Ever Try an Alpaca Burger

Hi. We are now into Day 3/4 of our tour, taking an early flight Tuesday to Cusco and spending the day visiting all the sights and sounds of that old town. Cathedrals, narrow streets and markets made for a great day. I had my first alpaca burger and it was quite good! Then we had to repack duffle bags to weigh no more than 8 kg - in preparation for the upcoming hiking trek. So, I have no computer as I had to leave it behind until after the trek so I have no pictures to share today :(   (trying this on my phone!)

Wednesday morning, we travelled by mini-bus to the Sacred Valley where we were able to purchase beautiful, warm alpaca products such as scarves and hats made on location by a Pervian Women's co-op. The Co-op was provided with funding by Planeterra and G Adventures (our tour company). We got to see how they dyed the alpaca hair and then weave it into all kinds of great products. Then we had a chance to see what we can expect at Machu Picchu by visiting the ruins at Pisac before the best meal of the week.

Our guide took us to the Pawra Restarant in the village of Calca where we had a five-course meal that was pretty incredible! We had breads, spinach soup, little mashed potato appetizers with chicken, quinoa salad, lettuce and cheese and stuffed chili peppers (real spicy!). Then dessert was corn cake with icing and chocolate squares. The restaurant is community run and was also provided with funding and support by Planeterra and G Adventures.

We then moved onto Ollantaytambo where we had a short walking tour of the town and ancient ruins here after checking in at our hotel for tonight.

Tomorrow, we begin our three day hike  of the Lares trail so I will be off the grid until the weekend sometime. We are having a fantastic time and seem to be acclimating to the high altitude of Cusco and Ollantaytambo OK. We are psyched for our big trek !