18:15 - Last night's dinner was pretty good and my most expensive yet (130 Sol ~ 31 pounds). We ate in the San Blas quarter of town. I have to say Cusco is a pretty cute town, tidy, clean and old. Chris ate guinea pig, a local delicacy, pretty horrendous to look at...I thought my chevice of trout and lomo saltado were pretty amazing. And the wine was pretty good...argentinian I believe...
This morning we set off at a pretty leasurly hour, 9am, by minibus towards Pisaq. Our luggage for the next 3 days has had to be reduced to a small holdall and we have all left our main luggage in Cusco at the hotel where we'll go back 3 days from now. This is due to lack of space on the little teain we'll be taking to go to Agua Caliente tomorrow.
So off we went to Pisaq and about half way there we stopped at an animal sanctuary where we visited pure blood Llamas (all four kinds). Most of the Llamas in circulation these days are apparently of mixed blood. In Pisaq we visited some pretty amazing Inca remains...and did some walking with sheer drop on the side that did not make me feel particularly comfortable. But it was worth it to see the temple on the other side of the mountain. Jolanda didn't come as it was a little too strenuos for her. We then had lunch just off the main square in Pisaq itself and Sally took us to a place where they made fantastic empanadas. It was a pretty cool place, with a huge oven and a very very very ling stick commanding the metal tray that moved things in and out of the oven. Also, at 2 sols per empanada (50p), what more could you possibly want? Most of the group tried out a drink made out of dark corn (chachi something) but I had water as I was reliably told it tasted like cinnamon, and I hate the stuff. They had a pretty old italian coffee machine (a Cimbali), but the barista was not really one of the best baristas in the world...the coffee was very very long, but drinkable. After a look around the market where I mistakingly bought only one good luck bull (they should be two for each home I was later told), we drove to Ollantaytambo. More visiting of Inca temple on top of a mountain, and then off to the hotel to check into our rooms. Dinner is earlish (7.30pm) as tomorrow we have to be up at 7 and I don't know about the others, but I am knackered :-). A lot of walking up and down hills in my 'pedulas' (walking shoes) today!
Forgot to say...shoulder no longer giving me trouble :-)...lets hope it lasts!