Magical Destinations

I was sorry to see our time at Sol Y Luna come to an end but I was eager to do some major shopping as well as to go to the city of Cusco, capital of the Incan empire. This morning as we were just about to board our "chariots" for the ride to Pisac Marketplace, our guide Chris handed each of us 10 peruvian soles (about $4 US dollars) and told us to do our best bargaining and purchase something for our white elephant gift exchange that we would be having at tomorrow nights dinner. I love a challenge!

It was not that long a ride to Pisac marketplace, which was a riot of color!  We had 1 1/2 hours and I had some money burning a hole in my pocket.  There was all sorts of textiles, sweaters, silver jewelery, alpaca rugs, artwork, etc.  The market was fairly big so I needed a strategy to get most of it in.  I also knew from my discussions with our guides that bargaining was the best way to get a good price.  As soon as we stopped I was off and ready to go.  I had a mental note of who I had to buy for and what I was thinking of purchasing. Many of the stalls had the same things that we had been seeing at previous stops, so I was prepared. First up was a t-shirt for the hubby with the logo of Peru on it.  Thanks to my fellow adventurer Jen she already negotiated a price of $9 US dollars so I rode her coat tails and got the same deal.  I purchased an alpaca shawl for my mom, a Christmas ornament for the white elephant exchange, leggings for my daughter and some cute llama key chains for girls at the office. My favorite find of the day was a lovely piece of artwork, a watercolor of some llamas, that I purchased for Liz, my friend and boss at LBAC Travel.  On the way back to the bus some gorgeous religious artwork done in oils caught my eye. I absolutely love religious artwork. The deep colors, lots of gold embellishment, heavy gilded frames.I loved each and every one of them, but I could not think of how I was going to get them back to the US.  So after after much contemplation I had to let it go and board the bus.  UGH!  I think I should have bought one.  Maybe I will see them in Cusco.


Our next stop was the Awana Kancha Camelids Center, this is what all the kids (Big and small!)  have been waiting to see - The Llama, Alpaca and Vicuna Farm!  As we entered the farm  we were each given a large bunch of  green grasses to feed the animals.  There were a few different pens, each holding Llamas or Alpaca.  the Vicunas were not penned but roamed freely on the hill top above the center, they do not do well with other animals or penned up. It was great fun trying to feed the animals except when one very agressive llama pushed his way in front of the llama I was feeding and then proceeded to "spit" at me because he had to wait his turn to eat.YUK!  Llama spit is gross!!!  Our guides Ernesto and  Harvey explained that the llamas have faces similar to camels, the alpacas looked like sheep and the vicuna looked like themselves (!!!!) but goods made from their wool was the most expensive and finest in the world.  Hmmm, I still have some spending money left maybe I could get a vicuna shawl?  After we fed the animals, there was some weaving demonstrations going on as well as a shop which sold all things made from the camelids wool.  I did check out a lovely vicuna shawl, it cost well over $900 US dollars - I would up buying a pen and pencil set for my daughter with dolls on top in peuvian costumes. Total expenditure $4 US dollars.



We were now on our way to Cusco to have lunch, take a brief tour of the city, and check into the Hotel Libertador.  On our way to Cusco we had to pullover to take one last photo of the sacred valley.


Our lunch was a buffet of typical local Peruvian food, it all looked good but I was still a bit under the weather from yesterday and wound up having some chicken soup and a teeny bit of rice pudding. All the foodies in our group were loving the vast selection of Peruvian specialties.

After lunch we did a quick walking tour of Cusco just to get our bearings, and then checked into the hotel.  As with all our hotel check ins, our keys were ready and waiting for us, and we had the rest of the afternoon to explore the city.  Since we were going to have the next day to explore also we decided to walk around the hotel area and then venture further out tomorrow. 
As we were walking I saw these 2 young girls just chit chatting in the doorway, heads close together.  It reminded me of my own daughter and her friends.  I just had to snap the photo.

There are alot of Catholic Churches in Cusco ( really all over Peru) one is even built upon the Incan Temple of the Sun called the Koricancha.  It is said that inside the temple the walls and doors of the rooms were covered with gold and silver plates, when the Spanish Conquistadors invaded Peru they relieved the Incas of their treasure.  The Catholic Church was built over the temple in the late 16th century, some of the original Incan structure still remains. 



I was especially facinated with the Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas, it had some interesting statures on top of the towers.  This is my personal favorite.....
We were starting to run out of steam (maybe it was because we were at an altitude of about 12000 feet again!), so we decided to head back to the hotel for a brief respite before going to dinner at Limo, a local restaurant recomended by our guides. 
Tomorrow we can explore this gorgeous city some more and even fit in another archaeological ruin or 2!
I absolutely love this trip!  I also love the way Disney breaks up a long drive with fun stops in between.  Here is a BIG shout out to Martha, who the South American trip planner for Disney and to Patricia who is the local tour operator regional director!  Awesome job ladies!!!