Back to Cusco

So the next day (Sept. 23rd), we had a private guide take us to the Sunday market at Pisac, lunch in the Sacred Valley, and the ruins of Ollentaytambo.

 

One view of the Sacred Valley, on our way to the Pisac market.

 

There are two different sections of the market at Pisac. One is the part that sells mostly souvenirs (woven blankets, flutes, pottery, dolls, etc), and the other part is more for the locals, where they buy their food, clothing, and medicinal herbs.

These two photos were taken in the section for the locals. These pictures don't do justice to how colorful and lively it all was.

 

These are two postcards of local Quechua woman that I enjoyed. In the first one, you can see their traditional way of carrying their children on their backs (which I tried with Faith and she laughed hysterically during it). The second shows a woman nursing her baby (if you're squimish about things of that nature, close your eyes and scroll by it fast. Can't say I didn't warn you) :) Breastfeeding has a real importance and respect in Peru; it was very common to see women nursing openly in public, and extended nursing (involving children as much as 2 years old or more) was the norm.

 

Once into the section for tourists, we bought some fresh empanadas to munch on, and our guide showed us this pen full of guinea pigs. They're considered a delicacy in Peru (called "cuy" in restaurants). Corey tried cuy for dinner later that night, and didn't really like it.


 

This is the weekly gathering of community leaders. Each village would send a leader to Pisac as a representative, and they traditionally get together and discuss local issues. We took this picture during their opening ceremony.




 

After the market, we headed to the ruins of Ollentaytambo. Legend has it that Ollenta was a man having a forbidden relationship with the king's daughter, and when the king found out, he shipped Ollenta out to "defend" the farthest edge of the empire, which at the time was the site which is now called Ollentaytambo. At least, that's the way the legend goes.

After all that hiking the day before, we were pretty sore this day, but then we had to climb up a ton of steps at these ruins too.

The first picture is of us, at the top of the ruins, and the second picture is of the sacred fountains used as ritual baths.


 

After seeing all these wonderful sites, we returned to Cusco for the night, where we enjoyed eating dinner in a restaurant built with parts of an Inca wall, with a live performance by local musicians of traditional Quechua music.

The next day (Sept. 24th), we flew back into Lima, spent a day there organizing our stuff, and getting ready for the second part of our trip. On Sept. 25th, we flew into Iquitos to begin our adventure into the rainforest.