We had the alarm set for 6:30 and as Dave was coming down, Bligh was already coming out of the shower. With Oswaldo coming to pick us up at 8:30, we would have a busy two hours: getting everyone showered, breakfast, final packing of three sets of bags (one left with the hotel, one the porters would carry and our personal knapsacks) and checking out of the hotel.
We got it all done, because we were ready to walk out the door when Oswaldo and Walter arrived. We had to carry our bags down several blocks to where the van was parked. The drive up and out of the city was really great, looking back down a couple thousand feet onto Cusco.
Once clear of city and urban surroundings, we got our first up-close views of the beautifully terraced mountains and some recently excavated Inca ruins (in the last seven years). We were all constantly marveling at the incredible scenery.
Our first stop was Awana Cancha. This is a nonprofit coop set up many years ago for the express purpose of preserving the cultural heritage of weaving that had spanned centuries. Even before entering you see alpacas, vicuña and llama grazing on the steep stepped hillside above the complex.
Once inside, we toured the museum which traced the evolution of today’s alpaca, vicuña and llama. There were actual ancient cave drawings showing the interaction of people and the animals. The progression continued into the dying and weaving of the wool. Very good introduction before entering the actual working coop.
We were able to feed alpaca, vicuña and llama. We watched a woman dying the wool with all natural materials while it simmered over a wood-burning pit. From the finished wool, there were four weavers creating beautiful scarves. Oswaldo indicated that a 1x4 foot piece would take a weaver several months, working three hours a day.
After observing and learning about the process, we headed to the coop’s gift shop. It was filled with incredibly beautiful things from large tapestries to pairs of socks. Brennan got a hand woven alpaca bracelet and Sue a cool alpaca hat.
The drive to Pisaq afforded beautiful views of the Sacred Valley. We were scrambling to try to take pictures from the moving van windows when Walter pulled off at a mirador.
We drove through the Town of Pisaq on the way to the Pisaq Ruins. The ruins are impressive and set in a magnificent landscape. We walked to the more remote ruins while many bus loads of tourists made their way to the closer ones. Oswaldo pointed out the difference between the rough construction of the "normal" buildings, and the larger, more polished stones with minuscule seams (and no mortar) for the kings/queens and temples.
One of the most impressive buildings in the complex was the round Sun Temple. The symbol for lightening was used a lot in Inca buildings because it represents life (rain brings life) and death (kills, fires).
Another interesting fact we learned was that pre-Incan people (Poqis) lived together with the Incans but they had to learn their language and honor the Sun god. One of the ruins was actually a mix of pre-Inca and Inca architecture.
The close up views of the terraces used by the Incas for farming was amazing. They also built ladders to go up and down the terraces.
There were also burial “holes” that could be seen in the sides of the mountains. Only one person would be buried in each cave.
It rained a little at the top of the ruins, but the sun broke out just as we finished our last climb to the van.
The Pisaq market was broken into two areas — a tourist market and local market. Both were great. Brennan bought a unique woven tie with a hummingbird and Dave got a woven bracelet. Oswaldo praised the quality of many of the woven items, especially a Vicuña blanket where Dave bought his bracelet.
Sue was still looking at hats and Bligh was looking for shawl/poncho. Oswaldo took us to a pricey store with very good quality, but a shawl on sale was $325!!!
The bustling local market was eye popping with colorful fruits, vegetables, flowers, dyes, and food. There were lots of vendors who had their little children with them. We saw some of the biggest squash and cabbages we had ever seen. Oswaldo pointed out that the Cusco region has over 400 types of potatoes and Peru over 3,000.
We got back in the van and drove for quite a long time to Urubamba where we had a nice buffet lunch. The place caters to tourists, but is nicely set up with good food and a flute playing musician who added a little ambience. They had many desserts (maybe too many!) but the best one was Picarón (Peru donuts made fresh from sweet potatoes and squash) with honey for dipping.
Our hotel was also in Urubamba but Walter was not familiar with its location. Oswaldo called the hotel and we made our way down a narrow dirt road barely wide enough for the van.
We stopped at the gate and unloaded, but were very skeptical of this place until we walked through the gate, it opened up into a true oasis.
We were shown to our large room which had two queen beds and a single. It had a balcony overlooking the beautiful gardens in the courtyard. We were also given a scale so that we could weigh the porter bags (all close to the 7 kilos allowed).
We went down to the reception area to register and brought back some coca tea. We were debating if we should take a taxi back into the center of town, but Brennan wanted a nap and the rest of us decided to relax in the courtyard. (We were suppose to write blog entries but didn’t accomplish much.)
A local woman set up a market on the grass in front of our room and Bligh and Sue perused the goods. She was a sweet woman who spent her time smiling (and weaving). Bligh was hoping Brennan would wake up to look at her bracelets but she was all packed up by the time he awoke.
The surrounding views were spectacular and the grounds were fun to explore —we even found a stone maze to amuse ourselves!
We finally got Brennan up, reluctantly, and spent the rest of our evening in the dining room/lounge. We played Shanghai with only two decks of cards which was a little tricky. The staff built us a toasty fire and we met the cat who had the run of the place.
Since we ate such a large late lunch, we postponed having dinner until as late as possible. We ordered two medium pizzas and a quinoa salad. Even with the “always hungry” Brennan, we could not eat all of it. We left nearly a whole pizza and communicated to the staff that they could have it. They seemed pleased.
We were all very tired and wanted to get as much sleep as possible for our big trek the following day.
2025-02-12