Sunday – 8/23

Morning in Cusco – beautiful and sunny. This is such a charming town. We will have more time on the far side of Machu Picchu to visit here. After our good breakfast, we left most of our luggage with the hotel and took our smaller bags for our 2 night outing. It felt good to not have so much stuff to lug! I went down a few minutes early, left my bags, and walked around the square for a few minutes. It felt so good to just enjoy this place and thank God for this time.
At 8:30 Wilfredo and our driver Max picked us up and we headed out of the city, toward Machu Picchu. It was Sunday and we first stopped at the large statue of the Christo Blanco – the White Christ. It was a nice stop for that day and we prayed together briefly.
Back in the van and off to our first Incan site for the day – Pisac. Here the Incas had terraced into the mountain side for places to grow plants to provide food. But the question I keep asking myself is how did someone look at a steep rocky mountain and say – This would make a great place for a temple, a town, and terraces. Of course it will only take massive amounts of work to break and work the stone, build the homes, level the terraces and build support walls!
It’s unbelievable! Of course the views are spectacular.
After prowling around there a bit, Wilfredo took us to the little town of Pisac to visit the market. Well – this was the market we had been waiting for! Many little booths and shops with good quality items so we had fun! Then the shops opened out into a square area just filled with vegetables, fruit, the most colorful spices ever, meat, (yep, out there in all its raw glory!) grains. It was so vibrant. It would have been nice to stay there longer but we needed to get to lunch. Our drive took us to a nice restaurant that totally caters to the tourists. Have I mentioned that we are really now major tourists among many, many others. This is a very popular place – people from all over the world! The lunch was a buffet so that was great for feeding a crowd. Good food and a lot of variety.
After lunch we headed to another site – Ollantaytambo. Try saying that! It was another place for growing but also there were many granary buildings to store the crops. There were quite a few steps up to the various levels so we huffed and puffed our way up. Now I know how the Big Bad Wolf felt at the third little pig’s house! Everything is stone, although the roofs would have been thatched back in the day. At this location, the Incas had been able to withstand a Spanish attack since they controlled the high ground. The planning and building boggles the mind.
We then had to say goodbye to Wilfredo. He has been another in the line of great guides we have had on this trip.
We boarded a train which would take us to Aguas Calientes, the town from which one leaves for Machu Picchu. I love trains! No security checks, plenty of legroom, relaxing motion and often great scenery. That was the case here. We traveled about an hour and forty minutes along a rushing stream with the largest boulders in it. Through the narrow valley between huge cliffs – it was beautiful and restful after a full day. We even had free snacks and drinks!
We arrived at the train station in Aguas Calientes after dark and unloaded with all the other passengers. – a train full of tourists all looking for the person holding up the name of their hotel. It was rather chaotic but we found our man. He put a couple of our bags on a cart and shepherded us all to our hotel – uphill of course! Luckily it was only a couple of blocks and just a lovely hotel. After checking in, a nice young man led us UP some stairs to our rooms. As he opened our door, I went bombing in to drop my stuff on the bed. “Jill!” Sandy was pointing to a very large black spider just above my head on the window overhang! We immediately called for help, checked our beds, and of course took a picture! Someone came quickly and swept the spider into a dustpan. I made sure he was actually in there!
Sandy and I were happy to unwind in our room a bit and then we met Alice and Kathy for dinner.
Our meals our provided with our hotel so that is nice. The food is included in our room price, so we only pay for drinks but at about $3 a bottle it adds up a bit! This is definitely a tourist area and the most is made of that fact!
While at dinner, our guide for tomorrow showed up, Uber. All I will say is that he is most emphatically not a George or a Wilfredo! We were told to meet at 7:30 in the lobby and to be sure to be prompt.
After dinner, back to our rooms and another early bedtime! We are all enjoying the slightly slower pace of this time. I wouldn’t trade the Bolivia time for anything – that was the heart of this time – and this is just added blessing. So many blessings! How good is God!