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Published: April 18th 2008
Lesmahagow To Peru - Day 12
Sunday 27th January 2008
Well, another early rise. I am amazed at how I am coping in the mornings, as I am most definitely NOT a morning person, but so far on the trip I have been bright and breezy and reasonably communicative. (In the main!) Our tour leader, bus and guide - Ruth, turned up on time, and after a small time collecting guests from a few other hotels, we were off on our adventure for the day.
Sunday is market day in the Sacred Valley, so we headed off to the village of Pisac. On route we stopped at one of the Kodak stops for a great view of the Valley and the Urubamba River. And our first encounter with the locals complete with outfits and llamas. It was fun. Although, the locals look completely terrified of me in the picture! I'm a nice person, honestly!
The market at Pisac was wonderful, and the colours were so vivid and bright. There was a procession from the church and the whole experience was just so memorable. And the shopping bargains. What can I say? A shoppers paradise. Who needs swanky,
The Church in Pisac
Taken just after the procession from the churchfancy haute couture, when you had this great choice of bright alpaca and baby alpaca clothing in the most amazing colours, and the jewellry was incredible.
After lunch we were taken to Ollantaytambo where we climbed the terraces of the Inca town, to the temple at the top - about 2800 mts above sea level here. It's amazing to see all these incredible ruins and remains and know that the civilisation that created all this, pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth, and not really all that long ago.
From Ollantaytambo we were taken to the village of Chinchero which is a small Andean Indian village located just over 3760 mts - high up on the plains of Anta and is about 30km from Cusco. The views from overlooking the Sacred Valley were incredible, and the snow-capped mountain peaks were all glistening in the afternoon sun. The Cordillera de Vilcabamba mountains dominating the skyline and the snow-capped peak of Mount Salccantay. The guide mentioned that Chinchero is believed to be the mythical birthplace of the rainbow.
We visited a weavers' centre and were shown how the wool is cleaned and dyed - all naturally. Quite
Pisac
At the market at Pisac - aren't the colours just amazing? incredible really. Chinchero is one of the highest villages in Peru, and this was the highest point we had all been throughout the whole trip. The kids in the street were really funny, and tried to talk one of us into buying one of their dolls - "You buy for wife?" "Don't have wife." "You buy for girlfriend?" "Don't have girlfriend." "You buy for mother?" "Don't have mother." "You buy for secretary?" - at which point I couldn't stop laughing. 4000 meters high up in the Andes and the locals are learning the english for secretary - says it all really.
Dinner tonight was in an authentic Peruvian restaurant complete with guinea pig and alpaca on the menu and live Incan/Indian music. Perfect end to a perfect day. Doesn't get much better than this.
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