Día 22

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Ok, had a great first night at our lodge in Sacred Valley. We are really in the middle of nowhere here! Enjoyed a quick breakfast at the hotel of eggs and toast, and then we were off for a day of excursions. Our first stop was to Ollantaytambo, a town in Southern Perú known for its ruins, and the only major site where the Incas defeated the Spaniards in battle. Because I was not feeling 100%!a(MISSING)nd have been stuffy and conjested for the last couple of days, I stayed back and did not take the hike to the top of the ruins. I was concerned about altitude sickness and also afraid I might experience a bit of vertigo. But my faithful roommate Natalie took my camera with her so I would have some pictures of the sights I was missing. ollantaytambo

Our next stop was to see additional Incan ruins in the town of Pisac, a neighboring town of Ollantaytambo. I chose to partake in this one, and I am glad I did, but boy are my legs tired! There was a lot of hiking and climbing, many stairs to ascend and descend. A little scary at times too! I was at the end of the group (no surprise there) with Kathy. We wanted to take our time and not rush, unlike our very own Edmundo (Speedy) Morrales. PisacRuins

We had a boxed lunch that we ate at a roadside stop (beautiful view of mountains). There was so much food that we offered a lot of it to a local woman and a group of children who had approached us in the hopes of selling us some crafts. No, the kids didn´t try to steal my camera this time =)

Our last stop for the day, and the one I was most looking forward to was the market in Pisac. Picture Rice´s Market, but 10 times bigger and filled with Peruvian crafts and handiwork. From gorgeous wall-hangings to handmade bags, jewelry, and other misc. crafs, I was in heaven. So much so that I sort of lost track of time... ok ok, I knew that it was time to head back to the bus but one hour there just wasn´t enough! I made it back about 15 minutes late, where I only found 5 other members from our group! That meant 6 others had also "lost track of time." Lol. It was a lot of fun though, and I got some really cool stuff.

Back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner. Dinner was 30 minutes away- did I mention the lodge is in the middle of nowhere? Pretty good food but I just wanted to go to sleep! My head was hurting and I couldn´t breathe all that well, and I still can´t stop sneezing! Running low on tissues at this point...

I was ready for bed the second we got back to the hotel, and probably asleep just 15 minutes later. Another big day tomorrow!

Alyssa

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Photos

View from top of Ollantaytambo
Natalie took this for me