urubamba

today was an action packed day and probably one of my favorite so far in peru. we started out the day by going to the local market in cusco. our guide informed us not to take cameras because the locals don't like to be photographed and because it could be stolen. i wish i had my camera to capture the insanity of this market. not only were they selling clothing, fruits and vegetables, bread, coffee and chocolate, but also various kinds of meats. i saw a pig getting its head chopped off, a lady de-skinning fresh live frogs, cow snouts for sale and so much more. it was truly unbelievable and might have turned me back into a vegetarian.

after the market we headed to the alpaca farm where we got to see the various species and feed the animals. even though they call it a farm i think of it more as a large petting zoo. we were able to see the different natural dyes they use to color the alpaca fur to make scarves and such. in fact i have a picture of a lady creating one below.

next we drove through the sacred valley of the incas, entitled such because there are three harvests a year. we learned that although the peruvians who live in the highlands make three hundred dollars a month, they do not feel poor because they have access to a great deal of food. the incans graded part of the mountains in order to increase the farmable land. the views from the valley were amazing.

in the valley was the town of pisac. basically we went there for its tourist market. they sold everything from tourist gimmicks to baby alpaca scarves to silver. i bought two scarves but successfully bargained down the price by 33%. there were tons of locals at this market - see pictures below.

in the afternoon we headed to the ollantaytambo fortress. once we arrived in the town we visited an incan home. interesting items to note:
- fewer traditional incans every year (rapid assimilation)
- maintained the skulls of previous incans in their home to honor the dead. now use pictures for recent relatives
- raising guinea pigs for food
- keep fish and meat in home to remember their ancestors

after we visited the home we hiked up the fortress where we were amazed at the way the incans had moved huge rocks up the hills to form these structures. the views were amazing and we could see glaciers on some of the mountains. the peruvian mountain ranges block the weather coming from the east so that it becomes more mild as you get to the west coast.

we are spending the night in urubamba before heading to machu picchu in the morning.