SUNDAY 16th Agnes Calientes to Ollyantotambo to Sacred Valley to Cusco.
7:15 breakfast. 8:00 the group gathered and walked to the station.
Quite a flash train. Windows in the roof and a tea, coffee and snacks service.
The 90 minute ride afforded stunning views of the stunning mountains rising above us as we followed a river through a narrow valley.
We caught glimpses of where we had been walking and towards the end of the ride we saw where the Quarry Trail ran. This was the Trail that six others of our party had walked while we walked the Inca Trail. This is the Trail you end up doing if you don't book early enough to get a pass for the Inca Trail. The Quarry Trail was higher and colder and made a loop from/to Ollyantotambo.
At Ollyantotambo station we transferred to another 18 seater mini bus with Señor Carlos at the helm and were taken into the Sacred Valley to visit a local community .
Intrepid has a foundation that supports these communities in an effort to improve living standards.
The first private house we visited was set up to give us lunch. But first we were shown how they traditionally cook potatoes and sweet potatoes. They had a stone oven, like a little house and had been burning wood inside to make charcoal and to heat the stones. We arrived in time to throw in the spuds and yams and collapse the hot rocks on top. We then shovelled dirt over the top to seal in the heat. Just like a Hangi. Having been told that the potatoes would be ready in 40 minutes time we drove around the corner to meet a traditional potter. Senor Bernardo. He showed us how he prepared the clay, which takes several weeks and then he made an almost tankard sized cup in front of us at his wheel. He moved on to the next part of the demonstration where he showed us how they smooth the pottery out and how they paint it. Next we were taken to their gallery where he hoped that we would buy lots of his pottery. A couple made a purchase. All I could think of was the issues I could have carrying pottery around on a tour for the next four weeks.
40 minutes was up and we returned to our lunch venue. Oops the Hangi hadn't done its job. Not even the yams were cooked let alone the spuds.
We sat down at a long L shaped outdoor table and were served lunch.
Firstly a refreshing red drink made from purple corn followed by a delicious quinoa soup with a chilli condiment. This was followed by a piece of chicken breast, a lump of rice and a lump of yellow stuff that first looked like beans but turned out to be grated potato with lumps of more potato within. I'm not a fan of their main courses. Way too much starch and not enough sauces. Most of us hardly touched the rice.
They had a lovely garden with lots of interesting plants. Some recognisable like Thyme and Rosemary and others more in the cactus or succulent family that we had no idea of. They also had cages at the far end of the garden where roosters and chickens lived.
Luis gave a speech about how the family would only receive 5 Sol per person for the meal provided locally where Intrepid were paying them 20 Sol for it.
Back on the bus and three hours later we arrived in Cusco to be reunited with our belongings and most importantly for Lindsey, her iPad.
At one stage we had our belongings in five different places. It felt so good to have them all in one place again.
After unpacking and finding out that the Hurricanes had beaten the Crusaders (was there any other important world news in the last five days?) we ventured out to find the Cusco market.
We got there at about 5pm and all the doors were locked up. Ugh. Then we noticed people were still inside. We soon discovered the one door still open and entered. Our mission was to buy some more fresh fruit and maybe some local chocolate.
Both missions completed easily. The fruit was very cheap and the chocolate not so cheap. In fact we were wondering if we'd been ripped off until Lindsey spotted the same items in a supermarket for nearly twice the price.
Now for a quick Multi cache, or so we thought. When I started reading the instructions I discovered that it would take 90 minutes. It was nigh on dark and Lindsey didn't have her puffy jacket. The Multi would take us to five different plazas or squares and was quite interesting. Lindsey survived well as the night air began to cool us down. It took us past some beautifully formed Incan walls. We arrived in the main square just as a "guard" was ceremoniously lowering the national flag. They marched off in a goose step which we found ugly. Onto our fifth square and there was a stage set up and a concert happening. The information I had to get was on a plaque in the middle of a fenced off piece of grass right by the stage. My torch wasn't powerful enough for us to read the dates so I quickly jumped the fence had a quick read and jumped back much to the drunk locals consternation in our vicinity.
Numbers completed and final location entered into the GPS and it pointed a further 700m uphill. We'd had enough by now so we turned around to head back to our hotel.
Passing a supermarket we stopped and bought a bottle of the local 42% alcohol to take home - Pisco, some potato crisps to munch on and for Lindsey to check up on the price of chocolate.
Back to the hotel for iPad time and soon ready to turn in, in preparation for an early start and another long bus ride to Puno and Lake Titicaca.
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