{"id":3206,"date":"2016-06-15T09:29:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-15T13:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/?p=3206"},"modified":"2016-06-15T09:29:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-15T13:29:00","slug":"june-8-2016-a-three-person-tour-a-three-person-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/?p=3206","title":{"rendered":"June 8, 2016 – A Three Person Tour… A Three Person Tour!"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 8, 2016 – A Three Person Tour… A Three Person Tour!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It wound up being a three person tour – me and two 20-something sisters from the Midwest.\u00a0 Cheyenne Knox was from Fargo, while her slightly older sister Larissa the librarian was from Minneapolis.\u00a0 Our guide was Rosemary and our stunt driver was Robert.\u00a0 I say stunt driver as some of those winding unpaved roads required the skills of a Hal Needham to navigate and get through.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, credit starting flowing to the Peruvian masses so whereas before only the wealthy could afford a new car, banks began issuing credit to more people thus enabling ever more cars to be bought and put onto the roads.\u00a0 That combined with a surge in tourism has led to more and more cars, buses, and tourist vehicles clogging the streets of Cusco.\u00a0 Still, though it required some aggressive squeeze plays on Robert’s part, we made good time leaving the city and were on our tour in short order.\u00a0 Here then are a few stray notes from our gridlocked escape into the countryside:<\/p>\n

Cusco has one of the oldest university’s in Peru, founded in 1692;\u00a0 San Marcos University in Lima is the oldest university in South America, founded in approximately 1551.<\/p>\n

Because of the winding and at times bumpy roads, it takes approximately 20 hours by car to go from Cusco to Lima; by comparison, I flew between the two cities in just over an hour.<\/p>\n

The road we were taking also would take us into the jungle and the Andes Mountains.\u00a0 It’s really \u201cthe Amazon\u201d or “Rain Forest” but the Spanish word given for the area translates as “Jungle” so sometimes that’s just what they call it.<\/p>\n

Our first stop in the Sacred Valley region was in Chincharo (pronounced chin-char-o I think).\u00a0 In Incan times, potatoes were grown here in vast quantities and were key to food production.\u00a0 Later crops like barley and fava beans were introduced and now those three are the primary crops of the region.<\/p>\n

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\nA market mini-mall of hand made goods was run by 12 families.\u00a0 Here we watched a presentation on natural dyes used to color the lamb, alpaca, and llama fur spun into strands to weave table runners, ponchos, sweaters, blankets, etc.\u00a0 The most amazing “fun with science” aspect of the presentation was a dried beetle they pluck off cacti.\u00a0 When crushed, this parasite yields a red dye… my understanding is that it’s not from the blood rather it’s from the crushed carapaces.\u00a0 This dye can be used for lipstick even and has a sweet smell.\u00a0 But when you mix in some salt, you can get orange dye.\u00a0 Other colors are equally created naturally — when you take fava beans you can grind them into green pigments.\u00a0 And there’s a tree root that when shaved becomes a natural soap for cleaning the wool (and one’s dyed hands from the aforementioned crushings).<\/p>\n

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No matter what was going on, the people of this mini-mall market would be spinning the wool into thread.\u00a0 Sometimes they do it while singing, while cooking, while eating, pretty much all the time, we were told; this may be because to weave an even simple patterned table runner takes 35-40 days… And quite a bit of thread too!<\/p>\n

I opted not to buy any of their weavings — I was tempted to get a table runner for my mom but even at an exchange rate of taking a third of the price to get the US equivalent, 220 sols or $70-ish seemed pricey to me.\u00a0 But it was assuredly handmade and if it took 35-40 days, I can understand the pricing.<\/p>\n

They did allow me to try on a poncho and hat \u201cfor free\u201d so I could snap a photo.\u00a0 If there\u2019s one thing I learned at this village that stands above all the rest \u2013 I will NEVER be able to pull off a Peruvian poncho.
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The next town we drove through was Maras, a town well known for its salt evaporation ponds which are still being used.\u00a0 I was more intrigued by all the great hats we were seeing in Peru.\u00a0 Besides the technicolor hats with the dangling chin strap ties, there was a great white top hat I saw women sporting.\u00a0 Kids in school uniforms, which looked more like track suits than anything else, sported color coordinated fedoras.\u00a0 In this town, the blue and white track suits were offset by a golden hat.<\/p>\n

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The big show-stopper of the tour was Moray (pronounced More-Eye).\u00a0 A valley of concentric terraced circles, this place served as the Incan greenhouse laboratory.\u00a0 Soil samples from all areas of the empire were placed at various terrace levels to best approximate the climates of the regions.\u00a0 Seeds were planted then to see what would grow best where and cross pollinated hybrids were created to improve agricultural production.\u00a0 There were three main \u201clabs\u201d we saw \u2013 the main large terraced circles, a medium sized area, and a smaller version.<\/p>\n

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The clumps of rocks in some of the photos are there for reconstruction of the terrace walls and are not some Incan ritual formation.\u00a0 They\u2019re present day necessities for re-construction and preservation purposes.<\/p>\n

Our last major tourist stop on this tour of the Sacred Valley was to Ollantaytambo.\u00a0 Here we climbed the Terraces of Pumatallis. It was a tough climb even for me and so I was kinda glad Mom opted to skip this extension tour.\u00a0 I missed hanging out with her but I suspect she wouldn\u2019t have had such a great time with the high altitude stair challenge.\u00a0 I needed several breaks amongst the terraces, huffing and puffing but that was probably all for the best as it afforded a few more photo opportunities.<\/p>\n

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A leisurely buffet lunch at a riverfront caf\u00e9 capped the tour.\u00a0 I tried the baked alpaca but was unimpressed.\u00a0 The desserts were all surprisingly bland as well\u2026 but the true treat saw a llama, alpaca, and vicuna tethered by the river.\u00a0 My best efforts to get to know the llama produced this \u201cI come in peace\u2026 como se llama, Senor Llama?\u201d photo:<\/p>\n

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I got dropped off at my hotel for the evening, a fru-fru resort called Sol y Luna.\u00a0 It\u2019s not my speed but it\u2019s lovely.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I left my camera in the van and freaked out a bit; a frantic rush back to the front desk and a phone call or two later, and the camera was found.\u00a0 Crisis averted but my heart was racing.<\/p>\n

The hotel features \u201ccasitas\u201d not rooms and I\u2019m in casita 40 \u2013 way the hell through the winding flora stuffed walkways; for a romantic getaway it\u2019d be a delight.\u00a0 For a single dude just trying to make his way to Machu Picchu, um, it\u2019s a bit of overkill.\u00a0 Do I really need two fireplaces?\u00a0 A jacuzzi?\u00a0 But the welcome desserts were delightful.<\/p>\n

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The hotel itself is attached to a school for children with special needs.\u00a0 I gather part of the proceeds from the hotel go to help fund the school.\u00a0 Part of me thought instead of spending their money on a gentrified luxury resort maybe that money could\u2019ve gone directly to the school.\u00a0 But I suppose in some warped way the hotel investment becomes an ongoing revenue stream to hopefully perpetuate the school in the long run.<\/p>\n

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I walked a mile into the small town on a dusty road but didn\u2019t see any restaurants that grabbed me.\u00a0 I did see this great graffiti logo for a backpackers hostel.\u00a0 It made me think \u201cThe Tres Llamas\u201d would be a good biker gang name for a TV show.<\/p>\n

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I kinda wanted something light for dinner but the hole-in-the-wall food options as I walked back to my hotel didn\u2019t offer the sorta salad-y entr\u00e9e I was in the mood for.\u00a0 I stopped in three mini marts on my way back looking for Coke Zero.\u00a0 I realized then that I was truly in the Peruvian countryside, and for some reason only fully loaded Coca-Cola is offered; you either take the real thing or nothing at all.\u00a0 I went with nothing — regular Coke is too sweet and too many calories for me these days.<\/p>\n

In the end, I wound up at the hotel\u2019s \u201ccasual\u201d restaurant called Waya.\u00a0 I ordered an overpriced glass of wine and the scallops, skipping the salad option I originally wanted.\u00a0 The scallops were super sweet in a sauce that overwhelmed everything.\u00a0 The dish was sickeningly sweet; it was a major bummer but the Syrah felt nice and light at least.<\/p>\n

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It’s been a day of information overload.\u00a0 I suspect I retained 5% of what Rosemary told us today, if that.\u00a0 But that’s still 5% more than I knew before the day started.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow is Machu Picchu.\u00a0 The climb may be tough again — this altitude ain’t kidding around.\u00a0 But given I’m not running and eating too much, perhaps a bit of a struggle is in order!\u00a0 This Kevin needs to run again soon… But probably only AFTER I get back to the states I think.\u00a0 The biggest roadblock to running in Peru is that I asked my mom to take my smelly running clothes home so she could wash them and forgetting I hadn\u2019t packed a spare pair.\u00a0 Live and learn.\u00a0 Always pack a spare set of running gear.\u00a0 You never know when you’ll over order and need to run off the calories.\u00a0 And you never know when you\u2019ll be jonesing to put a few miles in on a Peruvian dirt road.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 8, 2016 – A Three Person Tour… A Three Person Tour! It wound up being a three person tour – me and two 20-something sisters from the Midwest.\u00a0 Cheyenne Knox was from Fargo, while her slightly older sister Larissa the librarian was from Minneapolis.\u00a0 Our guide was Rosemary and our stunt driver was Robert.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[735,736,737,738,733,472,734],"class_list":["post-3206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-inca","tag-llama","tag-peru","tag-poncho","tag-sacred","tag-tour","tag-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}