Back to Cuzco again

Village weaver- Sacred Valley

Textile vendor- Olantaytambo

June 28^th

     My planned alarm wasn’t required as noisy trekkers departing for the Inca trail made enough racket to wake everyone by 6:30am. An early breakfast allowed us ample opportunity to explore the town centre.

Our 9:30 ride back to Cuzco arrived promptly at 10:50am. The driver was stuck on the road for over an hour due to a blockade of the road by striking teachers. If we had known that sooner we could have used our time to visit the Inca fortress above the town. At least we managed to take some photos from outside of the terraced platforms and outbuildings.

 The extra time also afforded a chance to review optional tours on Friday with our guide Luis.

  The route back to Cuzco was a shortcut avoiding much of yesterday’s route. It did provide a spectacular view of the Urubamba mountain range and its glaciers. The snow capped peaks stretch almost all the way from the town of the same name to Cuzco and the tallest are as high as 4,000 meters .

 After a brief and relatively cheap lunch of soup and quiche I managed to purchase bus tickets for the journey to Puno and Arequipa (Monday and Thursday), next week.

Terraces of Inca Fortress- Olantaytambo

 Capping off the afternoon was a visit to the Inca Museum which, for 10 soles ($4.00), was the best deal in town. With over 23 rooms of exhibits it was an interesting and informative way of spending 2 hours. Most of the signage was in Spanish only so reading the information cards took a little extra time.

 The temperature this afternoon was a balmy 25 degrees, but with the sun having set an hour ago the temp. is already down to the single digits.

Urubamba mountain range

 Dinner tonight was at a local restaurant which did not actually have a name posted outside. Their specialty was broasted chicken. When the plate appeared in front of me it was obvious I should have ordered the 1/8^th chicken instead of the ¼ chicken dinner. I think they used roasting chickens as opposed to fryers. Sadly the fries and rice were barely touched, although I did manage most of the chicken. The uphill walk home was a bit of a challenge with the extra weight on board, but I didn’t have any urge for a midnight snack before bed.