Flustered, late, where’s our guide? Should we be street side? Me at fault too early!
Beautiful weather amazing light. The day improved.
Our talented famous guide took us on a 22km bike ride from Chinchero down through farms and villages past Huaypo lake almost to the salt mines at Moras. (In 2011/2 he’d discovered 4 Incan mummies & worked with National Geographic to record the find.) Letting us use his bathroom we met his family's llamas & alpacas too; unexpected treat.
Cruising down, letting gravity do the work, rural Sunday morning flashed by. Energising! Real rural Peru. Architecture; farming; crops; costume; livestock; even a whole village on mandatory community service unblocking ditches in traditional dress. (Think the sight of la gringa on a bike made their day!) Seemed rude to stop for a photo, however I caught another group working earlier. Exciting! A real privilige, insight into their Sunday... all before morning mass.
Continuing to Moras Salinieras, the uniquely famous Andean salt mine, where pressurised underground salty water flows into ponds managed by a collective of local families. Using evaporation the salt is sun dried and harvested by hand during the dry season. Back breaking work! Fortunately the tourist dollar is shared amongst the collective. We bought some and also sampled chicha fermented corn drink. OK I guess, Simon liked it.
An amazing, just excellent, tasty, tented lunch awaited us outside complete with table and chairs right next to the Moray circular terraces our last visit for the day. Food delicious.
Viewing the terraces and hearing Incan history, cultural practices, terrace construction, farming techniques, and more, entertaining, really interesting...
Midnight curfew looms as Inca trail tomorrow! Cutting this short before the last noisy Inca-rail train departs!
Winding, narrow, scary return journey down a very steep track, fortunately trains absent whilst we traversed the rails! Skilled young driver.
Back safely. Viewing Guinea pigs, an organic farm, modern use of Incan terraces and sampling craft sugar cane spirits (not me… that face says it all; disgusting! Or as Simon says; Delicious); all part of the hotel complex.
Putting off packing, we celebrated an excellent day over coffee in the station cafe. I hadn’t yet seen the razzmatazz and send off when a train departs for Machu Picchu! What entertainment, what fun!
So, yelled at now to "Stop", "Go to sleep!"
No wifi on the Inca trail. No power! Good old fashioned diary with pen and paper.
Our room and amazing morning view of the surrounding mountains.
Drive up to Chinchero, to our guide's house to use the bathroom. His family keep llamas & alpacas, dying ,spinning the wool, ready to sell at markets along side the products they weave. His family great weavers!)
(School sign burnt and relaid each year by their graduating students, sacred valley custom; mandatory community service, ditch clearing; leaving sacred valley; more arid plateau Chinchero district)
Guide's backyard!
(Our guide greeting his flock; alpaca; his wife i traditional dress off to market(her hat denotes her home region); feeding them grass; llama; with llamas & alpacas)
Exhilarating 22km bike ride down past Huaypo lake, farming villages and a Jesuit church from 1600s
Maras Salt mine; salt mined by hand from saline under ground pressurised water flowing into ponds. Using evaporation salt is sun-dried, collected and bagged. Community run for 6months during the dry season; families applying to manage a set of ponds; back breaking work! Highest quality salt produced.
(Maras Salineras; Chicha fermented traditional corn drink; strawberry flavered it's a bit like wine!)
Our lunch picnic near Moray; a 3 course buffet complete with table and chairs! Delicious vegetarian local food with stuffed chicken for the carnivores! Enough for an army thankfully our guide and driver joined us!
Moray's circular terraces; an Incan experimental laboratory using microclimates to domesticate or find the best growing conditions. Partially reconstructed using original stones to stop further erosion . Originally the whole area was terraced however the Spanish plundered the stones for construction.
(First reconstructed circle;agricultural tool store; eroded terrace; drystone wall technique used; circle suffering from erosion, collapsed section's stones piled where they should be!
Our drive back down a very steep winding narrow track joining the train tracks to Cusco before meeting the urubamba river at Ollantaytamba
Walk through the ecological organic farm belonging to the hotel followed by coffee in their station cafe watching dancers perform as the Inca rail train departs for Machu Picchu.
Video to follow if technology back home allows.
We stayed at El Aubergue Ollantaytambo train station. Yep the hotel really is inside the station!
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