On Monday I finally back with the group and was able to take the trip to Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and Chincheros. In Pisac we got to see a beautiful "staircase" of Incan era terraces. These terraces were used for three main purposes decoration, erosion prevention, and agriculture land. The terraces were absolutely gorgeous and they were cleaning the terraces in order to prepare them for the the next rotation of plants and tourists. The tour guide also showed us the Incan Tombs in the the side of the cliff. All of the Incan people were buried this way (a tomb in the cliff) but the more prestigious you were the more decorated your tomb was. Unfortunately many of the tombs were robbed during the early days of tourism to Peru.
The next stop was Ollantaytambo where we saw the the "fortress" of the Incans. The story of the fortress dates to the conquistadors. After they conquered Cusco the Spaniards went after the Inka (king) who had run to Ollantaytambo. The "fortress" was actually a restful Incan town in the center of three valleys so the Inka was smart and had an artificial lake made in one of the valleys. When the Spanish arrived for the fight he released the water from the lake and wiped out most of the Spanish army and the rest were taken out by the slingshots from the walls of Ollantaytambo.
Lastly we went to Chincheros to see a demonstration of how they made dyes from natural products. We watched the indigenous woman cut the wool, wash it and then use the juice from a bug to make a beautiful red dye. The demonstration was actually really interesting and then we were served mate de coca during it which was nice because it was freezing out. Lastly I end on a good note with the US World Cup team beat Ghana 2-0!
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