Day 14: Cooking Class and Leaving Cusco

Today is my last day in Peru.  It has been a wonderful trip.  I started at the San Pedro Market today.  The design was from Eifel in France.

I could have stayed there all day, it was so interesting.  They even had shops for shamans selling all kinds of psychedelics.  There were also normal stalls.

Quinoa is everywhere.

There are supposedly 3,500 different varieties of potatoes in Peru.

I then went to a cooking school that was really fun.  Here I am making a Pisco Sour.

A sashimi style ceviche.

And a quinoa risotto.

I am flying out in a few hours.  I have really come to love the Andes.

Good-bye Peru.

Day 13: Southern Valley of Cusco

Today we headed out to a valley in southern Cusco.  We stopped at a charming little town and farming village called  Andayualillas.

This is a close up of one of the trees in the town square.  That is not moss hanging but a type of bromeliad.  It does no harm to the tree.

This was obviously an Inca town.  This building is pure Inca.

There is a pretty amazing church in this town--St. Peter's.  It is painted everywhere.

Even all the ceilings.

Apparently this church has gotten really popular for weddings, which is good for the town's economy.  People drive the hour from Cusco to be married here.

Next we went to a huge archeological site called Pikillacta.  This was home to the Wari People who were on the scene before the Incas.  It's obvious that the Inca's borrowed a lot from them.

They didn't have the finesse of the Inca stone work, but many of their structures are standing today despite horrible earthquakes.

Archeologists think these shorter posts at regular intervals are what kept the walls standing.

The inside of their buildings were covered with clay and then gypsum was used as a plaster.  No telling if there were paintings, but their pottery is pretty intricate.

This lake is very close to the Wari ruins.  We had a wonderful picnic there.

The Inca presence is all over Cusco.  This is part of the street that goes from the plaza to my hotel

One more day in Cusco and then home.

Day 12: Cusco

Cusco is a very lively city with really narrow streets. I'm loving the little boutique hotel I'm staying at. Here's a view from the hotel terrace.

The hotel is next to the government music school.  When I'm out in the courtyard I can hear students practicing.  It's pretty cool.

This street is on my way up to the hotel from the main plaza.  It's 3 short blocks.  Very convenient, but very steep.

On the way out to Saqsaywaman ruins we came across a procession with the carrying of the virgin. They have so many virgins here, not sure which one it was.

Saqsaywaman was the place of the last battle between the Incas and Spanish.  It was two complementary pyramids with very tall zig-zag walls.  They were three deep. 

We hiked up to the top.

All of the stones for this place were moved from a limestone quarry 8 miles away.

This guy was at the exit to the parking lot.  My first alpaca.

We then went to the Santo Domingo convent.  It (like so many buildings in Cusco) was built on Inca temples or buildings.  The stone work (with no mortar) is amazing.

We then went to the Cusco Cathedral.

This is a great example of the Cusco School (of art).  The Spanish taught the Inca to paint and they always put something local into the paintings.  Here's the last super with a guinea pig in the center.

I walked down to the main plaza and ate at Limo--a Japanese/Peruvian restaurant.  The food was awesome and so were the views of the plaza.

Another great day!

Day 11: Machu Picchu to Cusco

Today was a long, but good day.  I got up at 6:00 AM and walked up behind the hotel.  There wasn't exactly a sunrise, but I was able to see Machu Picchu from the hotel.  Pretty amazing.

On the same trail were flowers and birds.

I then took the train from Machu Picchu to Aquas Calientes. This was the weirdest train trip I have ever been on.  First there was a clown from some festival in Cusco.  There was music and he was dancing with the passengers.

As if that wasn't weird enough there was a fashion show of alpaca and vicuna items modeled by the folks that gave us our drinks and snacks.

I was picked up in Aguas Calientes and we went to Piuray Lake.  We went to family's home that prepared a Pachamanca.  This is a traditional way of cooking in the Andes in an oven of hot stones.  Layers of veggies, potatoes, meat, fruit and corn are carefully placed in the oven.  All the food was laid out by the oven.

The rocks were on a grate with wood underneath that had been burning for hours.  They shoveled out all of the coals.

After that they took the rocks off so they could get rid of the grate.

This is what the oven looked like with every thing out.

Then they put the rocks back in and started layering the food and putting rocks on the side.

They then covered it with wet paper and cloth and then dirt and left it to cook for 45 minutes.

We then took a bottle of beer and poured it on the Pachamanca giving thanks to different things.  The patriarch blessed the mountains and some other stuff I didn't understand in Spanish.  Then he handed me the bottle and I blessed all my friends and family and the world (stuff I could say in espanol.

Then the big reveal.

Quite a day!