South America Day 10
I successfully retrieved my boot only to realize the next morning they hadn't put the inner sole back. I'm a goose for not checking it when I picked it up, but I didn't want to hang around in that neighborhood too long.
We piled into a bus early on day 10, in my case reluctantly. I felt awful. My body was doing it's usual trick when I pick up a bug and went into high temperature and body shutdown mode.
Enough about my woes. We set off north of Cuzco past the Sacsayhuaman ruins and on to Sacred Valley (pictured). My recollections of that day are fuzzy to say the least so my comments will be scant. This photo covers only a small part of the valley that stretches some 25-30 kms.
Sponsored Village
The first
stop in Sacred Valley was a small village that GAP sponsors to ensure
that the local crafts aren't lost. Yet another tourist trap if you ask
me. Kerri tells me the crafts were very expensive and the public
toilets were disgusting. I have no comment on account of being out cold
on the back seat of the bus loaded up with paracetamol during the stop.
Guinea Pig is a Peruvian delicacy. They look all cute and
stuff, but you have to remember they're on the lunch menu. Dad calls them turners because they turn good food into shit.
I
made it out of the bus for the Pisaq ruins and struggled along
for the short walk. The local guide rambled on for some time about
something I wasn't listening to (and I don't think anyone else was
either). The tag line at the end had some sort of global warming
message.....
I'd
bypassed lunch that day so I could sleep & by the time we reached
the Ollyentambo Ruins, I was trashed. The clan headed up to the ruins
& the bus took me back down to the modern town of Ollyentambo where
we were staying that night. I crashed out in bed and slept for a
number of hours.
Kerri took a few photos while she was at the
ruins including these ones. These are called the ten windows.
Apparently there's some sort of acoustic phenomenon when you stick your
head through one of the windows.
Above is the view back to the town where I was sound asleep, Ollyentambo. I
surfaced later that evening and wandered around until I found Kerri and the others. I had dinner and crashed early. It was the worst day
of the entire tour for me. It's a shame because I would have liked to
have a better look around the Inca ruins in the area. I find ancient
ruins so much more interesting than the replacement European buildings.
