Peru 2014 - Part 3

August 17

 I was up early - no surprise, I am still on Zeba pee time...and the rooster started at 5:00. I am rested and ready to start our new day of Amazing. No race, just amazing as the sun rises over these beautiful montañas.






We grabbed a taxi to Chinchero, about 40 miles away. Cost- $ 14. Chinchero is lesser known, with less tourists, and is really cool. We saw some steps and just kept walking. We had no idea how far the ancient Incan stone work terraces went. Local women and men in traditional clothing -not for tourists- came from all over. Some with sheep, to buy goods, some just coming for Mass. Many were bringing flowers to the church -not sure about that tradition, I'll have to look it up. I watched little elderly people with their canes make their way up steep steps to the church, and thought they must REALLY want to come worship. WE did not go inside the church because there was mass going on. Sunday is also market day there. We walked through the market area with lots of artisans selling stuff, and others just selling regular market day things like vegetables. The market was not so crowded, and the venders not so pushy. I only had one little boy shadow me trying to sell me keychains. We also went to some of the stores that are there all the time. I could have dropped some serious money on some alpaca items, but I didn't take a lot with me and wanted to be sure I had enough to get back to Urubamba, and they were things I didn't really need..... But oh so pretty. The good thing is I have an idea about what things cost now. I did buy some things, and we are going to the big market in Pisac on Tuesday.

We came back to Urubamba and had lunch at Tomy's Polloeria - a roasted chicken and pizza place. The food was really good. After that we walked around for a bit, then decided to wait till Monday to go to the next adventure. My feet were really hurting, and I was exhausted. We walked 8 miles today, 60 flights of stairs according to Mark's pedometer.
After a rest and a hot bath, we headed back downtown and sat and people watched. There are people here from all over the world. A young guy with dread locks was teaching a group of kids how to juggle. There were incredibly cute. We came back to the hotel and after a nice cup of mate de coca, we are ready to crash...at 8:00.