Guinea Pigs

Greg is offline for the next few days, so Amy has the blog all to herself bwahahaha…

Amy’s group is a day behind because of the extra day in Cusco. She is spending the morning with the same itinerary that Greg did yesterday.

Today is Pachamama, a holiday in Peru. It’s basically their Earth Day. There are yellow flowers used in tribute for the holiday. We did hear firecrackers being set off which is odd for a holiday celebrating Mother Earth. Also we saw yellow confetti. Not very earth friendly either.

Our tour company, G adventures, invests in local communities. The three main stops today were places where G Adventures has invested in the local indigenous communities. This allows the people living there to continue their traditional activities while supporting themselves by interacting with tourists.

The first one we visited was the weaving collective where we watched a demonstration of using native techniques to turn alpaca wool into fabrics. Amy was very excited for this stop and it did not disappoint. It was fascinating to watch them dye the wool using native plants. The colors were so vibrant. They hand wove the wool to make a variety of items. For someone not very fond of shopping, Amy bought enough that they gave her an extra pot holder as a gift. It’s a good thing we brought an extra duffle bag with us!

After we left, we got our first view of the Sacred Valley, our home for the next few days.

Our next stop was the pottery community. We watched them make a brick like they use to build their homes. They then fed us a yummy empanada. And they showed us the pottery making process. Amy is bringing home some ceramic jewelry.

We then took a quick stop at a local food stall. Half of the group went in together to buy a cooked guinea pig (a local delicacy) to share over lunch. We took the guinea pig to go and were served it with our lunch. The guinea pig smelled horrible but it tasted very good. The skin was crispy and tasty but there was almost no meat on the bones.

Lunch was at the same restaurant that Greg was at yesterday. It was a five course meal with local indigenous foods. Amy’s favorite was the local potatoes. She is never going to be able to eat US potatoes after this trip.

We continued on the way to Ollantaytambo, the town in the Sacred Valley where we will be staying for a couple of days. About a half hour before the town we stopped at a beer garden. It was a smart idea to stop because it allowed the traffic to calm down from other tourists.

Once we got to Ollantaytambo we had a walking tour of the city. It included a stop at a restaurant that was raising guinea pigs. They had many different breeds. Most were going to be food, except Kevin - a 5 year old pet. They asked for donations for food in return for spending time to see the guinea pigs.

Tonight there was a big celebration in town with a parade and flags flying. We think the new mayor was inaugurated but we aren’t sure. Earlier in the day we saw a funeral and a wedding. Lots of music in the streets!