Olloytaytambo and More; Goodbye to Cusco

Has it been three days since my last posting? M'mm H'mm. Sorry about the delay.

Wednesday

2+ hour bus trip to Olloytaytambo. More astonishingly beautiful ruins. Also looked around in the town. All of the streets in town parallel to the site have irrigation canals running through them.

I lost my hat in Olloytaytambo.

I then went to nearby Urumbamba, which does not have ruins, but, according to my guidebook, has a restaurant that serves a buffet that includes a free Pisco Sour. I never found the restaurant, but did find another one that serves a delicious meal for $2, which begs the question of whether it is appropriate to eat in an establishment that sells meal for $2, mostly to locals if you can afford to eat someplace fancier and pay more. I don't know. I have enjoyed the $25 meals, but some of the $2 meals, where there is really not much choice in what you eat, have been some of my favorites.

New rule for inter-city travel on buses in Peru: When you can find a bus that costs double, it is worth it! I paid $1 to get from Cusco to Urumbamba early in the morning. We were packed into the bus like sardines when we left the bus station. On the way we picked up more people. On the way back, there just happpened to be a space on a bus that cost $2. After all of the seats were full, we left, and we picked up no one on the way. There was soft music playing in the background. Some people were able to fall asleep.

Arrived back in Cusco and actually enjoyed a museum. It was the Museo Inka, which had a lot of information about the Inca civilization. I actually spent quite a bit of time there.

Thursday

Down-time day. No real agenda on Thursday. After waking up, I decided to take a bus to the outskirts of town as far as it would go, and see what was there. It stopped in a village called Osoco (?). I got out and walked around. I ended up walking to a nearby village, which had a huge lake near it, as well as a USAID temporary housing relief site nearby. I do not know the story behind that. The people staying there are living in 18 square meters of space. I do not know how many people share that space.

Forgot the sunscreen Thursday. Got a little sunburned on the face and ears, but not too bad. It is actually a little better this morning.

I ate and ate and ate yesterday, stopping in two fancy restaurants. One was a place where I had been already-- the place that was out of the Nelson Mandela desert. This time they had it. M'mm. I was expecting something else-- it was a piece of pie with the chocolate, cream, rum, and brazil nuts. I was expecting it to be like an ice cream sundae without the icecream. Still it was delicious. By the time I got home in the evening, I felt like I was about to pop!

Today

I am leaving the hotel in a few hours. My flight to Lima is in the early afternoon. Happy 4th of July weekend to you!

--NB