Peru Day 2

It's now August 10th.  I didn't get much sleep.  The bed is hard and not very comfy.  Also, Diamox, the drug you take for altitude makes you pee.  I got up 3 or 4 times to pee.  Each time I felt like all the energy had been sucked out... you would think I would be able to sleep... nope!

Today, we are meeting our guide for the next couple days - Juan.  We will be doing a hike to help acclimate to the high altitude.

Our guide med us at 9am.  We hopped on a van/bus and off we went for our first destination:  Sacsayhuaman (almost sounds like sexy woman)- Inca ruins - just outside of Cusco.  It's a beautiful and interesting place.  This site is believed to have been the center (geographically) of the Incas.  We learned all sorts of information about the site, most of it is gone from my brain already.  I will have to read up on it when I get home. I do remember that it was a very important place - religious, bureaucracy, fortress type place.  you can see a Puma print, a Llama and a snake.  I also learned that the huge stones are the actual ruins - all the little stones are part of the restorations.


As we were touring and listening to Juan tell us all about this place, I could see a group of teenagers harassing a spider.  How do I know?  I could hear them, and could see them throwing a rock at it.  Who would ever think I would come to the rescue of a spider?  Not me that's for sure!  This is exactly what I did though!  I stomped towards the teens, told them off and told them to move away from the poor thing they had done enough harassing for one day.  I don't like spiders, but I can't watch idiots harassing a living creature.  It was a huge spider!  After the kid
s left, I didn't stick around for a photo... now I regret it! Oh well!

Today, we also visited 3 other Inca sites, learning all about each as we went along.  Every place was just as beautiful as the next - each with different reasons of being.  Each sites welcomes you with groups of women and children who either sell things or want a few soles to get their picture taken with you.  We of course took lots of photos!

The mountains at the back...

Cusco is surrounded by mountains.  It's quite spectacular!  We had a glimpse of where we will be heading.  I saw a glimpse because the mountain was in the clouds.  My first thought was oh shit! That is not going to be easy!




After our hike, we had a "picnic".  O.M.G.!!!  Unbelievable!  We drove down this tiny dirt road - switch back style of course.  We arrived to the most beautiful site!  A beautiful white tent set up with beautiful tables - like 5 star restaurant type set up!  This is no simple picnic!  No sandwiches at this picnic either!

We were treated to a 6 course meal - each plate looked like a work of art.  Again, I will let the photos speak for themselves.  There was bacon, alpaca, potatoes, corn, stuffed pepper, fancy drinks, banana bread, it went on and on!  To think the chef is self taught... incredible!  He sure is gifted in mixing foods and making them look unbelievably beautiful!  He makes his own bowl with stones, as he believes what the food is placed on is just as important as the food itself.  Wow... just wow!

After this most special lunch, we visited the old hacienda and off we went to the hotel to relax.  There will be no dinner needed tonight!  Peru really is a country for foodies!