Friday the 26th

So  the food here  has  been  good,   many  different  things.  Cuy cuy,  or  gunea pig,  is   a  specialty.   I  put   a  little  bit  of  alpaca  on  my  plate  at the  buffet,  but couldn't  eat it.  But  I  have  eaten   yucca   and   have  been  drinking  the  coca  tea.  They  say  it  helps  with  the  altitude.  I also  went  to  the  "oxygen   room"  this  afternoon.  The  hotel  has  a  tank   and  gives  you  a  mask  for  5  minutes.   I'm   trying  to  keep  well  in  order   to  enjoy   Machu Picchu.    Fri   the  26th  we  started  out  by  bus, stopped  at  Chincero,   where  there  is  a  cooperative of  women  weavers.  We  had  a  great  presentation   about the  dyes  they  use,   the  drop spindle spinning and   weaving.   After  they  had   all sorts  of  things  for sale   but   we   got  to   see  some  little  ones  and  they  brought  out  the  kissing  llama.  After that   we  went  to  Ollantaytambo,  a  fairly  large   Incan  ruin.  It  was  a  terraced area  wedged  between two   mountains.  Our  bus  could only  get  part way  through  the  town,   there  was  an  Independence  parade  in  the  main  square  and   traffic  was   stopped.   We   walked   a  short way  to the site.  Very  impressive, but  the  most interesting  thing   was  learning  how  the  Incans had  built   aquaducts to  bring   the  run off from the  nearby  glacier  into   the site so   the  people  living  there  had   clean  drinking  water  as  well  as   water  for crops.   The  water is  STILL flowing  through  the  town,  500 years  later.   We stopped   at  a lovely   hacienda for lunch .   There  were  some  huge  birds in  the  trees  and  a  small  enclosure  of alpacas.  I  had  fun  feeding them,  there  was  a  tree  next to the  enclosure  that  they  had   stripped  as  far  as  they  could  reach.  So  I  broke  off  branches  and  they  ate  out  of  my  hand.   The  dogs  had  been  so  hungry  in  Ecuador,  that  our  first  day  in  Cusco  I  bought  some  dog  food  in  the  market.  I've  seen  lots  of  dogs  here  but  they  don't  seem  to  be  strays.  They  run  free but  seem  to  be  pretty well cared  for.  I  offered  kibble  to several dogs and  they  all  turned  their  noses  up.  Oh well,  the  day  ended  well,  our  tour  guide sent  me  off with  his  pal  into  the  local  market  area  and I found  alpaca  yarn.  Yippeee.    Tomorrow  is  the  big  day.