Peru day 7

With all of yesterday's physical activities I knew I would probably wake up hurting. In the middle the night both my shoulders were killing me so I took both hot water bottles and put under each shoulder. I tell you those things are wonderful!  The other thing it is so quiet in our casita.  Colin has had a hard time sleeping. So last night I downloaded a white noise app on the iPad.  He was out in minutes and slept all night.  We had to meet the group at 8:00am so we slept until 7:15am and ate a quick breakfast with plenty of time to spare.  This group has been very prompt which is nice.  Oh and did I mention is was 34 degrees outside.

Fun Fact: Peru has about 150 varieties of corn.

The drive today was nice . . . seeing how Peruvians live their day to day life is a bonus even if it is while looking through the bus window . . .

Our first stop today was to Moray.  We learned about the circular terraces and the history of agriculture in the region.

The floating stairs were super cool too . . .

Colin loved just hanging out . . .

 . . . sometimes I wonder what he thinks about when alone . . . counting down until we leave . . . just amazed at what he sees . . . and then there was time for fun, silly photos too.

Here are our three guides Rudy, Dante, and Landon . . . I only post this because I took this photo . . . well and they were all three super at their jobs too.

Rudy giving us an explanation of what was used to keep early records.  It is called a quipu.  It is made of rope and knots and used for record keeping . . . each knot stands for a number depending on its location.  Each string would represent what was being recorded;  gold, corn, or other goods.

. . . and it was back on the road . . .

The next stop of the day was to the Salt Pans of Maras.  The water in the pans are three times saltier than ocean water . . . the water/salt in the pans comes from a natural spring.  There are about 500 salt pans here . . .

 Of course Colin had to play in the salt and taste it too . . .

As we were walking back to the bus we saw a couple making adobe bricks . . .

It was back to the hotel where we would eat lunch on our own.  I had vegetable risotto but the best part was my dessert.  They were hot picarones-- ring shaped Peruvian doughnuts made of squash and sweet potato deep fried and served with a coating of sugar molasses.  Oh my they were so yummy!

We had two choices for the afternoon; free time to enjoy the hotel activities or an optional trip to the local town.  So I picked to go to the town . . . surprisingly Colin wanted to go too.

There were so many dogs laying in front of the fresh meat counters.  It was so funny but then you think about all that meat just sitting there in the open area not refrigerated.

This guy was selling pigments . . . 

Lots and lots of different vendors with fresh produce . . .

I loved watching the kids around the market.  They were playing and having fun.  After their picture was taken they wanted to see themselves on the camera screen.  Of course Colin wanted to be in the photo too but couldn't just stand next to them . . .

Remember the cuy . . . guinea pigs . . . they were selling those too.  I let Colin believe they were going to be a pet but in reality they would be on the dinner table . . .

We also made a stop at the workshop and gallery of Pablo Seminario.  Now I will be honest, I had not idea who he was and just went along with the group.  Much to our surprise he actually invited us into his workshop and talked about his art.

He has a piece in D.C. at the Smithsonian and over 50 pieces at the Field Museum in Chicago.  It was pretty cool to listen to him talk about his art and passion.  We made the quick drive back to Sol y Luna Hotel where we would have some cooking demonstrations.  The chef and his team would show us how to make local Peruvian dishes and then we would eat the food.  Our dinner was about 10 courses.  One of the courses was trout ceviche.  I have never had ceviche so tasted it and then looked over and saw this . . .

Seriously, who is this kid?  I will admit it was tasty but how does one eat such a huge portion?

The best dish that was prepared was alpaca tenderloin . . . we joked that it was like Peruvian Chinese food but it was so tender and yummy . . .

Colin did not taste it because he was busy working on the final course which was make your own pizza.  Mine was full of every vegetable which was so yummy!  The kids had a blast!

Tomorrow is the BIG day so back to the room to rest!