Sacred Valley

We were picked up by our guide Nancy who stayed with us for the day for the Sacred Valley tour.  It was just our group which was nice because we all seem to get along quite well.  The people have really made this tour even better. 

changing money in the bus

Our first stop was a project sponsored by GAP (the company we are traveling with).  It was started to economically help specifically the women of the village.  It was small but had a great spirit.  They walked us through the different types of wool (sheep, alpaca, llama, and baby alpaca).  It seemed that everyone was spinning wool while we looked around at their items they had for sale. We saw a woman boiling some of the spun wool for the dying process.  Of course, they used all natural products to create the colors, very cool.  The balls of colored yarn were so vivid.  They had a big loom weaving a blanket too.  It was nice to see the entire process because you see the wonderful items at markets, but it was neat to see them make the items we were all buying in preparation of the Inca Trail.  I must say though.  It was not just the weaving projects that caught our attention.  As many of you know, Jana is really intrigued by our elders.  There was a man that was over a hundred years old sitting outside and more than willing to have his picture made with you (of course for a few soles).  Also, Layton played football (soccer) with some of the smaller boys in the village.  They loved it.  Finally, a quick story about the lady boiling the water for the dye had a baby in her blanket on her back.  None of the group knew it.  We were all quite surprised when we heard it start to cry.  It seems everyone carries their babies in a blanket on their back until they learn to walk! 

GAP sponsored village

The scenery around the Sacred Valley is amazing because it is an agriculture valley supported by Urubamba river.  We basically followed the river all day long and stopped by different villages and towns.  You can see in the pics that the weather changes frequently.  Sometimes, there is full sun and other times it is heavily overcast.  The valley is lush with vegetation. 

Most of the farm land is filled with corn.  The corn is HUGE though.  The kernels remind us of corn nuts that you can buy or even hominy.  They use corn for many things.  You can buy ears of it in the markets.  They boil it and serve it in the husk and many of the locals love to have a side of queso (some kind of white cheese) and chile (has a distinctive cilantro taste to it).  They don't really bite it off the ear the way we do either rather, they pic off kernels one by one.  Of course, every culture has found out how to make an alcoholic beverage from their   hard labor.  The Peruvians make chicha, which is fermented corn juice (basically).  We went to a chicheria (local pub) to see how they make it.  Couple of interesting facts:

weaving village

Chicha is about 3% alcohol. A serving of chicha is typically a 32 oz glass.  There are two kinds: one that is pure corn and the other they ferment some other fruit juices with it.  Layton and I both liked each kind. Chicherias have a game called Sopa (Toad in Spanish) that is sort of like pitching washers (for those of you who know what that is).  You chunk heavy coins onto a table like structure and hope your coins go in the holes where you gain values.   

We visited a market in Pisac.  ALL the vendors sell very similar items made of wool, pottery and some silver jewelry.  Oh and of course they have food products too which included raw meats out on a table as well as some wonderful vegetables.  One of Jana's favorite items was a little bitty parka that looked like it should fit a baby doll or a small baby.  Just to give you an idea of prices:

dying the yarn

Traditional hat that covers your ears with tassels = 9 soles (The original price was 10 soles, but Layton bartered and got a whole soles off which is the equivalent of .33!)

Gloves = 5 soles ($1.67)

Basic Scarf = 10 - 15 soles (Jana bartered for 9 soles as well.)

We ended our day in Ollataytambo which was a small village that still has people living in the actual structures that the Incas built back in the 1400s (it is just a few kilometers from the start of the Inca Trail).  One of the things that was really interesting was their intricate drainage and irrigation system in the town itself, it was very elaborate.  There were some ruins to visit in this town which was a nice warm up for the Inca Trail.  This village was very westernized though and many places served wood fire pizzas. 

Oldest man in the village

Pictures are to come...  (need Java on a computer for our blog site or else it takes hours to load them, and it´s been a bit difficult finding one...)

large weaving project

wonderful balls of yarn

Sacred Valley

Llamas and Alpaca, can you tell the diff?

boys playing soccer

more fun!

Scenic pic of Sacred Valley

this is ALL corn in the valley

Rio Urabamaba

sorry, another one!

(we are smiling) it was just really pretty

can you see the holes? they are tombs

more tombs, this was a large cemetery

see the little parka...so cute

corn, queso and chile

random parrot

sapo game at chicaria

layton having his try

large corn to make chica

two kinds of chicha

bartender!!!

dinner anyone!?

can you see a face in the mountain?

Ollataytambo mountian and town

part of the ruins in Ollataytambo

the water system built in inca days

traditional inca streets

like the new hat!

cocoa leave and bag of cocoa tea

Oldest man in the village