2nd Monday

-the wonderful pottery shop which we visited (Apu Yawarmaky) Little Ricki's mom "sold" us all on their wares by using a mug as a hammer!
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I somehow managed the afternoon train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo. I vaguely remember weaving our way back into the Villas. I gratefully retreated to our same room & bed - immediately upon arrival - and I missed another great meal prepared just for our group. This is definitely not what I had planned - but HALLELULIA! - almost exactly 24 hours since I'd gotten my first dreadful symptoms... they stopped. Life could go on!

Our first stop for the day was one added, simply because we asked - a pottery workshop & showroom near Chinchero ( apuyawarmaky.com). One of the highlights was little Ricki (Rittinawi), who "helped" with her mom's presentation & to whom I gave my first finger puppet. Jim & I took enough photos of the child to qualify her for a spread in Vogue, then Dic & I bought official Peru coffee mugs; handmade in Incan motifs.

The sweater was chanting one of those ancient mystic spells… 'Buy me! Buy me!'

What a cutie!
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But, our buying streak had just begun! Next stop was the entirely charming weaving cooperative of Nilda Callanaupa, also known as the Center for Traditional Weaving Design. After seeing an amazing demonstration of how the women make their wool & alpaca yarn "from scratch,” Dic & I couldn't resist buying Yenny’s woven table runner - which she said took about a month to make!

Scholars posulate that the terraced bowl at Moray was an experimental crop-laboratory where the Incas determined optimal conditions for each species.
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Then -I was entirely helpless by this point in time- I asked the price of a stunning baby alpaca sweater, knit in an Incan "stained glass"-looking pattern. I knew its muted jewel tones were perfect for me... but the cost (as usual here, marked in U.S. dollars) was $95... more than I'd ever paid for ANY sweater before!

Ah, but the sweater was chanting one of those ancient mystic spells… "Buy me! Buy me!" and I, of course, succumbed. BUT - the very moment I was asking Dic if he had that many soles - Linda & Karen interceded on the behalf of all the Condors - saying they wanted to buy me the sweater for all my work in planning the trip... WOW! I, of course, accepted, & that precious package was carefully stored with our mugs.

Here's a close-up of the terraces at Moray, where you can make out the "stairs."
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Next stop was the first of the 2 archeological sites we’d opted to visit when we found we couldn’t stay on O-town the previous night: the experimental agricultural terraces of Moray (admission 5.5 soles). This perfectly round bowl was impressive in its geometry and its scale, but I chose to NOT descend into its depths. The people who were in the bowl were ant-sized, & I was enjoying watching them scale the little staggered stones regularly set into the terraces for stairs. They were probably huge boulders seen up close!

- and more gorgeous Sacred Valley scenery passed through on our way to Maras
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Then it was back in the van for more driving: this time to the salt mines of Maras. The itinerary had mentioned something about “glimpsing them from an old chapel above.” But, in reality, the van was stopped on an empty gravel road above… and we were immediately swarmed by children peddling quartz rocks (presumably salt, I suppose). We all shot a few obligatory photos of the salt pans - but in-between the persistent kids & the even more persistent wind up there – we were happy enough to crawl back into the van after only a very few minutes.

Here's a panorama shot of the salt-mines of Maras, which we obviously saw from above. They've been in use since the time of the Incas!
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Comida was at ‘3 Keros’… and it was delicious!

Then, finally, we wove back into Cuzco (“Costco” as Natali pronounced it!) again… but this time to STAY for a couple days! We passed quaint houses, then shops, emerging into squares with big churches and moving on to progressively more narrow streets. At last Mario emptied us out in a little plaza a half block from our hotel – the Casa San Blas. After again shuffling our rooms around a bit (Tom & Linda took ours in trade for one that had BOTH the bathroom & beds on the same level!) we all moved in and then re-convened for dinner on our OWN! Poor Penny was feeling worse than ever, & chose to stay in her room, but the rest of us walked to the Plaza de Armas (even more beautiful by night), then found a little pizza restaurant nearby. Dic then chose to get lost walking home – causing the rest of us a bit of consternation: "Where DID he go?" "Does he know where our hotel is?"

I imagine this scene could have been shot as long ago as they had cameras... it's classic, bucolic beauty.
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Quien sabe...but, I was glad that I had someone to follow back!