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!