Salt mines, agricultural terraces anyone?

Maras-Moray, Peru

    

Peru is such a beautiful place! This is the view on our way to Moray!
Oh yeah, it was interesting the way we got to Moray and Maras... We just hired a cab to take us there and what do you know, the cab driver does not really speak English!!! Well, the good thing with that is we got to practice our Spanish... Hehehe! It worked out pretty well, since I can understand better what our driver was talking about, and my friend can speak better Spanish than me, so I listen and my friend speaks... hehehe!


    



The photos are a little blurry... (Okay, it's really blurry but it's good enough I think... hehehe!) Here we are in Moray! Here we saw agricultural terraces where they said each level has its own micro-climate, good for growing different varieties of plants.





On our way to Maras, we saw a bunch of fully loaded donkeys! I thought it was cute! Hehe!

    



Here we are at the salt mine! According to our driver, each pool is owned by a family who has worked on it for generations! Try counting the pools and you'll be amazed at how many families work on the salt mines!!!

At night

Cusco, Peru

    

If you have time in Cusco, check out the cultural show. (I forgot the actual name, but it's included in the tourist ticket... hehehe!) Chez Maggy is a pretty decent place to go to for dinner if you're in town. Just don't ask me which street it was on... Hee-hee!! It was like in a small alley from the Plaza de Armas... =)

Our day on the water!

Chuqui River, Peru



Don't we look like professionals? Hehehe! The rapids was class 2-3 according to our guide... My friend insisted though that some of the rapids were more like a class 4. Hee-hee!



The river was just gorgeous that day! I remember too that the lunch provided to us was muy delicioso!

Sacred Valley

Peru


Nope, this is not yet the sacred valley... hee-hee! I just took a photo of the street while waiting for the bus that will take us to the sacred valley!!! =)





Aren't they cute??? The one on the left is a llama (their ears are shaped like a banana, and, their wool smells when wet!!!) and the one on the right is an alpaca!!! We're almost there!



   
Here we are now in view of the Sacred Valley! We were told that not too many quechuas farm nowadays since they make more money selling trinkets to tourists than farming... It's a little sad, don't you think?


   

   
Our first stop for the day, Pisac.



   
When I took this photos, I was actually following a group of Japanese tourists... Hehehe! Unfortunately, I had to get back to our meeting point so, I wasn't able to explore as much... What I have seen though, is already pretty amazing! What I remember now in Pisac is that I had to run back as fast as I can since I saw all my busmates already close to the meeting point and me still far away! Hee-hee! I was really huffing and puffing at that time, and I guess the altitude didn't help me much... Let's just say that I was building my red blood cells there that's why I was huffing! =)




Take a look at the photo closely... I still can't believe that the bus we were on fit on that street!!! It was really narrow!



   
Loved the market there!!! I couldn't believe how many types of corn and potatoes they have there!!! It's in the hundreds (I meant the varieties in Peru, not in the market... hehehe!)!!!!


Isn't this colorful? All the colors you see here are natural!!!




    

    


Nope, this is not Machu Picchu... This is Ollantaytambo. Pretty amazing huh? So many steps! Again, I was huffing and puffing to get to the top!!! At least I made it!!! The views are just amazing from there!!! Notice how intricate the stone work is...





Isn't this a nice view? The snow on the mountain reminded us that the place is pretty high!!! Someone on our bus was actually sick because of the altitude... The local remedy there is to chew coca leaves. I don't know about chewing those... We did try the coca tea and the coca candy!!!



    

    

Here's our last stop for the day: Chinchero. They've got a pretty big market there and pretty nice views too!!!

Dinner time!

Cusco, Peru



Can you believe the size of the corn kernels in this picture??? It's really huge!!! That's the first time I've seen such big corn kernels!!! Hee-hee!!! I believe the dish above is chile relleno... My favorite dish though is still the paella we ate at Junio's in Lima! Hehehe!!! The lomo saltado and aji de gallina was also not bad!!!

Some more ruins around Cusco

Cusco, Peru



I believe the one on the right is Tambomachay... I'm not sure about the one on the left... One thing you'll notice with Inca holy places is there's always a water feature, like in the photos above.



Q'enko. If I remember correctly, one of the rocks outside the cave we went into looked like a frog... I have forgotten about this site so... Here's a little more info from the intarweb =) Q'enko

Sacsaywaman

Cusco, Peru



When you first enter, you'll think that the stonewall is flat... Once you get close to it and take a step back, voila! It's jagged!!! Unfortunately we didn't have time to explore those jagged walls, so, we just climbed on the other side so we can take in the whole view! =)



Ooh... I thought the giant Jesus statue is in Brazil... Then again, I shouldn't have been surprised since I have seen a giant Jesus in Ensenada, Mexico too! Hee-hee! Well, it's still a pretty view!

Around Cuzco

Cuzco, Peru

   

The stone wall on the right is inside the convent. It is one of the best examples of stonework by the Incas. They said you can tell how important a place is by how neat the stone work is. Looking at the stone work here, this must have been a very important place before. Ah... another interesting thing our guide said is, the Inca knowledge of stonework is not originally Incan, but from the Tiahuanaco from neighbor Bolivia (If I remember correctly... Heehee! It's been awhile, and I know, I should have posted right away... Oh well! =))



If you look at this side of the convent, you can see the different influences in Cuzco. It's pretty cool I think.



What do you think of their Plaza de Armas? I remember thinking that day that the sky is so blue!!! We went inside the church, it's pretty nice inside, they've got some interesting statues of saints that may look a little bit graphic to some people, and they've got some gold leafing on some areas too... What I remember the most, is a painting of the last supper, where, the dinner served on the table in front of Jesus and the apostles, is a cuy (guinea pig)! It's pretty cool the local artists were able to integrate some local stuff into their work!