Catch up on days 1 & 2
Catch up on day 3
Catch up on day 4
Catch up on day 5
Catch up on day 6

Day 7: Monday, May 30

After a hotel breakfast, a walk to the square to go to the ATM and exchange money, and a stop for water at the drugstore, we met Daniel and Juan outside the hotel around 9 to start a tour of the Sacred Valley. We had some confusion about which bags to take with us for the next couple of days (since we were staying in the Sacred Valley and hiking to Machu Picchu) and which bags we needed to leave at the hotel. We ended up bringing along two backpacks and a duffle bag, only to find out the next day we couldn’t leave the duffle bag on the train to be dropped off at our hotel.

Our first stop down the road was a llama farm. I thought it would be a tourist trap, but Daniel gave us a nice tour – showing us several different types of llamas and alpacas.

The best part, of course, was feeding them!

He (along with some ladies working on the farm) gave us a demonstration about how the yarn is naturally dyed, woven, and made into clothing and blankets.

It was interesting to learn the difference between the llama wool, the soft alpaca wool, and ultra-soft and expensive “first cut” of wool. Although there was a fancy shop with expensive items, there was no pressure to buy.

After that, we traveled on to the Pisaq market, where we were looking forward to exploring and having some time to buy souvenirs. I was disappointed that we were kind of herded around by Daniel. First we were taken to a “personal” demonstration at a jewelry store. After a whole spiel I wasn’t planning on buying anything, but I was really surprised by the inexpensive prices, so I did end up with a pair of pretty silver and mother-of-pearl leaf-shaped earrings for only about $30 USD. Then Daniel took us by an outdoor wood-fired grill and encouraged us to try empanadas. Being an animal lover, I was mortified that they had live guinea pigs in a cage that you could pick out and have roasted on the spot. I was a little leery of eating any meat cooked on the street (we saw and smelled the hot, rotting meat in the market), so we settled on sharing a cheese empanada. After that, he showed us around a bit more and gave us 10-15 minutes to shop on our own. I told Jerod that wasn’t nearly enough time, and I think we ended up taking closer to 20-30 minutes, practically running back to shops we’d seen along the way.

Next was the Pisaq ruins. We walked along the garden terraces (carved out by slaves) and learned all about Inca farming. I’m amazed by the diversity of fruits and vegetables grown in Peru – about four thousand varieties of potatoes, 55 varieties of corn, and most any other produce you can think of. A lot of the success is due to the elevation changes and different climates.

Daniel only gave us a few minutes to hike up to the top of the ruins and check out the dwellings. Researchers think that there were about 500 people living in the city, and that stones used to create the homes were covered in stucco, since they weren’t very smooth.

One other interesting thing to note – all along the mountainsides there were tons of terraces – even up to the very top – which the Incas built to prevent earthquake damage.

As you can imagine, the mountainous road was hilly and curvy – and the driving was pretty wild – which didn’t bode well with Jerod’s motion sickness. By the time we made it to our lunch stop (at 2:30 p.m.), Jerod didn’t feel well at all. We stopped at a touristy buffet, which was so-so, but pretty much empty since we got there so late.

Our final stop for the day was the crowded ruins of Ollantaytambo. The hillside was very windy and a little cooler.

We climbed the very steep steps, stopping periodically for Daniel to tell us about it. At the bottom was a village, along the middle were the farming terraces, and at the top was the sacred Temple of the Sun, which was never finished due to Spanish takeover. At the bottom of the mountain were beautiful fountains, divided for the middle class and the elite.

Interestingly, all of the stones (which were huge) came from another mountain with stronger rock, so the Incas had to build paths along the mountains to pull the stones. Once in location, they were carved to lock in place, and there were both inner and outer walls to withstand earthquakes – which they did!

On the opposite mountain, a face had been carved in the cliff, and there was significance about where the sun rose above the mountain during summer and winter solstice.

After a quick drive to our hotel situated right on the train tracks to Machu Picchu, we bid farewell to Daniel, and were guided through the beautiful hotel grounds to our room. The hotel’s gardens, the room itself, and the mountain view were all spectacular! We couldn’t help but sit and enjoy it for a bit.

We walked down to the city center and decided on a restaurant called Helping Hands Café, which was a restaurant raising money for local children with disabilities. For 72 sol ($22.50) we had Pisco sours and water, and Jerod had an alpaca burger, while I ordered the chicken chili burger. Having tried French fries several times in Peru, these were the first good ones we’d found. My burger also came with a delicious salad. It was one of my favorite meals of the trip!

Back at the hotel, we re-arranged our bags for the Machu Picchu hike so we could take everything we needed for the next two days in our backpacks. The next morning someone from our travel company met us at the hotel to take our duffle bag back to our Cusco hotel. He also gave us a briefing – completely in Spanish – so we caught very little of it! We trustingly handed over our bag, which luckily made it back to exactly the right place.