Day 8 was a little bit of a rough start due to my stomach problems overnight that were continuing through breakfast. I ate little in the morning and borrowed some drugs to help with such problems.
We headed out for the train at 8 and I got eaten alive in less than 5 minutes so I had to apply deet really quickly. The train left basically on time and our car was less than half full so we got to spread out rather than all be jammed together which would have been the case if it was full, probably banging knees with the person sitting across from you.
I think I slept through most of the ride until Ollantaytambo. That was the stop where Bill and Cindy and Steve and Kelly got off and we said goodbye. They were going to visit the area and probably stay the night. I am sure each of them had further things to do in Peru and they said so but my brain couldn't retain that much information about what they all were going to do next.
Brian and I rode a bit further to Pacha where we paid 15 soles each for a shuttle bus ride back to Cusco that took almost as long as the train ride. The driver was mostly insane and I had to hang on to the seat in front of me most of the way to keep from being tossed around. He also picked up some locals who didn't smell so good which added to the uncomfortable nature of the ride. Still 15 soles is about 5 bucks and I can't give too much of a complaint about a 5 dollar hour and a half bus ride where I didn't actually get maimed or die.
Brian and I parted at the end of that ride because he was flying out today. I basically got organized at my room and ran to the SAS office to take the city tour just barely in time to get included (the tour started at 1:30 and purchased my way in almost exactly at that time). The tour started with a visit to the Santo Domingo Convent which was built on top of the Inka ruins of Qorikancha. Our guide's name was Odelia and she had a very Indian spin on the tour which was more fun than just a standard explanation of things. She tried to make it seem like we were getting in on a secret rather than just the everyday stuff that is told. I think it worked for me pretty well.
From there we visited the cathedral which was as gaudy as I would expect from Latin influences. It had a lot of gold and such and was built from reclaimed Inka stones. They had to use mortar to build it though and it has been damaged in earthquakes due to its construction. There are some interesting things to see in there though. As I said, she was giving the Indian spin show she showed us all the things the Indians put into the church that were secret representations of their own religion mixed into the Catholic idols and decoration. It did make visiting another church more interesting than just seeing the basics.
Next up was the ruins of Sacsaywaman (it is easier to say it sexy woman) which was a really big site on the edge of town. There are some really gigantic stones here all cut from limestone a bit of a distance away. Some may have been cut into shape in place as well. It is impressive just to see the size of some of them. She explained to us about the 3 planes of life in Inkan religion, the upper, middle and lower. The Condor, the Puma and the Snake. Sort of Heaven, Earth and the Underworld (maybe not hell so much). You could see this aspect through many of the ruins (it was also seen in Machu Picchu by the way).
We followed that with Qenqo which was also very interesting. Qenqo was also very much an evidence of the 3 planes of existence in Inkan religion. They are still digging up most of the ruins in the region and though some are faily large there is yet more to see. Qenqo should have had a statue of a puma but the Catholic Spanish destroyed all the Puma idols they found because they did not like them as being against Catholic ideology.
Next up we looked at and she explained Puca Pucara which was an Inka hotel basically. People had to check in and check out if they stayed there on their travels and they were given food and shelter but they at least did not need to pay.
We then hit the last site which was the temple of water, Tambomachay, that had 3 fountains. It was a fairly brief stop but the fountains are run out of a natural spring and if you look at the wall above them you can see a hand shape pointing to the source built into the wall.
That was the last real stop but we also visited a textile factory on the way back into town and got a short lesson on spotting true baby alpaca wool sweaters as opposed to the fakes.
After the tour I took a brief stop at the hotel then got dinner at Papillon overlooking the main square. I had minute soup which was a noodle and ground beef soup and was good to start. Then I had the cuy which is South American Guinea pig. The skin had a musky odor that carried over to the taste which I couldn't continue eating and had to peel away. The flesh itself had a good flavor but it was a real fight to get what was there off the bones. There really wasn't that much there. It brought a literal meaning to the term, "All skin and bones." All in all I wasn't that impressed but Cusco is not really the right town to get it I am told. I followed up with a coffee and apple pie. The apple was shredded and I quite liked it. I finished off the night with some gift shopping. I found myself haggling over prices though the cost of things were about 10 bucks per tee shirt, much much less than anything I have bought in Europe. Still it is apparently the way you should do things. Never take their first price. All in all though I wasn't terrible fond of their organization (or lack thereof, most things were piled up without heed to size or pattern/color) and I didn't really buy all that much. I then headed in to get packed and get some sleep, which came quickly and it was morning before I knew it.
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