Day 16

Wednesday 17^th November 2010

Today we’re off to Ollantaytambo – a tour of the sacred valley- which is one of the Inca cities.

But first we went to Jacks for breakfast for one last taste of good coffee and bacon for a few days. We we’re joined by Jackie (Oz) Sheridan (Oz) and Brendan (S. Africa) and we sat and made rather suggestive noises whilst munching away at breakfast.

We set off and soon stopped at an animal sanctuary. They had all sorts there. About fifteen Parrots, Deer, Alpaca, Tortoise, PUMA!!!!! CONDOR!!!

It was amazing, the Parrots’ were just roaming free sat on the fences munching away at corn and stuff. The Puma and Condors were in a cage (separately) thank god but they are amazing creatures. They say the Condor is the ruler of the sky in South America and with a wing span of 3.5 metres and talons like a scythe you can believe it.

The Puma were asleep when we arrived, which I was particularly gutted about. We tried to get a few snaps but they were a bit bobbins. The Puma were rescued from a night club in Lima, they were kept in a cage and drugged so that punters could stoke them on a night out, like you do. Imagine that in the Roxy!!

Anyway just as we were leaving I noticed that one of them had come out the cave for a stroll so I dashed back through the sanctuary for a closer look. How amazing are these cats??

We clambered back aboard the mini bus and headed to Pisac. Another Inca ruin site. We had a wonder around there and saw agricultural terraces and a steep path leading up to a hilltop fort and a little taster of the famous Inca stone steps, we had no idea what was in store for us.

We stopped for lunch in Pisac town, I ordered a chicken sandwich, when it arrived the slither of chicken was so slim it could well have been any meat steamrollered onto a bit of bread, it was honestly thinner than the chicken slices you get down at Tesco! I mean the chickens in Peru aren’t the chubbiest cluckers I’ve ever seen but there must be more meat than that on them!! Suz had Cebiche which is a traditional Peruvian dish comprising of locally sourced Kingfish which is “cooked” using the juices of lemons and served on a bed of onions topped with chilli. Ewwwwwww!! Suzi quite liked it. Peruvians hail the left over juices named ‘leche de tigre’ (tigers milk) as a perfect cure for a hangover.

After lunch we had a look around the town markets to the sound of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” on the panpipes and observed the locals have some sort of street party, swigging beer and playing a game which involves lobbing big coins into a brass frog’s mouth. This was about half one on a Wednesday afternoon.

Back aboard the bus and we headed for Ollantaytambo, another Inca site, which is described as a living Inca town. The locals still strive to maintain ancient traditions such as tilling the fields with foot ploughs. People have lived in these cobble stone streets since the 13^th century. A series of carved stone terraces were built to protect the valley from invaders and lead up to the hillside fortress (more steps). Once up there we saw the temple of the sun which is one of the finest examples of Inca stonework. Six pink monoliths were designed to glow as the rays of the sun hit the structure. The stones are bloody enormous and were quarried from the opposite mountain and moved down one hillside and up the other whilst the “leader” stood atop the stone shouting orders, adding another 70kg.

After all that activity we checked into the guest house for the night and were offered the room with the double bed (for the honeymooners) which was really cosy. We chucked our stuff all over the room as usual and went out for tea.

I ordered the beef, when it arrived the slither of beef was so slim it could well have been any meat steamrollered onto my plate, it was honestly thinner than the beef slices you get down at Tesco! I mean the cows in Peru aren’t the beefiest bovine I’ve ever seen but there must be more meat than that on them!!

We had to leave the prematurely from the restaurant as I had an urgent need for the bathroom. We dashed home and without a second to spare my pasty white buttocks hit the seat and my bowels opened with a rush like the first day of a Primark sale. Safe to say that was me for the night. Just another one of the unfortunate side effects of altitude, which meant the honeymoon suite was wasted on us.

Tomorrow we begin the Inca Trail proper, so I’m having a couple of Immodium and an early night.