We were picked up at our hotel at around 8am. Goodbye Starbucks.
Our tour/trek group is led by Alexis, and today had 9 members. We climbed in the hills and first stopped at the statue known as Jesus Blanco, who overlooks the city of Cusco. From there we could see some of the ruins of Saksaywamán, which we had skipped yesterday.
We drove to a community called Ccaccaccolo, to visit a women's artisan collective. Along the way we stopped to take in sights such as cultivated quinoa, and a woman bringing sheep to market.
At the collective we were shown all aspects of Peruvian traditional textles: animal > wool > cleaning & dying > spinning > weaving > selling to tourists. Actually the demonstrations were interesting and the pressure to purchase was minimal.
We took a longish hike at the Inca ruins above Pisca, and back down to meet the van. A foretaste of the trek to begin tomorrow. Annette didn't enjoy the descent without hiking poles, and neither did my injured ankle.
Then we went to a lunch prepared by another group supported by the tour company. Dishes included breads, vegetable soup, quinoa, and stuffed peppers. I tried the sweet drink made from purple corn—it was reminiscent of hibiscus juice.
Our driver lost the key to the van and we spent about half an hour searching before it was found.
Stuffed, most of us dozed on the drive to Ollantaytambo. There we hiked up into some more spectacular ruins, with beautiful stonework.
Then on to our hotel, from where I write. We went to a group dinner in town, and have returned to pack for our trek, beginning tomorrow.
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