Machu Picchu, cont.

"Adios! Good-bye!"

Typical Sacred Valley building

Bulls on the roof





Cutie!

Weaver

The ruins at Ollantantambo

Plaza de Armas, Cuzco

Refer to the picture of the road from Augas Caliente to Machu Picchu from yesterday to fully appreciate the feat of the child in the top picture today. This young (maybe between 8 and 10 years old?) boy hopped on our bus near the top of the road as we began our descent and yelled "Adios! Good-bye!" and the equivalent in Quechua. He then hopped off of the bus and we continued down the road. At the next spot where the walking path (stairs) meet the road, he was there waving and yelling "Good-bye". At the next point, again, he was there, yelling "Adios". This continued all the way down to Aguas Caliente, with the bus taking the hair-pin turns while the boy ran down the path meeting us at every point. At the end of the road, he hopped on the bus again and repeated his send-off as above. I was amazed that this child ran the entire way down from Machu Picchu in the same amount of time our bus took to drive down. Then he came down the isle, hat in hand, asking for money. How could I resist? It was well worth the price of admission!

Our third day was spent touring the sacred Valley. We left Cuzco at 9 am and visited several small towns in the Sacred Valley. There were markets in all of them, but the primary spot for visiting the market was in Pisac. In addition, Pisac, Ollantantambo, and Chinchero all had ruins to visit. After a long day climbing stairs at Machu Picchu, my traveling companions were about "staired out". Living in Colorado, I had a distinct advantage over Blanca and Heather who live at sea level here in Lima as the spots we were visiting were all at a higher altitude than Denver.

The houses in the Sacred Valley are primarily constructed of mud bricks. It was amazing to me that they are so durable. The rainy season lasts from October through May. How do mud bricks hold up to so much water? Most of the roofs are tiled and nearly every house has a couple of bulls on the top. Some also have crosses or crucifixes. Some of the crosses have a ladder and spear forming a "V" from the base. I was puzzled by these decorations, so I asked a local. The ornaments are talismans, offering protection to the house and its inhabitants. Bulls are a symbol of strength.

The little boy with the puppy was in the market at Pisac. He followed us around while we were there asking if we wanted to take his picture. I had resisted all other offers, preferring to have a "natural" rather than posed picture. I could not resist this child. He was too cute. The puppy was darling as well. It was a sol well spent.

When we returned to Cuzco, we spent our last evening together at a cafe off of the Plaza de Armas. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful trip. The next morning, Heather and I went to the airport, leaving Blanca in Cuzco to work on obtaining her documents. It was a sad good-bye for Blanca and me.