Peru: Day Six - Part Two

After Ollantaytambo, we stopped for lunch at a mostly outdoor buffet. The food was in a building with open doors all around, and the tables were in gazebos. We had a good time chatting with the other members of the group. They all talked about how exhausted they'd been their first days in Peru because of the altitude. Bergs and I were pretty proud of ourselves for not being affected. We attributed this, of course, to Utah's high elevation.

After lunch, which also involved seeing a wild macaw in a tree (that was quite awesome), we moved on to Chinchero (Wikipedia's article was not really worth linking). The interesting thing about Chinchero is that the Spanish built their town right on top of the Inca city. The stone Inca walls all lean in, which made them more earthquake resistant, and the Spanish walls on top are straight and white.

There's not much else to say about Chinchero, so cue the pictures!

Those last two pictures are a passion fruit tree growing on top of a cherry tree, and some delicious Peruvian chocolate.

After Chinchero, we went down the road (probably still Chinchero, really) to see a silver jewelry making demonstration and a yarns dying demonstration. I didn't get any pictures from the silver place, but I did of the dying. The women who dye these yarns pass their knowledge down from generation to generation, as many of them cannot read or write. They know exactly how various additions to the dye will change the color. It really was amazing. Fun fact: their shoes are made of recycled tires.

After the demonstration, we headed back to Cusco, being entertained by a pan pipe player the tour bus picked up. Bergs and I bought his CD of various covers being played by a pan pipe with accompaniment.

We arrived at the hotel and checked into our room, and I ran around, all excited by the fanciness of the hotel. It was even fancy based on American standards. Tiny cookies on the nightstand between the beds, a space heater, fancy folded toilet paper, A TOILET SEAT! I topped the night off by taking a nice HOT shower. A pretty great day, all in all.