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Published: June 23rd 2015
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Hi All,
We woke up nice an early to make sure our bags were packed and weighed the right amount, and that all the essentials were in there!! We could have as much as we wanted in our day bag but we knew we would have to lug it around for the whole 5 days coming up!!
Our first surprise was the amazing breakfast, it was ‘son gratis’ which means free, it was so good with so many options eggs, cereals, pasta, etc…
There were two groups heading out, one was for the Inca trail and the other for the Lares trail. For some reason they mixed up the groups for this first day; as we were all doing the same tour and ending in the same hotel!! (Bad start in my eyes).
Our first stop was to the large marble Christ on the top of the mountain range overlooking Cusco, it was very impressive, a small version of Christ the redeemer in Rio. The guide explained all the different areas of Cusco looking down on it from up high, and also the buildings and where the old ones
are and their history.
Our next stop was to a stop at the Planeterra-supported women's weaving co-op. Here they showed us how they made scarfs, tops, gloves and anything woolen from scratch, from shaving the Alpaca/Llamas to cleaning and dying the wool, to spinning it, to weaving in the patterns and using the looms. It was amazing to see how much they did, including using their own urine to get a certain colour. The community was very friendly.
Next we headed to the ruins of an important old Inca site Pisca, here we walked up to 3,600 meters above sea level where our guide explained that it was used for administrative use. He also explained the terraced lay out to grow crops and how each level was different to grow different vegetables, herbs or fruit. There was a cliff behind it where they buried their dead this was interesting as they only buried heads in some parts and you could still see them, the other grave had been robbed by locals years back which was sad.
We stopped off for lunch in a restaurant on the way to our next site
in Huchuy Qosco, it was a planeterra G-adventures supported Parwa community restaurant, here we were spoilt with an amazing 5 course lunch, all of the food was tasty and all local Peruvian food.
We finished the day exploring the Ollantaytambo ruins with our guide. He explained to us about the site and showed us maps of the old Inca territories and how the Spanish came and conquered them. The site is very impressive and was unfinished as they found stones, which had been left all around- carved but never fitted, this shows that it was still under construction when the Spanish turned up. It was very sad to see how the Spanish defaced all the wall carving as they pushed religion onto the surviving Incas!!
After the last ruin we were taken to our hotel for the night. It was nice and clean and close to the town, Vick and I had a private room like everyone else did, but it was nice for a change from the dorms. We all settled in before heading out for a group dinner before the trek the next day.
Dinner was good, it was
in the Station restaurant, the guide picked it as I think he gets a kick back, it was a bit expensive really!! Food was ok, Vick had trout crevice, which was amazing.
We wandered the markets after dinner for a while before heading back to the hostel to get in our sleep before the big hike the next day!!
Love N&V X
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