these). The alpaca wool is very soft (not as soft as vicuña fur, but nothing is that soft!). Baby alpaca wool does not come from baby alpacas by the way, baby alpaca wool is the first shearing of the alpaca.
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| llama |
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| llama |
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| alpaca |
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| alpaca |
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| llama |
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| alpaca |
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| alpaca |
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| vicuña |
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| dyed wool with the plants each color comes from |
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| dying the wool |
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| more dyed wool with their source materials |
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| the stove to dye the wool |
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| weavers |
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| weavers |
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| weavers |
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| guinea pigs |
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The knots in each string go together to share a message.
This would be delivered by a messenger. |
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This is the plant parasite; the video below shows
crushing and mixing it |
Next was a short photo op stop to look at and take pictures of the Sacred Valley.
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| The beginning of the Sacred Valley of the Incas |
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Our guide likes to take pictures--this is one of 7 that
he took in about 2 minutes |
Our next stop were the ruins of Pisac. They are the most intact site of Inca ruins. You begin in the town and walk to the base, then walk up the stairs. Our guide asked if we wanted to climb to the top or just look around at the base. Melinda said that she was good walking around the bottom, and I said that I wanted to go at least part of the way up. Our guide was great and said that we would go slowly and take breaks. So we ended up going all of the way up! I used my inhaler as we were starting, and I think that helped a lot. We were breathing hard a lot, but took breaks as needed. Climbing up begins passing by many terraces of the mountain. The Incas terraced the land mostly to grow food, but also to stabilize the ground to keep the village and temples at the top from falling down the mountain. The ruins at Pisac include the largest Inca cemetary in all of South America. Incas from other cities used to request to be buried at Pisac. It is estimated that there were 10,000 Inca buried there, but there are 1,000 now. The others were looted by treasure hunters. There are many different neighborhoods in the Inca city. The Incas were masters at creating channels to divert water from structures and to use for irrigation for their crops. Down below the Inca city is the modern-day city of Pisac. Many of its homes were built during the Inca times. 400 years later and they still work fine. Pisac used to have a large market that the tour stopped at, but it was moved to a new site during the pandemic and is being kept there.
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| terracing |
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| check out more terracing in the background! |
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| Ancient Pisac |
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| These are the tombs |
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The tombs are on the right, the city was on the left.
They probably had to rappel down the mountain to bury
the remains. |
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These niches were most likely filled with gold and silver
statues and icons |
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Another section of the ancient city in the background, above
the far terracing |
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| Our guide in action again |
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| One of the neighborhoods |
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| looking down on the houses |
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drainage ditch down the center of the stairs leading to the
ancient city |
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a pretty flower in the end of the Peruvian wet season
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Next back in the van to go to the village of Ollantaytambo. There are ancient ruins here, as well as being the place that we catch the train to Agues Calientes/Machu Picchu. We stop for lunch (included in the tour). I had pumpkin soup, chicken, and fries. The pumpkin soup was incredible--yum! It mostly made up for the chicken. Just a few fries; many of the meals here seem to be served with fries. Probably for the tourists; we aren't supposed to have salads or any fruits or vegetables that are washed--we may get sick. I can have the fruit bowl with my breakfast because it is papaya or mango (I'm not sure), watermelon, honeydew melon, and pineapple. Fruits with skins that are not eaten are okay (like bananas and oranges are okay, but not apples).
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These are the pictures of my room in Aquas Calientas
(which means warm water) |
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| A jacuzzi |
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| Obviously, the bed--just for me! |
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My room was stuffy, so I opened the window. This
river full of rapids filled my room with sound--nice way to
fall asleep! |
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