Wednesday, September 15, 2010

More from Cusco

After our lunch in Cusco, we began touring some Incan ruins. We stopped here at Sacsayhuaman which sounds a little like "sexy woman". So here are some women from our team attempting to be sexy. I was feeling a bit sick from the altitude, so I didn't pay attention to our tour guide. If you want to know more about this place, you can do your own research. I do remember the very large stones that were perfectly placed, without mortar, to create fascinating walls. It was quite impressive.







This is the view looking back up at the ruins of Sacsayhuaman.

This is the view looking back down on the city of Cusco. Do you see the writing on the mountainside?



In and around Cusco, it is not uncommon to see women dressed traditionally with llamas. Some would boldly walk up to you and shove a baby llama or sheep into your arms and encourage your friend to take a picture of you. Then they would ask you for money. Others would plead, "one photo please, only one sole." One sole is pretty cheap so you would have your photo taken with them, pay the one sole and then they would say, "only one? So sad. Please give me more."

Some members of our team fell for the scheme, I did not. I simply and discreetly snapped their picture when they weren't looking. Except this woman is looking right at me...I couldn't resist. Isn't she beautiful?



Look closer....don't you wonder about her life? I do. I love this picture. I would love to sit down and drink some coca tea with this woman and hear some of her stories.





Soledad and Elia took us to an alpaca factory where we learned how to tell if a sweater (or blanket) is genuine alpaca. They had some beautiful sweaters, scarves, hats and gloves. Personally, I didn't buy anything. I was having a really hard time justifying spending any money on myself or my family after the poverty I experienced in and around Lima.





Here is a Peruvian hairless dog - cute and cuddly, don't you think? Maybe he should be included in Kevin's list of animals that shouldn't have been created.


This woman and her llamas were outside the alpaca shop. I took these photos from inside the bus, so she didn't ask me to pay.




Here are some examples of houses we passed in the country outside of Cusco. There were these round houses with thatched roofs and adobe houses.





This is looking down at the Sacred Valley, where we stayed while in the Andes mountains.

4 comments:

Charity Hildebrand said...

I loved reading about your time in Peru! Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing :)

Grandma Dee Dee said...

Really enjoy your daily tours. Great pictures and stories. Thanks

bestsexymodel said...
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Cheri said...

I want to go back! Thanks for keeping the memories alive. This week during lunch I was able to show my photos to interested coworkers. One boy was sponsored and there appears to be interest in Compassion from a few others so we will see what happens. Thanks again for re-telling the stories.

 
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