Peru Day 4- Cusco and surrounding sites Part 1

We woke up at a very sensible hour this morning and ate, like the sell outs that we are, at tables with cloths and actual metal cutlery.

M went to have a shower and was most confused by the 3 taps in his shower/tub. He deduced that it must be hot, cold and lukewarm. This proved NOT TO be the case and he made the rookie mistake of getting in to the shower in his full glory and being rewarded with a cold blast of water.

He quickly formed a new hypothesis that the third tap directed the water between the tub and shower. I would assume that he also learned a lesson about leaning in and only touching the running shower with your hand until the temperature has leveled out. Time will tell.

Today is a full day of touring around on a bus. We tried to get to the Sacred Valley but discovered that the rotating teacher strikes have the entrance that we tried to access blocked off.

As we climbed up the crazy winding hill, next to a cliff face, we passed a guy on a motorcycle. If I had been driving that thing and got passed by a bus I would have had to call a code brown. Only at the end of today did the guide mention this devastating bus crash that happened in Lima just a couple of weeks ago.

The race seems to be on to get there ahead of the approximately 3000 other tourists who likely got turned around as well. Our driver took a bunch of short cuts and we have been winding through the muntains for some time. Our guts are holding up so far...the other family, not so much :(

If the water in Lima is not potable the water in Cusco is NOT POTABLE. Like low grade smell of sewage in the bathroom after the taps have been running not potable. We have been buying 7 litre bottles of water from the store. That said, I'm so used to brushing my teeth at the sink that I totally didn't even think twice about doing so.  We'll see how that turns out.

Dave and I have ventured in to the world of fugly travel clothing. We have avoided this unfortunate business up until now. I was officially diagnosed with lupus when we returned from Australia  (something I had been happily ignoring for a couple of years). This, and the medication that it brings make me super sensitive to the sun. Enter the fugly travel clothes with high sun resistance and venting and cooling and such...don't worry, I did not fully sell out in this regard. I tried them on in store and then bought almost all of it on US ebay for 1/4 the price including shipping (thanks to the lovely ladies who let me use their US adresses to ship my stuff to! You know who you are).

We seemed to do well in our (hour long) detour and the first stop was a former Incan agricultural spot called Pisaq. The Inca very carefully made ledges on the side of mountains facing the morning sun. There are even passages from one ledge to the next to allow for irrigation.

 They even planted different crops at different altitudes.

 It's all so well thought out really.No one harvests the land now as it is conserved and the local people find the rules around the use of the land too restrictive.

 We stopped at a market and the first stop was a jewelry store where they showed us how the jewelry is made. I'd show you the earrings that I really liked, but anytime that I express any interest in something one of my men shoos me away. I think travelling the month before my birthday will become a regular thing!!

The market was awesome!

Here we are overlooking the Sacred Valley. Apparently we will get to stay in the Valley later this week.

I will leave you there for today as it was a packed day and I will continue it tomorrow as a part two.

Spoiler alert-there will be ALPACA SELFIES!!