This past weekend I got to go to one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Like, they took a vote. Everyone on Earth said that Machu Picchu is one of the top 7 most incredible places on our planet. So, I mean, I guess it was a good weekend.
Our plane left Lima at 8 am which meant we had a meeting time of 5:30. Ugh. No, it wasn't that bad. Cusco has an altitude of roughly 11,000 ft above sea level. Altitude sickness is a real thing. We took lots of precautions, like drinking plenty of water, avoiding sweets, alcohol, spicy, and caffeine the night before, getting lots of sleep, etc. So no one got very sick. I had a headache the first day, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Anthony Bourdain had to get an oxygen tank on No Reservations, and he's a professional traveller.
Anyways, we landed in Cusco and the people at the airport must have thought they were really funny because they made the ramp from the plane to the airport really steep. I couldn't tell if I was experiencing the altitude right away, or the ramp was really steep. I figured out it was the ramp, but by then I was out of breath. Sneaky, sneaky. Also, there was a McDonald's billboard that said Bienvenidos a Cusco on one side and Welcome to Cusco on the other. It felt like home somehow. Actually, I was kind of disgusted.
In the parking lot, people were already trying to sell us souvenirs. They had bags, hats, dolls, all with the signature peruvian textile patterns. One guy was taking pictures of us with his fancy camera. I thought he was just a creep. Turns out he was more than a creep. He was a professional creep. He found our hotel on the last day (we stayed in 3 different hotels) and tried to sell us postcards with the pictures from the airport on them. We have no idea how he found us.
So we met our wonderful guides, Rudy and Carlos, got on buses and drove through the Sacred Valley. Our first stop was in Chinchero at La Casa de Nely. Nely showed us how they spin yarn from alpaca and sheep wool and then dye it with plants and bugs found in the Andes. It was really interesting. Nely is an indigenous Incan woman who speaks Quechua in the home, but she also speaks Spanish and English. I was impressed. Most people selling things there can speak some English, because most tourists speak English, but Nely gave her whole presentation in English. She then showed us how they weave the yarn and told us about the traditional dress. My favorite part was when she wrapped up a baby in a blanket and showed us how they carry their babies on their backs. The baby was too cute. After the demonstration we were invited to purchase things from the women. It was all really good stuff.
Our next stop in the valley was at a lunch buffet. They told us to eat light the first day, but then took us to a buffet. I think that was poor planning. I had two plates of food, one plate of desserts and we celebrated birthdays with a cake, so I had some of that, too. New foods encountered here include: alpaca meat (I would have thought it was tough beef if no one had told me otherwise), ensalada de trigo which is a wheat salad (oat-type things with onions and peppers), lots of different potatoes, maybe quinoa (they didn't tell us everything), and mate de coca. Coca is a really important plant in the Andes. It is most famous for its role in the production of cocaine, but it has plenty of other uses. Coca has 65% more calcium than milk. When archaeologists were studying bones found at Machu Picchu, they noticed that none of the skeletons had signs of osteoporosis. They thought this was odd, and studied their diet, finding that coca is one incredibly healthy addition to your daily meal plan. It also gives you a boost of energy. For this reason, they sell coca tea, coca candy, and dried coca leaves at all the touristy and non-touristy shops to help ease the effects of the altitude. It really does help. I had 3 cups of coca tea my first day. I totally survived.
Finally, we made it to our final destination, day one: Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is one of the major archaeological sites in the Sacred Valley. It is also one of the three Incan cities where a major battle was fought against the Spanish. Today, it is the oldest "living" Incan city. Most of the roads in Ollantaytambo are the original Incan roads. Many of the existing buildings in the city are built upon Incan foundations. It's really cool. There is an irrigation system where all the rainwater runs through a sort of gutter in the streets. It's just really cool. Believe me.
In Quechua, "tambo" means resting place. Ollantaytambo is one of the major stops along the Incan Trail. The Incan trail was used by messengers to carry news throughout the empire. These messengers didn't just walk or ride llamas or horses. They ran. It was sort of a long distance relay, with many tambos along the way. Ollantaytambo is one of the four larger resting places in the empire. There are farming terraces and a temple that was destroyed by the Spanish fathers. It's a really beautiful place, with mountains all around. It is also slightly lower than Cusco at 8-9,000 ft above sea level. So that helped.
We toured the ruins there and then checked into our hotel. The hotel had llamas. When we were going to our rooms, the guy showing us where to go made sure we knew where the llamas were. There was a mom, dad, and baby llama. Llamas never seem like they are okay with you being near them. I generally feel uncomfortable around llamas.
For dinner, some of us decided ice cream would be enough. We went to a little place and tried most of the flavors. I got chicha morada flavored ice cream, which is a beverage I mentioned in one of my earlier posts (it looks like grape juice but tastes like Christmas). Then we walked around and shopped a little. We stopped at a little restaurant because a couple girls were hungry and I got jugo de piña (pineapple juice). It was good. I think pineapple juice might be one of my favorite things ever. We ended up going to bed at like 8:30 or 9. It's okay because The Princess Diaries was on Disney Channel in Spanish.
I think I'm going to do a different post for each day since this feels really long. Stay tuned for next time on "Amanda's Adventures in Cusco!!!"
PS One of my other favorite Peru things is cereal with yogurt instead of milk. The cereal doesn't get soggy as quickly and it makes healthy cereal (like plain corn flakes) taste better. I will never think about yogurt or cereal the same way again.
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