Woke up this morning in our beautiful hotel Casa Andina with the shakes !!! These tablets are slowly killing me I think ! Have now reduced the dose to 1/3 tablet twice a day..and hope things improve, still have the tingles and aches..But soldiering on. Peter was a bit crook this morning ..Yay at last he is feeling something ! I am sure he was thinking everyone was faking it..lol At breakfast everyone else seemed to have improved except Julie.Today we took the bus back to the small town of Ollantaytambo and visited a local house in one of the narrow laneways.. We stepped into a small courtyard which had about 6 rooms built around it. We went into one and it was full of Guinea pigs !! hundreds of the little suckers. Freddy was feeding them and they were going crazy.. The locals eat guinea pigs I was thinking to myself that these people must own a restaurant as there supply was huge. They had a fire going inside and the smoke was disgusting..they had a little stall set up at one end for tourists to buy stuff. Natalie bought some lovely socks, I would hate to smell them when she gets home... The walls of this room were covered in sacrifices.. a whole baby llama, llama foetus's birds, skulls ( I think it was Grandmas scull as it had a protruding jaw) and Pop was right beside.. Pretty damn freaky I say. Imagine living with them every day ...
From there we beat off the women in the square flogging their wares and got on the bus and went to the edge of the town to see the Inca ruins there . Some of us climbed up to the top and the view was amazing..looking down the whole Valley. At the top Freddy pointed out where the quarry was (On the other side of the Valley) these guys moved these giant slabs of rock about 3 miles or more then somehow got them up the side of a mountain using a ramp. Some of the rocks were moved using a slope made from smaller rocks, when fitting them together they were sanded back until smooth then greased up and slid into position for a perfect fit..Totally awesome their skill. Makes me wonder what they could have acheived with the equipment available today.
On the way down we ran into a Rabbitoh supporter so I had a wee dig at her..She did tell me she was rooting for the Storm in the Grand Final..Speaking of Grand Finals ..Sydney beat hawthorn last night...Poor David Muller must be gutted !!
Fernando didnt climb the ruins but stayed at the bottom with the others, he didnt bring his hat so borrowed one from Angelique..a lovely one with a floppy brim and flowers, he looked so funny. But I guess up here you can wear anything .
After the ruins we drove for 2 hours back to Cusco. Stopping at the Alpacca factory. What wonderful clothing they make. I bought 2 scarves and Peter, after trying on 50 jumpers, managed to find one that "didnt grab him under the arms"..sook , worse that a girl I say. Lulu got a new jumper and was so excited by it she wore it out of the shop.
We checked into the Novotel Hotel in the downtown area, 2 blocks from the town square. lovely hotel with a huge Atrium in the middle.
Cusco is a world heritage site and has lots of little narrow streets and alleyways all paved with stone and very beautiful. The town square has a massive cathedral and another church and the rest is made up of shops..they are all looking the same as the facade around is all archways like the "Temple of the Sun"..We found a KFC and a Mcdonalds around the square. Amazing how far Ronald has got. We wandered around and looked at all the shops but ended up back at the hotel knackered. We tried printing our boarding passes but I got mine but we couldnt get Peters. fernando had a crack but failed as well.. Will have to try in Lima when we get in tomorrow. Its soooo frustrating. Dinner tonight was down at the Square in a local restaurant. we were entertained by a local band and some traditional dances...just what us tourists love .....
Lima tomorrow..