Ollantaytambo, Sacred Valley, Peru
Sunday, May 30, 2010
We went to the most wonderful markets, Pisaq markets, on the way to
Ollantaytambo with lots of local people selling their goods. I, of course, thought it was only appropriate to support the locals and bought the cutest bag! So excited with my purchase! We then went to a local community that is supported by the Intrepid Foundation. The foundation provides water purifiers for the community, who get most of their water from the local river. We ate lunch with a local woman and visited various people in the community, including the local guinea pig farmer. Yum.
Ollantaytambo is a very small and cute town. Again it was an Inca town, but fortunatel wasnīt completely destroyed by the Spanish. The community was celebrating Corpus Christi and had a bull fight competition. In true Peruvian fashion there were no fences, little ropes holding the bulls in place, and small children running around the fights and the bulls themselves. Two bulls would fight and the first to turn away was obviously the loser. Some fights lasted seconds, while the final lasted an hour. Most locals were here and it was quite interesting. We ate at a wonderful restaurant, Heartīs Cafe, for dinner. The owner is an English woman who donates all proceeds to charities supporting children and women. Inca Trail starts tomorrow and while I am very excited, Iīm also slightly nervous!
