I woke up with the front of my thighs sooooo sore from yesterday's hike to Moray, Las Salineras, and Ollantaytambo and all the stair stepping. Each day, I am even more proud of Natalia coming here and enduring a month of this kind of exercise and fatigue, with no hot tub of water to soak in. She was here volunteering with an organization called Pro World.
We caught a collectivo to Pisac ($2.50) that took us through the valley, along the Urubamba river. Really a beautiful ride, with a bus stopping to let people on every little while. One lady with a sweet little baby girl tied to her back sit across from us, and that cute baby just stared and stared at us. When we got Pisac, we hired a taxi to drive us to the top of the mountain so we could walk three miles down through ancient ruins. I encountered my first squatty potty there, but it was a welcome sight! We chose the medium hike, because it was mostly downhill, and the long hike was all the was to the town. I was really hurting as it was, but didn't want to miss the ruins! So off we went down paths and steps. I kept thinking about Natalia telling me that they would have to get me out with a donkey if I fell. There are little donkeys everywhere here and I could just imagine being strapped over one like a sack of potatoes. I was so glad it was just me and Mark because I was going sooo slow. After we climbed the final steps, Francisco, our taxi driver was waiting for us at the mid level. I was happy to see him. I felt so accomplished!
Next we went to the market. It was much larger than Chinchero, but I think I liked Chinchero better. So many beautiful things, especially of alpaca. I haggled for everything, and was happy with what I got. We had lunch then took a full collectivo back to Urubamba. At first, we were going to have to stand and hang on tight, but people piled their kids on laps and made room for us to sit. I sat next to some Australians most of the way who were making their way to Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and Argentina in 4 months. Back at the hotel, I soaked in the tub to relieve my legs of the 9 miles we walked today.
We found a little place that has hamburgers on the menu and better yet - coffee and Baileys! The coffee was a wonderful comfort from home. The burgers were probably alpaca ??? They were okay. But we met up with the Aussies again so Mark had someone to talk to in English. We do get a few TV channels in English, so we have been watching CSI and Criminal Minds.
We came back to the hotel and went to the lobby for Internet, and while Mark was trying to transfer some photos from his GoPro to his IPad, we think the camera might have erased ALL the photos from that camera from our trip so far. He is just sick over it, but we still have photos that I have taken and from his other camera. Also, I can send that card to a data recovery service and they can probably retrieve them since we haven't taken any more photos on that card. He brought more cards for that camera, so we are good.
