Back to the Salt Mines then head for home

We are driving to our next tour and we are above 12,000 feet and what do we see but

Quinoa! If you look at the top of the bush you will see the little seeds that are harvested and now are the new power food that everyone wants to eat. It can be eaten in place of rice and is much healthier for you. I think they used to say that about heroin,  cocaine and methamphetamine too. I don't think you can put quinoa in that same category though.

As I was saying we were headed to our next tour stop: the great terraced salt mines of Peru.

These salt mines were created by the ancient people of Peru before the birth of Christ. When you think of Peru, most people think of the Inca empire but that was only two hundred years or so from the 13 to 15 hundreds. We can see now that things were going on a long time before the Incas came on the scene.

This woman is preparing this salt pool for the next dose of saltwater.  They put fresh mud in the pool and stamp it down so it will hold the saltwater that is flooded into the pool.  The sun evaporates the water and leaves the salt which is then harvested and sent off to market. This takes about two months to complete. If you want to work in the salt mines I hear there are openings for some mud stampers if you are interested. I think you get a pound of salt free each week and your feet stay baby soft!

Much of the Andes mountains were originally under the sea.  Now at 12,000 plus feet the water that runs out of the ground is saltwater from the original salt deposits from the sea.

Cindy is tasting the water that is coming from the mountain spring. It is at least two times saltier than the water in the ocean.

Our next stop is where the extra terrestrials landed on earth long before we were here.

Just kidding (I hope).  These are Inca Terraces at Moray. They are not really sure what they were used for. Some think for crops, others think for religious reasons. Or maybe just those spaceship landings :-) !!!

We went to our final Inca ruins at Sacsayhuaman Fortress (near Cuzco).

 Here you can see a rock formation that looks like a foot of a Puma.  Many of the rocks were placed to look like different creatures during their time, such as the llama, snake and condor.

The rock over my left shoulder is the biggest rock found in any Inca ruin that has been discovered. We were told how much they estimated it weighs but that is one of many things I forgot!

Now we start our long, long trek home. We woke up in our hotel in Cuzco around 7:30 AM. We checked out and were on our way to the airport by 9:15 AM. We all caught a flight to Lima.  In Lima we took a bus tour of the city.

The above two photos are of the Plaza de Armas' at the Government Center.

After the city tour we went to the Larco Museum where we took a short tour through the museum and had our farewell dinner.

Here we are finishing the tour and preparing for our farewell dinner held at the museum.  One part of the museum was dedicated to sexual erotica of the time. Many clay statues, pots and symbols were displayed. 

We left for the airport in Lima at 9:30 PM. Our flight to Miami took off shortly after 1:20 AM. We arrived in Miami around 8 AM. Our flight for San Francisco left at 2:50 PM and arrived in San Francisco at 6:15 PM. We arrived at our home around 9:00 PM on Tuesday. It was a long 37 hours.

We will leave you with photos of two budding artists that we captured at work near the salt mines.

Refill your stick (paint brush) with fresh mud.

Head over to a fresh canvas (a nice blank wall) 

What happened to Aguas Calientes near Machu Picchu

We are off to see the Lost City of the Incas (Machu Picchu) but to get there you must take a train through the mountains.

So we climb aboard our train at the town of Ollantaytambo. There are two types of trains that go to Machu Picchu, the back packer train and the 1st class train.

Guess which one we were on? Someone has to ride in these trains to keep them in business!

The Inca trail to Machu Picchu starts right outside of Ollantaytombo. The first photo above shows the bridge that starts the trail.  The trail is visible to the right of the bridge. The photo above shows another bridge that joins up with the trail but that one is a little older and I bet a lot more thrilling to cross. If you read the book Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams this is the trail he writes about and it is a three of four day hike. Doesn't look like fun to me.

We arrived at Machu Picchu train station in a controlled chaos.  People from all over the world getting ready to head up to the Lost City.

The town is named Machu Picchu Pueblo.  It is also known as Aguas Calientes or hot springs for you non- Spanish speaking readers. Since the Spanish no longer rule Peru the official name is Machu Picchu Pueblo.

We headed up to the Lost City by bus the next morning. After 15 switchback turns and Cindy turning green we arrived at the ruins of Machu Picchu. As you can see the site is high up in the Andes and the clouds drift in and out all day long.

 The city is on many levels with fantastic views from everywhere.

 This is the top of the sun temple.  The day of the summer solstice the sun shines through the square opening in the middle and shines on the tall rock. The day of the winter solstice the light shines through the square opening on the right. This is how the Incas kept track of the seasons of the year.

This rock is carved to show the four points of the compass. Our guide is holding his smart phone which shows where true north is.  You can see how accurate they were when they carved this rock.

  The above three photos show you a little more of the ruins. You can tell by the opening I am going through that the locals were not big people.

Cindy and I decided to hike up to the Inka (Inca) Bridge which leads to one of the old Inca trails.

We got some great views of the city below us. You can see that the clouds have lifted for awhile.

We marched on up and up to the bridge.  The trail got a little tight in spots.

This trail was quite narrow in spots with the mountain straight up and several thousand feet straight down with no guard rail.

Take note of the moss covered wall that I am pointing to.  On our way down the trail we came around this bend and a young girl was walking on top of the moss covered wall and to the left of the wall is 3 to 4 thousand foot cliff.  Her mother was walking behind her.  I think she was working on her mother of the year badge.

We finely get to the Inca Bridge on the trail we were walking and

thank goodness this sign and gate were on this side of the bridge!!!!

Spending Time With The Locals

Our next stop in the Sacred Valley was at the studio of the artist Pablo Seminario.  He is know for his clay creations done with the local clay from the mountains.

The clay mold he is showing was one recovered from the Inca time period.

He is most recognized for the flying angel clay sculpture hanging on the wall. He and his wife run this studio and are now teaching 50 students in the art of clay sculpting. Their artwork is on sale at his studio and we ended up with a smaller version of the flying angel.

The next stop was at the ruins of Ollantaytambo.  We are standing part way up the ruins at about 12,700 feet above sea level.

When you do a little hike here it isn't long before you are gasping for breath and ready to take a short break.

Our next stop was at a local pub where they make chicha; that's beer made from corn. You can see the brew sitting on the table. The one on the left is the beer made from the corn that is on the table.  The one on the right is the same beer but with some strawberries added.

This is what it looks like before they start the process of making the beer.  We all had samples and by far most of us liked (or should I say tolerated) the strawberry beer the most. I don't think Guinness or Budweiser have to worry about this stuff taking off like wildfire in the U.S. I don't think the yuppies would even like it.

What else do you do at a pub besides drink beer?  Well, you play bar games of course.  We all tried this game.  You take the metal coins and try to pitch them into the frog's mouth.  There are other holes that the coins can go into for points. When you are finished pitching your coins you open the drawer to see how many points you got.  Most of us ended up with zero points.  I guess we needed a few more chichas to get the hang of the game!

Our next stop was at a local Indian village.  As you can see the welcome committee was out to greet us.

We were served boiled potatoes, cheese and coca tea as a welcome meal. After that they played a few tunes with their drums and pan flutes.  When the refreshments and entertainment was over they showed us their home made articles (manly Alpaca items) that were for sale.

We went from the Indian village back down the mountain to our lodging for the next two nights. The hotel was in a renovated monastery.  You can see by the photos that the place was really nice.

   In each room was a bowl of coca leaves -- remember the coca tea from above the photo -- now the leaves.  The coca leaves are used to help you tolerate the high altitude.  The more you chew or drink, the better you feel.  And yes, these are the same leaves that cocaine is made from!!

 Just about all the restaurants and shops have these birds hanging around.  This guy kept going into the clothing shop and the sales girls kept shooing him out.

Since I was talking about the coca leaves I thought I would end this post on a high note (pun intended). These mountains are at 19 to 20 thousand feet (makes the Sierras look like ant hills). Tomorrow it is on to Machu Picchu.