Cusco

Another sweltering hot night bus from Arequipa to Cusco. We had a lazy morning before heading out to explore the town. Cusco's a really cool city, it's the capital of the Incan Empire. It was planned so that when viewed from above it is in the shape of a puma- a very important creature in Incan mythology. They believed in the underworld, middle earth, and heavens which were represented by a snake, puma and condor, respectively. We've also heard these animals and levels coincide with the three main countries, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. Further, the Incan cross symbol also represents the three levels, with a circle at the middle representing the centre-Cusco.
Anywho, we walked to the main square which has the nice churches and such and it seems quite quaint with all the stone work streets and sidewalks. It's really cool to see that all the buildings in this old town area have original Incan rock work foundations. When the Spanish came and looted everything and took over they literally just built there own buildings on top of the incans original foundations. We saw the Temple of the Sun (well the base of it) with the giant Catholic Church built right on top. We also walked up to a church called the San Blas to get a nice view of the city.

The next day we ran errands in the morning to get outdoor essentials for the inca trail hike looming; including a stop by the giant craft market for warm mittens and socks. Could've spent hours in there had we any more space in our backpacks! Once we got all we needed we had to try a practice pack of our duffel bags- we have a very strict six kilo limit for the duffel bags that the porters will carry, and then anything more we have to carry in our day bags.

That afternoon we went to an Incan museum and spent a good hour and a half wandering it. It was quite impressive and now that we've been surrounded by the culture longer and learnt more it was much more fascinating than previous museums. It was especially neat to see tribe names and city names on timelines that we recognized from our previous travels. We also enjoyed the Machu Picchu part of the exhibit- the more I learn the more excited I am to see it (assuming I survive the four day climb). After the museum Lisa and I felt ambitious and tried to hike up to a cross on the hill for a good view. We got up pretty high and did get some good scenery but called it quits early since it was to close to getting dark. We rushed back to the hotel before dinner- another shot at guinea pig for the newer people in our group, more delicious alpaca dishes for us.

Next day was touring through the sacred valley as we made our way to the starting point for the hike. We first stopped for another view of Cusco city from above by a huge Jesus statue on the hill. There was also an archaeological site here we could see called "sexywoman". We continued driving a beautiful drive along a mountain side with a huge valley with a river below- the sacred valley.
We continued on and stopped in a small mountain community that g adventures (our tour group) helps support. Many of the men in this village will be our porters on the trek, and for the women g is sponsoring a traditional weaving project. We were showed all the different wools (sheep, llama, alpaca, vecuyna- in order of softness). They demonstrated how they spin it by hand and then die it by boiling it with natural plants and fruits eg eucalyptus, and then hanging it from a cactus to dry. Finally, we saw the ladies weaving it on these loom type things. They're sitting on the ground with them strapped around their backs and then tied to a tree and their fingers went impressively fast- no patterns needed. We shopped the beautiful stuff, you can feel the quality compared to city markets. We also enjoyed feeding their llamas and alpacas.
We then continued on to the first Incan ruin of the day called Pisac which was impressive terraces down the mountain, with a beautiful view of the valley. Next we stopped at a little 'bar' where a local makes traditional chicha. We were told a bit about the process of making the chicha from corn and we each got a little sip. The first was not very tasty, definately an acquired taste, the next was a little better because it had fruit added, but I still think ill stick with pisco instead ;)
Finally, we arrived in Ollantytambo. Even our guides were surprised to find a big celebration with dancers and costumes and stuff going on. Found out later it was an anniversary for the town, unfortunately we couldn't hang around and watch because we went straight to the huge archaeological site in town. Another temple of the sun, it was unfinished because the Spanish conquered first. It was made hugely massive granite blocks. The town is covered in limestone, not granite! They went across the river and mountains away to a quarry where they carved these huge stones and brought them back! Quite astonishing, makes me realize how lazy our society is! There was a lot of stairs and terraces at this site so it was a good little practice hike for us :)
That evening our guide knew of a family that cooks for you so instead of a restaurant we went there for a lovely roast lamb dinner! That evening we all went to bed anxious to start day 1 of the Inca trail!
-Court

Pictures
1-dying wool
2-llama :)
3-Pisac
4-weaving
5-Ollentaytambo
6-new friends!
7 to 9- city of Cusco