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.
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