Don't be fooled by the rocas that we've got

Aka- Day 2, Part 2:

Our driver, Jamie (pronounced "hi-may" for those of you that read jay-me), picked us up after a bit more waking and drove us to the ancient Inca town of Ollantaytambo. What a site that is! 

Located in a valley nuzzled between more of the beautifully green Andes mountains, Ollantaytambo was quite the hot spot back in the day. It had it all: military, trade, agricultural, and religious purposes. The signature terraces that lead from the main village up to the sun temple were less than fun to climb in the altitude... but we did it and quite thoroughly enjoyed the views. This is also where Willie advised us, "this is a good place to take photo with big rock". Perfect. 

You can see the modern day farms from this high point but also many ancient Incan contributions, such as Tumi- who is a ridiculously massive face carved into the side of the mountain to protect the town. There were also many shelving systems intricately carved out for military and agricultural storage. You can faintly see the skinny pathways leading up to these structures and instantly acquire a lot of respect for the bravery of the Incan people. 

We drove through some more countryside and stopped for lunch in Urubamba, which is quite possibly my favorite town name ever, at an enjoyable tourist and local attraction- Inka House- complete with traditional Peruvian food buffet and native Incan live musicians.  This is where I can say I tried alpaca for the first time, and honestly, it was delicious. It was prepared in a tomato based stew broth with vegetables and potatoes and tasted like home, Peruvian home. Heather was too afraid to try it, but she did taste test the chocolate cake for us, so we enjoyed that luxury over some coca tea to round out our meal. Full bellies and happy hearts, we went onward to visit Chinchero.

Chinchero seems like a miniature version of Cusco: there were many skinny streets with barely enough room for cars and humans to coexist. There were quite a bit of vendors selling woven goods, alpaca fur products, paintings, and everything else a Peruvian tourist would want. It is a beautiful town, quiet and simple, and, like everywhere else on this trip so far, is built amongst amazing views.

We visited a local church which was built by the Spanish settlers, and was about as Spanish gaudy as you can get. Gold everything, dolls of Saints dressed in their fanciest formal wear, and more grotesquely bloody Jesus's than anyone could desire. The walls and ceilings had every inch covered in artwork and that was truly impressive. 

Willie wanted to show us this field because "something something agriculture", but also it has a nice view. We decided it was the perfect place to take jumping photos. He laid down and let us do our thing.

Next we went to visit some local ladies who taught us how they dye alpaca and llama fur, weave it, and then even showed us a little traditional song and dance. The lady who was giving us the "English" presentation was incredibly sweet and equally rehearsed. Her jokes were great, but what was even better was the straight face she had while she told them. We are pretty sure she had no idea what she was saying other than reciting an "English script". Regardless, we made friendly with them and decided to shop around the goods they were selling. They even told me my Spanish was very good- so, I tipped them extra. Before saying goodbye, they insisted we take a photo of the view in their shawls and hats. Refuse a photo opportunity? Never. 

We rounded out the night with a delicious meal in town at a Peruvian/Asian fusion restaurant. Alpaca was the special for the night and you could order it prepared in 6 different ways. It was very similar to if you go to a seafood restaurant and "catch of the day" comes in many different types of meals. I was close to ordering it but didn't want to press my luck. I got the lombo saltado instead and heather got what she kept a calling "Peruvian Mac n cheese". They were incredibly delicious. But the star of the show was our passionfruit and mint martinis. We'll take 4. Gracias. Buenas noches.