Oct 20, Thursday

Oct 20, Thursday

I’m awake at 5 am again!   And it’s pouring rain outside.   I only need to be at the train station by 10:25 so I should be sleeping in.  Stayed in bed and read then got up to pack the few things I had brought along.   The guide yesterday had spoken to us about a museum that we should try to see before leaving so I enquired at the front desk to see where it was located.  Maybe I could stop in on the way to the train station.   It’s at the bottom of the hill (hey that’s good so far) and from there a 35 minute walk up the same road that goes to Machu Pichu (FORGET IT !  No way José! )    So I walked downhill all the way to the train station taking a few pictures of Aguas Calientes on the way.

  View from my hotel window

  View downstream of Rio Aguas Calientes

   City streets

City streets

  Market area

Did I mention it was still raining?   Train left on time and I was feeling well enough to take some pictures along the way.   I had a window seat this time, and on the side of the train that ran beside the river.

  Rio Vilcanota becomes Rio Urubamba somewhere along the way.

 Meeting a train going to Aguas Calientes, as ours goes to Ollantaytambo

 Hikers along the Inka trail.  It's a 4 day hike from Olllantaytambo to Aguas Calientes.

 10 foot bolder in the river beautifully carved by the raging waters

 Village along the way

 Schenery on the other side of the river

Upon arrival at Ollantaytambo, I was met by Ricardo, another nice young man from the travel agency.  He would be my private driver for the remainder of the day and take me to see two private sites that are not on the usual tourist circuit because of their remoteness:   Moray and Maras.

The road was more of an unpaved circuitous one lane route, but the views were spectacular. 

 We crossed this bridge with the car after the tourists finished crossing by foot.

 View of the calm river from the bridge

 Our one lane road

 Made it up the mountain.  Can you see the bridge I crossed earlier?  It's about in the middle of this picture.

We made it to Moray, a very ancient site used by the Incas for two purposes:  one to grow a number of different crops on each of the levels.   The deeper the level, the warmer the climate.   The higher levels were used for plants that required colder climates.  The site was used for ceremonial purposes where people from what is now Ecuador, Northern Peru, Bolivia and the coastal regions would meet annually (if I understood correctly, the entire day was in Spanish) to exchange goods and perform religious ceremonies to Pacha Mama  (Mother Earth) and other deities.  The entire circle has incredible acoustics.

 Can you see the people on the terraces?  Some are tourists and some are workers.

 Ceremonial area.  You can also see the "stairs" (and I use the term lightely) to go from one terrace to the other.

There are two older circles on the other side, but both could not be excavated.   When they tried to do so, and lifted some of the stones, noxious gases were released and the person died.   So they gave up.

The middle of the circle is said to have great powers.  People sit there and try to feel the energy coming up from the earth.

We then continued on to Maras which wasn't too far away, but still along that one lane road.

 Burro patiently waiting for its owner to return.  Fields in the background have been plowed and are ready for planting.

 High mountain region early in spring. 

 Down to low lying delta valleys already green with crops.

  Arriving at Maras

We arrived at Maras, which is an ancient salt making area that is still in use today.  Each of the ponds is owned privately and is passed on from generation to generation.   Ricardo explained that most of the owners had other businesses as well:  farmers, people from Cuzco or other local communities.  

 Amazing site with all these man-made ponds

They usually only have to come and tend their ponds one day per week, usually Sunday, which explains why there were only a few workers on site.   There is only one little saline stream flowing out of the mountain into the site, about 8 to 10 inches wide, and this tiny little stream feeds all of the ponds.

     This is it.  Tiny little stream.

  Canal from the stream to the ponds.

 Man working his pond.  You can see four different coloured mounds of salt behind him. He is raking the pond to mound up more salt, let it drain again, and he will add it to the appropriate coloured mounds.

They let the pond fill up with water, close off the water supply, and let the pond evaporate naturally (sun and very dry air.  Usually takes about 1 month.)   As the water evaporates, they come back to tamp down the salt in the water.   Once almost all the water has evaporated, they can start collecting the salt and place it in mounds beside their ponds to further dry.   It is then graded by colour.  1rst grade is white and meant for human consumption.   2^nd grade is slightly brownish and is used for animals.   3^rd grade is used for medicinal purposes.  (No idea why he has a fourth mound, but there must be a reason)  The salt is bagged by the owners and they have to carry the bags up to the top of the site where their donkeys/asses are waiting to carry the bags away.   I was told that the owner would need about 3 donkeys per pond to carry these loads.  The guy driving me did not know how far they had to take the salt, or where they sold it to be further cleansed and processed.

From there we made our way back to Cuzco, taking with us one lady who had come to tend her pond.  Ricardo explained that she needed a ride, and asked if I would mind if she came in the car with us.  Of course I said yes.   No idea how old she was, but probably much younger than she looked.   Usually she has to take a bus from Cuzco to a small town near Maras (no idea how much that would cost her) and then try to get a ride to the salt ponds.  After her work is done for the day, she needs to do the same thing in reverse.   It took us about 1 ½ hours by car;  it would probably take her at least 3 or 4 hours each way otherwise.   She was so appreciative, she could not stop thanking me and even offered to give me a bag of dried fruit and nuts.  I thanked her warmly, explained that I had stomach problems, and only accepted one piece of dried banana.    After we dropped her off in Cuzco, Ricardo explained that these people are very poor, and barely manage to make ends meet.

People here work hard, manual labour, the way our grandparents (or great grand-parents for you younger people) did when they had to work the land and eke out a living with whatever means they had.   We are so blessed in Canada and the USA.   We complain needlessly about the small little things that  should not matter in the big scope of things.

 Drive back to Cusco

 Shepherd with his herd of cows, burros and sheep

 High mountain valleys

Back at the hotel for a nice hot shower.  Definitely feeling better, and I noticed in the mirror that most of my wrinkles are gone! I think I’m going to keep electrolytes in my regular diet.  Sorted out my clothes, most of which will be sent to the lavanderia tomorrow morning  ($4 / kilo).

I rechecked the flights to La Paz, Bolivia and although I was able to reserve a seat on Monday’s flight, I could not pay on line, I had to go to their offices (within 3 hours) to pay.    So I got dressed and went down to the lobby to find out how far these offices were.   I had the address and the lady at the front desk showed me where it was located on the map, just across from Qoricancha (or the Church of Santo Domingo, which was built on top of the Inca Ceremonial site by the Spanish).  Close enough to walk, so off I went. 

Got to the offices of AeroSur and paid for my flight.  As I was walking back to my hotel I decided I should again try to have a bite to eat since breakfast was long gone.  I needed something light and something safe.   I spotted a restaurant on Avenida del Sol called Fusion;  that sounded like a possibility so I went up to the 2^nd floor to check out their menu.   Looked good.  It was only 6 pm so I was the only person in the restaurant;  people here eat late.   I ordered trout, served with mashed sweet potatoes with an extraordinary salad (their words, not mine).    It was delicious.   Three small pools of sweet potatoes, each with a small piece of trout, covered with these fancy spears of veggies and shredded lettuce.  No idea what the sauce was, no teriyaki and not soya, but delicious.

Back to the hotel to watch TV, read, drink more Electrolight    and SLEEP !     

Don’t plan on doing too much during the next three days, just walking around and seeing the sights.   I’m going to a Dinner Show Friday night.   Won’t be updating my blog again until Sunday.