Ollantaytambo, Pisaq and the Sacred Valley

I got to spend a whole week with my program wandering around the Sacred Valley of Peru. Our guide was a man named Eddie, who lives in Urubamba, and works for ISA now. He speaks 6 languages, has done the Inca Trail over 230 times, and spent 10 years excavating mummies from the Inca ruins. To say the least, we were in good hands. He took us to visit some small towns outside of Cusco and near Machu Picchu.

The first town was Pisaq. Here we visited some more Inca ruins. It was so much fun wandering around these cliffs and caves that the Incas walked on hundreds of years ago. Unfortunately, my excitement resulted in a twisted ankle. But don't worry, that didn't prevent me from going shopping at Pisaq's famous market of woven alpaca blankets, ponchos, and bags. I bought everyone amazing gifts! Be excited!! (And I ignored the pain in my foot because I love you all THAT MUCH!) I also got to try choclo! Choclo is GIANT corn on the cob that they sell on the street with a chunk of cheese and chili sauce. Tourists really aren't supposed to eat it because our stomach's can't handle the tap water and many of the local foods in Peru, but I took the risk anway, and I'm so glad I did! Choclo is delicious!

Eddie took us to his ranch in Urubamba for an authentic Peruvian lunch. We had fresh trout, corn soup, quinoa soup, green lima beans, fried pumpkin, and a potato stew. It was an amazing cultural experience to see how they live and eat in the countryside.

The next town we went to was Ollantaytambo. Here my friend Melissa and I found a woman selling an interesting drink from a cart in the main plaza. It was a sort of tea mixed with aloe and 5 other flavorings. Apparently, the drink (expecially the aloe, which gives it a jelly consistancy) helps speed up your digestive system which slows at high altitudes. It was really yummy!

In this same plaza we happened to stumble across one of the most unusual things I've ever seen in my life. A dog with a baby monkey on its back!!!!! Yep. A baby monkey! It didn't seem like a person had set it up, and we concluded that the baby monkey wanted to be there or else it would have jumped off. I seriously may send the photo to Disney, and ask for a 10% cut from their next animated film.

From Ollantaytambo we took a train ride through the Sacred Valley to Aguas Calientes (a town created purely for the purpose of sustaining tourists visiting Machu Picchu). The train ride was amazing because it allowed us to see all the little towns that are established in the valley.