Sacred Valley

First off, we are almost ready to celebrate the finding of kim's bag. The bag has been found in Lima and is set to fly to Cusco tomorrow morning and has been coordinated to be sent to us here in Yucay pronounced (you-kai). It is supposed to be at the hotel by tomorrow 5pm. We'll update.
Sacred ValleyWaking to our first morning at 11,000 feet we were prepared for a full day of events. Kim and I slept through the wake-up call today but lucky for us Gordon paid it forward to us with a wake-up knock. Nice breakfast. Mini silver dollar pancakes, yogurt, juice, bread. I loved the papaya.
We were greeted by our day's tour director and a bus full of other travellers.For the record, yesterday the site Saqsayhuaman is the one pronounced "sexy woman" even now the next day it leaves an indellible impression of something great.Today we visited Pukapukara, Tambomachay, and Ollantaytambo, the last of which was situated in a beautiful valley. The only thing you can compare is the fjords in Norway, except there is an agricultural valley floor and steep mountain sides that have been terraced another 3,000 feet higher (reminds me of Croatia). By no stretch does it appear lush, but evidently the Inca learned over time what and how to grow, and where. The climate or "micro-climates" are vastly different from the valley floor up to the tops of these impressive mountains.Pisac market is bustling in the Pisac town square with literally hundreds of venders all selling their goods. Carvings, pottery, music, jewelry, and enough woven and knitted goods to make you join PETA. I found the goods to be generally just garbage (one man's garbage is another man's treasure). The kind of things you'd take home and eventually throw away a few months later. Kim disagrees a litle with me on that. I quickly realized the only way I was going to make it was to do it style a la Roger, and eat my way through. I found an alley way into a hidden smokey open arcade and found a little man with two kids, and a large woodfire brick oven. He spoke not a word of English, I not a word of Spanish, but we bonded over baking. I ended up eating 4 empanadas (cheese, onion, tomato), a slice of pineapple bread and a slice of apple bread. Good food. He had several cooked items on display - baked chicken, cui (guinea pig) and a couple of things on the ground that he was insistant that I would not enjoy, nor want. He could tell the disgust in my face (how dare he impune my tastebuds!!) all in good spirit. He pulled off a slice and hesitating, offered to me in the "put your tastebuds where your mouth is". When I showed my clear approval and enjoyment he pulled a large chunk off and gave it to me. It turned out to be oven baked / smoked lamb.His empanadas were so good I bought one and offered to the old lady down the alley concurrentyl dealing win Kim's professional browsing technique. She smiled so wide and eagerly accepted. On my trips back and forth to the baker I noticed all the locals were congregating there and buying/eating. Always a great sign of a good place.Ollantaytambo was a special place that was almost magical/spiritual. The whole complex was built so that looking from high, appears to have been built in the profile of a llama. This was the practice of the Inca generally - Cusco in the shape of a puma, machu picchu in the shape of a condor, there are others too...General impressions:Impressive terraced mountain sides.Adobe bricks drying in endless rows on the sides of the roads. Porters washing their blankets in the river. Dogs roaming but understanding traffic laws. Buses and buses everywhere. Llama, alpacas and traditionally clothed women at every corner wanting you to take a picture with them for money - in town, and every mile of the road and scenic stop.
After sightseeing and climbing, we were treated to a sumptuous buffet in a high class hacienda restaurant - called "Alahambra". All included in our day tour. The reastaurant gave me the impression of a place where high class wealthy travellers stay and eat. It reminded Kim of something in a remote African safari where you find some open air canvas covered upscale lodge with food and service you would never think is there.
Yucay. We packed the bags on the bus and are now in a hotel converted from an old monastary. I can't describe other than shangri la. Heaven. Pictures will not do it justice. The grounds, the room, the ambiance. "sacred valley" is a fitting description. We found the church building in town. Nice building.
Must get to sleep. We are up at 5am in the morning and off to machu picchu.
A couple of more impressions:Every single "artist" wanting you to look at their portfolio that they say they painted - it's funny, they all have the same paintings. Do they think I don't notice?Unreal vistas of the steep, high mountains, occasionally with a backdrop of the further distant taller snow capped peaks.The day-in day-out people in traditional clothes are totally "checked out" and completely non-engaging. The others are only engaging with incesant pleas to buy their wistle, knitted cap, or blanket. No doubt - both the result of an economy of tourists blazing through impoverished people.We were successful in finding some completely willing to engage and as a result were delightful.
Handing this over to Kim to write.Love you all. Ben (I'm tickled there is a WiFi spot here. Baffled, but tickled!!)
Willie-Mae Ballard - Los Cruces NMIn an effort to avoid car sickness I wanted to sit in the front of the bus when I entered there was only one seat left and as it turned out it was my luck because I had the pleasure of sitting next to Willie on the bus and getting to know her. Willie is 85 years old, a widow of two years, and retired Spanish teacher who's life's dream was to come to Machu Pichuu after reading about it in 5th grade! Her son has been asking for years "is there anywhere you'd like to go" and she said no because she felt it was "too much to ask" but eventually she shared her childhood dream and her son and daughter in law said "let's go!" Friday she hiked to the point of MP which was a new known record according to our tour guide. Today she hiked to top of Ollantayatambo which inspired all who watched. She told me of teaching on the Navajo reservation in her 60's, living in an "intentional community" in southern Georgia in her 20's where she met her husband of 54 years. She told of helping some black children go into town and buy them what they needed to attend school and how it resulted in much racial tension and how she learned how to plow fields by a black man. Both of which got her and the others banned from their baptist congregation in the 1940's. She was absolute delight and a powerful example of living your dreams at any age. She said we could be penpals.
Dr. Wolfgang Fischer of Munich.
While on our bus tour of the Sacred Valley we passed a LDS church building on the road through Urubamba and I even saw people standing outside wearing the pecuilar clothing of a white shirt and khakis. We realized that although nearly all of the people on our bus were returning to Cusco we would be staying in Yucay - the village only a mile of so from the church and that we'd be here for 3 nights. We started asking and quickly found out that a waiter at our hotel's restaurant is a Mormon and he works tomorrow morning. We are excited to possibly leave the 25+ ties and various Spanish church materials we brought from the Distribution Center with a local leader. If the lord wants it here I am sure he'll provide a way. Stay tuned.