| 2/22: Ollytaytambo, Pisac, and water balloons |
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| Written by Josh Seamon | |
| Monday, 23 February 2009 | |
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Hello everyone, Yes another wonderful day in Peru. I woke up early to attend Mass with Karen and two students. We walked to the city square in the bright sun and found a place to stand in the packed cathedral. The service was a great experience and on the way back we got a second dose of the clear, cool morning. The entire group met up at 8:45 and by 9 we were on the road with our tour guide Ronado. Our route took us out of the valley, up several switchbacks, which gave us an expansive view of Cuzco. We got the see the surrounding settlements on our 1.5 hour trip to Ollytaytambo. The mountains were all electric green and every single one of them was covered with terrace lines from centuries of farming. We stopped a couple times in prime picture areas and took in the cloud filled valleys. We also spotted the tops of a couple glaciers! We arrived at Ollytaytambo and after gathering water and lathering on some extra sun block, we started our climb up the steps of the ruins. Ronado gave us a fantastic tour and we made frequent stops so he could explain what we were seeing. We saw many Inca walls with more perfectly fitted together stones. The flowers were all in bloom and we could see for miles. We walked over some high walk ways, saw huge carved stones, and went back down into the valley. A local girl sang to us on the bus and before leaving town we stopped to walk around an original Inca road/alleyway that is still in active use. A short ride later we stopped for lunch at a completely surreal restaurant. It consisted of three huts that had seating for ~25 at lots of tables. It was a buffet lunch of local food and the huts were bordered by a large grassy area complete with a red Macaw and a couple alpacas. We filled up on alot of great local food and then got back on the bus. After about a mile we came to one of many speed bumps and while slowing down our bus was pelted with water balloons thrown by kids having fun the day after the big carnival night. The little windows were open on the bus so we all got a little wet. It was a pretty amusing situation. On the road to Pisac we were hit many more times with water. We arrived in Pisac about 45 minutes later and the place was very busy. The market was expansive yet very contained. We walked to the main square where there was a bunch of dancing and then the kids spread out to do a little shopping. I ate some wonderful local bread made in a massive wood oven and looked over many stalls of goods. We then gathered up our animate students and headed out. On the way back we got a little rain, the same amount of light rain we had seen early while in the bus. We have still yet to be rained on while outside! On the ride back we saw some more celebratory dancing -- the time it was a group of women dancing around a tree in a dance that involves cutting down the tree slowly with one axe. I found out that for that one tree they cut, they plant 10. We got back to the hotel smoothly after traveling back down the scenic route. We rested for a bit and then walked to dinner at another fabulous restaurant. This one was filled with gorgeous painting and had an ornate ceiling. We had noodle soup and then alpaca steaks, which we didn't tell the kids about until after they had ate them. They really liked them -- well, all except for our two vegetarians who are eating very well. A short walk later we were back at the hotel and the kids went straight to sleep. We have a 2:30am wake up call tomorrow followed by a 3:30am trip to the train station... where we'll be catching a train to Machu Picchu. We have a very busy next couple days and I don't know if we'll have internet access, so I might not be able to send another update out for a few days. Instead of attaching photos from now on I'll be uploading them to this Flickr gallery. Off to sleep, |
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