Saqsaywaman, Q'enqo, Puka Pukara, and Tambomachay

From Iain: Today we went on a day trip to the four Incan ruins closest to Cusco: Saqsaywaman, Q'enqo, Puka Pukara, and Tambomachay.  We caught a bus to the site closest to Pisac, Tambomachay, and then walked towards Cusco from one site to the next.  With exploring the ruins, picnicking along the way, and taking a little bit of an unnecessary detour, this took us most of the day. After all the Incan ruins we've seen during our time in Peru, some tourist fatigue must be setting in because we were all a little jaded with today's sites.  That's not to say that parts of Saqsaywaman weren't pretty impressive.

Saqsaywaman

Wiñay Taki Performance

From Iain: Last night we were invited by Fielding and Roman (one of the founding families of Kusi Kawsay) to a performance by Wiñay Taki, a traditional Andean musical group of families and friends who are all connected in some way or other with the school. The performance took place at the Pisac Inn and we were part of a small, select audience of supporters of the school.  Roman introduced and explained each of the pieces of music and dance, which followed the Andean calendar through the seasons and various local festivals and celebrations.  The instruments included all manner of flutes as well as some drums and stringed instruments.  Each new piece involved changes of costume and interchanging roles of playing instruments, dancing, or singing.  It was all thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable.

Wiñay Taki

After six or seven pieces spanning the Andean year, the audience members were invited/cajoled to get up and dance with various members of the group.  In the spirit of the evening we were duly persuaded and even managed to enjoy this part too.  To round off the evening, Fielding and Roman acknowledged everyone's support of the school, including Bethany and Sierra's participation over the last three months, Tanya's guidance on painting through the grades and hands-on assistance with the kindergarten, and my technical help with the recent redesign of the school's website.  You can see the results of my efforts at http://kusikawsay.org/ (while you're there, please consider making an online donation to the school since many of their start-up funding sources have dried up now and they desperately need your support for their growing operating costs).

Moray and Salineras

From Iain: Today we went on a day trip to the agricultural Incan terraces at Moray and the salt pans at Salineras. We've seen a lot of the Urubamba bus terminal lately as we had to take another bus here today. Then we hopped on the Cusco bus and jumped off at the junction for the small town of Maras. There we negotiated for a taxi to take us to Moray and Salineras (and to wait for us to take a look around at both places before returning us to the junction to catch a bus back to Urubamba).
At Moray there are three massive, deep bowls inset with perfect concentric terraces. Apparently the Inca used the terraces as a kind of agricultural experiment station to determine the best crops and varieties for growing at different elevations.

Agricultural Incan Terraces at Moray

At Salineras there are thousands of salt pans built into the steep slopes dropping down to the valley floor. The pans are fed from a spring with a very high salt content and worked by a large extended family, who rake up the salt crystals into conical piles where it dries before being bagged. The overall visual impression of the site is very strange, all the more so for being so unexpected in this environment.

Salt Pans at Salineras

Chinchero

From Iain: Today we went on a day trip to Chinchero, which is a small village on the road between Urubamba and Cusco.  The landscape here looks very different to that of the Sacred Valley - very high (Chinchero sits at 3,762m or 12,340 ft) with grassland, trees, bushes, and agricultural fields of red, brown, yellow, and green and endless vistas to still higher snow-covered mountains.

Chinchero

The main places of interest in the town are a large Sunday market (with much the same items as the Pisac market) and a historical area with some Incan terraces and ruins atop which sits an ugly, decaying colonial church.  When we arrived many of the town's inhabitants were attending a Catholic service inside the church, so we couldn't go inside. Given the history of the Inca and the Catholic Church it was a little discomfiting to see all the local people dressed in their traditional Andean clothing coming out of the church at the end of the service.

Ollantaytambo

From Iain: Yesterday I went on a day trip with Sierra to visit the Incan ruins at Ollantaytambo.  Bethany wasn't feeling up to snuff so Tanya stayed with her at the hostal.

Incan Stonework at Ollantaytambo

From Sierra: When we got there [after a bus to Urubamba and then a collectivo to Ollantaytambo] we went up some steps to the ruins. The ruins here have more stone carvings than the other ones. After we went to The Coffee Tree restaurant where we had banana cream pie for dessert.

Last Day of School

From Iain: Yesterday was the girl's last day at Kusi Kawsay.  More details to follow but here are some pictures in the meantime.

Sierra and Profesora Rosaura

From Sierra: I brought cake to share with my class, and cards. Everyone also made cards for me and four people brought presents for me like: a doll from Noria, a necklace from Ruth, a watch from Miska, and a llama and a sheep from Washington. After lunch we took a taxi up to the Pisac ruins. There are probably more ruins here than there are at Machu Picchu. After we wanted to walk down another way but when we got to the end of the trail it ended in someone's yard and it had a locked gate. A man saw us and told us we had to go back up where we had come from but instead when he went away we climbed over his fence. Then we went to a restaurant where I had pumpkin ravioli in browned butter and walnut sauce.

Kusi Kawsay Open House and Food Festival

From Iain: Yesterday Kusi Kawsay held an open house and food festival. There was a very impressive display of school work from all the classes inside one of the classrooms, while outside each class set up a table laden with various local Andean dishes that parents had helped to prepare. The teachers and children explained the ingredients, preparation, and nutrition properties of each dish, after which we all got to tuck in. Pretty much everything was vegetarian as far as we could tell and quinoa and kiwicha was much in evidence. Bethany and Sierra liked the torte de quinoa the best. There was an interesting display on the nutritional content of coca too.

Sierra's Class Performing at the Food Festival

Many of the children dressed in traditional clothing (including Sierra who wore clothing kindly donated by the owners of our hostal), and some classes gave musical performances. There was also a rendition of the Kusi Kawsay school song performed by the whole school, which I captured on video:

In the evening we, along with the other long-term residents of the hostal, were treated to a wonderful buffet dinner by the hostal owners and their extended family. They also plied us with Pisco Sour, made with pisco (grape brandy), lime juice, and egg whites. Not wishing to miss out, Bethany and Sierra got to try what we thought was a non-alcoholic variation. Since Bethany was more bright-eyed and goofy than usual on the walk home, we're thinking their drinks were no different to ours.