Day 9 - We woke up for a nice breakfast in Ollantaytambo with the tastiest coffee ever, and then hopped in a cab and went on our way to our next hotel in Huayabamba. Little did we know that our "nicer" hotel was actually a swanky resort in the middle of nowhere. Aranwa was a mini city in the heart of the sacred valley, and we took advantage of it! We explored the art galleries, our colonial suites, restaurants, spa, museums and library, and the list goes on! Don't believe me? Check it out here. Later in the afternoon, we headed over to Chincheros to pick up some stuff at the market and of course watch the World Cup finals! Sad day for Holland, but it was fun to watch it in a local restaurant packed full of villagers and gallons of Chicha (Incan corn beer). Towards dinner time, I started to feel majorly sick with whatever Nolan had earlier, so I retired early to take a nice bubble bath and pack for our 3 day hike starting the next day. I fell asleep early and tossed and turned all night feeling ill.
Day 10 - Woke up super early for our breakfast and pickup from the resort by our guides, cook, and driver to head up to Lares village and our 3 day trek in the mountains. Still feeling sick. After a good 3 hours in the dusty van up roads that were falling down the mountainside, we arrived at the hot springs in Lares village. So John and I took a dip in the boiling hot natural waters, while Nolan and Anna hid in the shade and watched. Then we hopped out and enjoyed a fresh lunch prepared by our cook, and took a short siesta. After the siesta, we immediately strapped on our gear and began our hike deeper into the mountains. By dusk, we finally reached our campsite in a tiny village spot, where we camped near to a local family's hut. The temperature immediately dropped 30 degrees, and we bundled up for the night, while enjoying our tea time with our guide. Then we had dinner inside the hut with the family (they eat potatoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!), and once that was gone, we invited our cook to bring our huge dinner inside the hut for the family to have. It was such a treat to see them enjoy food like they never get to have. And it was fun chatting a little bit through a translator (in the mountains, they don't speak Spanish, only Quechua).
Day 11 - We got up with the sun, and our cook kneeling outside the tent asking if we wanted Coca tea (so nice!), and then felt how badly we had slept because of the cold and ice on our tent. When the sun came all the way up, we stripped off the layers again, because the temperature started climbing up to a nice 70 degrees again. We had breakfast, got all of our stuff, and started hiking up again. After a few hours of noticing the wind and how much harder it was to breathe again, we reached the summit - 16,000 feet! To put that in perspective, when I went skydiving here in California, we jumped out of the plane at 14,000 feet! The air was thin and cold, but it was so awesome to reach the top and see all the valleys crawling around us. We continued on, stopping at local peoples' huts to give them handfuls of coveted coca leaves, and finally reached a group of women weaving. One was making a beautiful scarf with natural leaf and berry dyes, and made from Alpaca wool, but it was only halfway done and she said there was no way it would be ready for the next day, when the ladies were going to bring their wares to show us if we wanted to buy. So disappointing. We kept on going, and reached the school, where we had brought 100 little oranges for the children there. Kids in the mountains only eat potatoes, literally, so they don't get nutritious treats like fruits and other veggies. So the oranges were a real treat! Handing them out to each little kid was precious too. Nolan played some soccer with a bunch of them, while I watched and took pictures of a few little girls who wanted to see what they looked like. Then we headed up to our campsite to have a late meal, and a nap. Nolan and I took a quick hike up to the nearest lake to sightsee before tea time, and then we had dinner with some of the schoolteachers, which was fun.
Day 12 - Woke up with the sun again, and brushed the sheets of ice off our tent! The women from the village had stopped by our campsite with all of their workings to show us and sell us. When I got out of the tent, I saw the old woman from the day before, and she had stayed up all night finished the beautiful scarf I had liked the day before! I had to have it :) And it was so sweet that she had finished it for me. After we bought a few things, we had our breakfast, and stopped by the school again to give some toys to the kids that we had picked up before we started our hike. The girls got tiny dolls and hair-ties, and the boys got little cars and army men. They were so happy to get little gifts! After that, we finished packing up and headed back on the trail for a few more hours, until we finally reached the end of our trail, where our lunch and our van was waiting for us. After lunch we had a short siesta, and then hopped in the van back to our hotel in Cuzco (and got stuck in the worst traffic jam ever in the tiny town of Ollantaytambo on the way back). And let me just say, getting back to Cuzco was SO NICE. And it was nice to take a shower and look in the mirror (horror!) after 3 days. Then we met up with all of our guides and driver for a farewell dinner at a local restaurant in San Blas square (and Nolan ran into 2 classmates from UCSF; random!). It was nice to have one last night with our wonderful guides, Big Willy and Domingo, and our driver, Norman. Then we headed back once more to the hotel. And the bed = heaven.
Day 13 - Slept in until 9ish, hit up a nice breakfast, then explored the Incan museum in the city, watched a parade in honour of the festival for Virgen del Carmen, and ransacked the local market. Then we got some empanadas (for 15 cents!) in the square, some tasty bread, and went back to the hotel for a quick nap. Nolan and John slept while Anna and I explored some more, got a latte in the square and chatted. Then we all headed out to admire some more art, grab a couple fantastic papas rellenas on the street for dinner, and a couple of Pisco Sours in a bar. All in all, a nice last night in Cuzco. Nolan and I couldn't sleep, so we stayed up showering and packing, and then watched an MTV documentary of Pink!'s life. Hah.
Day 14 - Woke up at 5 to grab our stuff and a quick breakfast downstairs. Then our driver arrived to pick us up and take us to the airport to catch out flight to Lima! We were drowsy, but once in Lima after an hour's flight, we realized that we had about a 6 hour layover there before our next flight to San Salvador. So we had some roasted chicken and fries, more Inca Kola, and a coffee at the Starbucks there while reading the local papers and doing Sudoku. We loaded up on coffee and chocolate at the local Cafe Britt shop, and then hopped on the plane out of the country! We arrived back in San Francisco in the early morning of Day 15, which I guess is Day 16 if you count the first day of our travel also. It was SO NICE to be back in our own bed, with potable water, and a nice hot shower. We said goodbye to Anna and John because they were leaving early Saturday morning, and we fell fast asleep, back in our home.
Last night (Saturday), we had Ash U over to watch a nice movie and have dinner, and I made brownies because Nolan had been BEGGING me for some, and I decided to use the new oil I got at Safeway yesterday afternoon and change it up:
Just substituting this oil instead of the regular oil called for in brownies, made them into hazelnut brownies...delicious, nutty, and chocolatey. Mmmm!
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