Blogs from Sacred Valley, Cusco, Peru, South America - page 15

I packed my mochila (rucksack) for the first time in a month & realised how little space there was in it for additional items. However, when Paty & I ventured across the road to the little shop with scales, we discovered that my present purchases & teaching stuff only weighed about 4.5 kilos. This meant I could send it home from Pisac for 170 soles versus 280 soles, which was great (otherwise I would have been taking out 1 item at a time to get it under 5 kilos. It turns out that at Serpost it weighed just over 5 kilos, so the grammar book will accompany me to Bolivia). I spent the rest of the morning walking around the town with Luke, getting photos of specific people! We then headed to Ulrike's to purchase brownies ... read more

The day between our arrival in Ollantaytambo and the OllabtayRami, we took the opportunity to visit one of the villages in the sacred Valley. The bus brought us to this little, cosy town with a beautiful marketplace. While you´re walking through the little streets, you can feel the peace and the rest. the locals are super friendly. because of our curiosity we discovered a little cooperative for women. This organisation was trying to keep the original inca prints and technics of coloring textils. They colored the the wool that they used with natural products by cooking and boiling them. The technics were still the authentic ones. The average age of the employees was around the 65, but the atmosphere was one of proud and joy! We got a tour around with harassments... it was great and ... read more

When last I wrote we were in cusco for the day. It was freezing and I wasn´t in a great mood. On the way back on the crowded bus along the hairpin turns in the rain, we stopped to pick up person after person till the bus was about to roll completely off the steep edges. Then we stopped to pick up some farm workers one of whom had a pick and the other an axe. They were standing in the aisle right beside us and all I could think was that if we crashed I´d have a pick or an axe through my head. We finally got back to Urubamba just before dusk and walked the 15 minutes back to our place because I was NOT going to get on another motorized vehicle at that ... read more

Sunday, June 18. Today we took the Sacred Valley Tour. This tour is of three small towns, Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Chinchero, with a lunch stop in Urubamba. In addition to ruins, Pisac has an extensive market that springs up on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. In addition to the typical tourist stuff, the local produce appears. Very interesting to walk through the market and see the products available. Be sure to stop by the bakery and have an empanada - the bakery has been active for 500 years, I believe. Lunch in Urubamba- we didn't have lunch included on our tour, so we were dropped off at a local restaurant that had a delightful buffet. Lloyd hadn't been feeling well last night or today, so he ended up having just soup. The kids and I enjoyed the meal ... read more

School began conventionally. We did time & routines with 2A, which was good fun. Then Luci & I were given a heap of invites for the male teachers. Could we find them all? No chance. It took us ages to track them down (because, of course, the majority weren't in classes teaching!). The ceremony was supposed to start at 11, however, in true Peruvian style, the power was out. However, we couldn't teach 4A because they were making some magazine on the wall for Father's Day that they hadn't finished (which is about right for the average school day too). Eventually, after emergency battery purchases, the ceremony began using a standard twin cassette player. First the tiny primary kids did a dance dressed up as different professions. Then the older primary students did the 'dance of ... read more