I decided that I should try the Sacred Valley tour that SAS offered this morning. I got up early, got cleaned up and had a quick breakfast at the hotel coffee bar which was basically a continental breakfast except they would cook you eggs. Since I don't eat breakfast I mainly had a couple rolls and a lot of fruit plus some coffee and juice.
After breakfast I tried to go to the SAS office but they didn't open until 8am and it was still just 7:30. I did a couple wandering laps around town until it was sufficiently 8am and then headed back to the office where I purchased the tour for $15USD. I then waited a few minutes to be brought to the bus because the tour started at 8:30. The tour was an all day bus tour so I figured it would be a good way to get through a day.
The first stop was a small village that basically was a tourist stop to try to make people buy stuff at a small flea market. The stop was short and fairly unmemorable. I believe the name of the village was Ccorao. From there we traveled to the town of Pisac and saw the Inka ruins there. They don't know what the Inka name for Pisac was but the ruins were very impressive, sporting a farming terrace and a temple to the sun amongst other things. There was quite a bit of climbing and I found myself huffing in the thin air at any of the climbs. These ruins were very cool, but the rain storm that came in just about the time we got to the temple was kind of rough. There was a small thatched roof shelter that we all hid under for the 15 to 20 minutes it took to pass then continued the tour. The rain threatened again by the time we were heading back to the bus but it didn't start up until we were already riding again.
The next stop was the town of Urubamba where we had lunch. Apparently the different ways that people booked the tour got them different restaurants. Those that booked like I did pretty much got dropped off at the Inka House which had a buffet for 38 soles but it didn't look like what I wanted so I ordered off the menu. It was interesting trying to get this across with the tiniest amount of Spanish I know. I seem to always want to revert to my minimal French when trying to speak to someone in Spanish. It is an odd phenomenon. Anyway I had Pollo Champione which was a breast of chicken with a cream sauce that had ham and mushrooms. It was decent but maybe not 30 soles decent (that's about $10). They picked everyone up and we headed to the next stop.
Ollataytambo was a very impressive Inka ruins. There was probably more climbing than in Pisac but it was definitely worth it. The stay here had a small bit of drizzle and a lot of wind but I was very impressed with what I saw. The main purpose of this ruin may have been astronomical on the upper levels and the lower level was a tambo which is a storage point for provisions for travelers. The mountains across the valley had grain silos. The upper sections of the ruins appeared to have walls built for military protection. The guide told us the story of the giant rocks that were cut and moved from a mountain 7km away down ramp. They had to cross the Urubamba river and to do that they diverted the river with a canal, moved the rocks past where the river was and then rediverted the canal back to the river. Apparently because Ollataytambo was never finished the river still is diverted into their artificial canal. There are more stones that were in transit found along the way. This all is testament to what people can do without heavy machinery. As a note, the Spanish destroyed a lot of the carving in Ollataytambo because they were trying to convert the Inkas to Catholicism.
From Ollataytambo we again got on the bus and rode to our highest point in the tour. The village of Chinchero which was about 12000 feet altitude. This was a small village again mainly meant for tourist shops but they did show us a demonstration of how Inka textiles were made. It was interesting but the star of the show may have been the small child strapped to the woman's back as she ran the presentation. I am sure the children lovers out there would have loved it. After the presentation we had a small amount of free time and I visited the church which was impressively gaudy. I had to pay a sole for them to let me out though. From there we rode back for quite some time in the dark to Cusco. On the tour I met Hank, Orlando and Paul along with 2 Scots and the son's Dutch fiance. It was fun talking to all of them.
When we got back Orlando, Paul and I decided to get dinner together. They wanted to go to the Inka Grill which I had already gone to but said sure. We all decided to get cleaned up then meet at about 8:15 (the tour got back at 7). I was finished early so walked to the square where a sort of festival was going on. I watched them set off these crazy firework contraptions they had built, wondering how many people would go home injured. After about 15 minutes of that I met Paul and Orlando and we ate at the Inka grill. Orlando is Peruvian and married to Paul's sister. They picked some Peruvian style appetizers. Trout in a spicy citrus sauce. Beef heart skewers and a concoction of shrimp, avocado and mashed potatoes and we all tried those. I had the Aji de Gallina which is shredded chicken in cream sauce with leeks and rice on the side. It was good and I ate it but I totally forgot to take pictures of all the food. I tried a Cusqenia beer too. Was very Budweiser. From there we all headed our own ways and I basically crashed for the night.
To point I should mention a couple things I haven't. The plumbing in Peru is not so good so they tell you not to put paper in it. Instead you have to put it in a bin. Definitely different. So far I have had to buy all my water. I typically drink from hotel tap but it is better not to here. It means I have been drinking less water than I normally would. So far however I have not experienced anything like altitude sickness. I have a fairly good sunburn from the first two days here.
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