Krystle's Korner: Peru, Day 14

Well, finalized my ticket to Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu this morning... I am officially a 113 year old Australian male, with the wrong passport number and misspelled first and last name... Lmao - wonder if I can get a prize at the end for the oldest person to climb Huayna Picchu 😃

This morning we had several stops en route to Ollytaytambo. First stop was at a great Incan archaeological site, Moray, that only has only become popular with tourists in the last 5-10 years. It was way deeper than it looks (look for the tiny people at the bottom), with rings of coliseum-like terraces, each terrace with its own microclimate that was used for different agriculture crops. There were a series of water channels to divert, direct and spread water among the terraces; another example of how amazing the Incan's were.

The agave plants there are huge! (I asked why they don't make tequila if they have so many huge agave plants - Bobby says "Because we are not Mexico. We are Peru." Peru takes a lot of pride in keeping their culture, even from the Inca time.

And there was a little "Moray." ☺
Then it was on to more adventures... Next stop: Lunch!

First on the menu: soup (potato with "raw" beans and rice), with a lovely dark red/purple juice made from black corn.

Next up was chicken, rice and veg.
Then came the long-awaited special... "cuy" (guinea pig)!

Haha- tell me that looks appetizing!

Next it was a chocolate "factory" (aka- three square metres of a back porch) and then a pottery place. Very interesting! Peru has amazing 90-100% chocolate (bitter, but the highest concentration of chocolate), which they send to Belgium and Switzerland (otherwise known for their notorious chocolate. Which is actually a lot of Peru's, made into 60-70% chocolate. The hand-made pottery was great - they grind up rock into powder and add water, leave in sun for about seven days to become clay, then use pottery wheel (which is spun by hand) to form shape, then set it sun for about three days, then scratched with a rock to varnish/shine, then painted, then varnished with a rock again, and lastly, fired.
Stop #5: A local bar.
First, to learn about "chicha" (corn beer). Kids even start drinking this when they are very young, even 2-3 years old. Also comes in strawberry flavour, which is much tastier than the original.

Then to play "frog." Totally fun! They have huge competitions... It's ingenious! Don't worry, friends, we will have a table made by summer :) I even bought an original frog!

Roger and I didn't want anyone pouting, so we made sure to lose ; )

After quite some time playing, of which we all could have stayed longer, we continued on to Ollytaytambo.
We arrived to a very cute little town, with narrow cobblestone streets, many markets/kiosks, fabulous views in the heart of the mountains, and cute little hostels/hotels. Our accommodation was lovely.