I had the most amazing surprise this morning, a phone call from home. My family was celebrating my nieces 21st birthday (and my nephews birthday as well), so they decided to give me a call after they had dinner. Even though I was woken up at 5am by the call, it was the best surprise!!! It was so great to hear everyone's voices!!!
This morning we had a little sleep in which was lovely. I started to walk to breakfast, and noticed that Kathy and Jan's door was open, so I called past to see if they were up for breakie. When I got there Kathy told me that she had been on and off oxygen throughout the night, and that the doctor was on the way. Very concerning. After a quick breakfast, I called back past Kathy's room and the doctor was just finishing up, poor Kathy had to go to the clinic, as she had pneumonia. She needed an IV, steroids, IV antibiotics and fluids. Hopefully she will be well enough to continue on with us!! We said our goodbyes and gave Kathy our best wishes.
We on the other hand had a date with the tour group. We met at 10am, where Luis our guide led us to our buses. We then drove a few blocks to the cathedral in the centre of cusco. The drive took us about 20mins, however I reckon we could have walked it in 10mins!
At the town square, we noticed that there was a parade on. Apparently every Sunday, rain, hail or shine they hold these parades. Pretty much it is made up of the mayor of cusco, the bishop and the army general coming together to celebrate cusco and it's patron saints. School kids and community groups all march around the square, all so proud of their town. It reminded my of Moomba in Melbourne!!
Once we arrived at the square we took a few photos and then made our way across the square, walked through the middle of the parade and headed towards the cathedral. By the time we got to the stairs leading up to the cathedral it started to rain. I already had my rain jacket on, however the hood was lifted as we edged closer and closer to the door. Obviously everyone else in the square had the same idea, go to the cathedral to escape the rain. There was a massive bottleneck trying to get in, so a few of us were getting quite wet. We filed in to the cathedral and started our tour. The church was covered in gold, and was so opulent. You have to give it to the Spaniards, they really knew how to splurge on their churches!!
I may have done quite a bit of yawning throughout that tour. As much as I like to see cathedrals, a quick tour is a good tour. I don't really need to know the ins and outs of the entire church, rather just the main gist of the story!! I did like the massive painting of the last supper, hung high up on one of the cathedral walls.... On the menu that night was guinea pig!!! Who would have guessed that Jesus' last meal would have been guinea pig??
Once the tour finished, we had the choice of going back to the hotel on the bus or walking. My decision was solely based on the weather. If it was still raining it would have been bussing it, however, as the rain had stopped, a group of us decided to walk back to the hotel.
Firstly we took a few photos of the town square. Then we started to walk back to the hotel, stopping to look at a few shops along the way.
I had been looking for a Mother Earth doll, ever since I saw them in Machu Picchu and didn't buy one. I regretted that decision, and I was positive that I wouldn't find another one on this trip. But I did.... At a little shop just off the square. Initially I didn't see it, however later I saw miniature ones, so I asked the lady if she had any larger ones, which she did. We negotiated on the price, and soon I was the proud owner of a Mother Earth doll!! I was one happy woman!!
We made our way back to the hotel, and by this stage we were a bit peckish. We saw a pizza restaurant across the street from the hotel, so we decided to eat there. We walked in and asked for a table. The waiter sat us down, and gave us the menus. We were there for a few minutes. The waiter came back and someone asked about the pizza specials. The waiter then informed us that the pizzas were unavailable as the pizza oven hadn't been lit. Apparently it doesn't get lit until 4.30pm. Change of plans.... We ended up just having a light lunch at the hotel instead.
We met the tour group again at 2pm. This time we were heading to Koricancha and the Santo Domingo Monastery. We were to walk there directly from the hotel. Here I was thinking that we would be walking for a good 10mins to get to this place of interest. You can imagine my surprise when we walked out of our hotel, crossed the street and walked up the hill 50m.
The Koricancha, was one of the most important sites for the Inca's. This is where they came to worship the sun, and it was thought that the walls and alters were all covered in gold. So you can only imagine how much the Spaniards were licking their lips when they saw this huge, gold, bling of a temple glistening in the sun light. And as most of the Spaniards did back then, they turned round and said.... 'This is mine'. They ended up taking all of the gold, and then built a monastery on top of the temples foundations. The gardens and the monastery were beautiful.
Once we had finished walking through all of the temples, we walked back to the hotel. We had a quick 10min turn around. For those of us that wanted to go, some transport had been booked to take us to an alpaca outlet.
Quite a few of us decided to go. We arrived, and we were taken down to a room and were taught how to recognise real alpaca vs acrylic alpaca. We were then let loose up in the store. I was so overwhelmed. I just don't know where to start in these places. I looked around however there was nothing that tickled my fancy. So I left empty handed. A few people bought a couple of things, however most people left empty handed.
We were driven back to the hotel, and once we arrived I ended up going into an alpaca store next door to the hotel. This was more like a 5th avenue type store. This is where I saw a scarf that I loved. I tried to talk her down, and got the price down a little bit, however not to what I wanted to pay, so I decided to walk away.
I went back to my room and decided to go and get a mug of coca tea from the lounge. I filled up my mug and I was about to head back to my room, when I saw Kathy and Rob at the bar. So I quickly raced over to see how Kathy was after her trip to the clinic. She said that she felt a lot better, and that the clinic was amazing. Also amazing, was that Kerry our guide ended up spending the day with Kathy at the clinic just to make sure that everything was translated properly and that everyone was on the same page. What a lovely thing to do.
It was at that point that I decided, what the hell. I'm going to buy my baby alpaca scarf!!! So I dropped my coca tea off in my room, grabbed my bank card, and ended up buying the scarf. Which I am totally in love with by the way!!
It was back to the hotel, and time to get ready for our farewell dinner. I painted on a war face, got changed and of course put on my new scarf. I then met everyone in the lounge.
We walked down the road and around the corner to the bus, where we were driven back up to the city square. It looked a little different in darkness, and without the marching parade.
We walked across the square to a restaurant. It was located up stairs, and overlooked the city square. We started with a wine, and a beautiful farewell speech by Fernando. We all cheered Fernando for doing such a great job. He kept us all in line, and the tour just ran so smoothly. Especially when we had such a large group of 40 people, to not lose anyone, no fights, no dramas he did such a brilliant job!! We are going to really miss Fernando!!!
We had dinner, and whilst we enjoyed the food, a band came out and started playing Peruvian music, including the pan flute. I was so mesmerised by the music... it is just so mystical. I said to Rob, if they are selling CDs I'm going to buy one. Like he said, its a good chance that they will be hocking their cd for sure.
On alternative songs, 2 Peruvian boys and 2 Peruvian girls bounced out of the staff only area, dressed in local attire, folk dancing to the music. They did an amazing job. Their costumes were amazingly crafted, and they totally looked the part.
Sure enough, towards the end of the night, one of the guys from the band went around hocking his cd. The amazing thing was, we was still playing the pan flute whilst he did so. I am now the proud owner of a Peruvian pan flute cd. If anyone wants to borrow my cd when I get home they are more than welcome to!!
Just as we were leaving the restaurant, fireworks started going off from the church. The community was celebrating the patron saint of the tour guides. How fitting!!!
We returned to the hotel in the bus. Again it was time to pack. I'm starting to really get used to packing my case by now.... Still doesn't mean that I enjoy doing it!!!