Incredibly, we caught a taxi (that´s not the incredible part) and managed to communicate to the driver that we wanted to get to the bus station in some street (can´t remember the name). He obviously didn´t really understand our destination ... but said something from which Lex recognised ´Pisac´so said´Si´. We had previously caught a taxi from the bus station with Zac and Milka ... to Pisac, but both Lex and I wondered if we were going to end up at the bus station, or be taken all the way to Pisac by this driver - a problem if one hasn´t previously negotiated a price. However we were taken to the bus station .. - a yard with a couple of buses in it. As we were wondering how we go about getting a ticket (hadn´t seen anything resembling a ticket office), a guy popped out of the gate sprouting several names ... including Tambomachay, which we recognised. WOW what luck, but our luck continued, we got on the bus, picked out a couple of seats (that weren´t broken) and settled in .. to later discover that our tickets had seat numbers on them ... and we were in the right seats. Double WOW as the bus was beyond FULL. With this luck we were in for a great day ... for a princely sum of less than 10 sol.
To be continued.....
Quick catchup .... full day in a nutshell ...
We had 4 sites to visit for the day ... starting at Tambomachay ... and visiting the others as we walked back to Cusco. Our intention was to self guide our way through these... even that changed early in the day ... and it was well worth it.
Tambomachay was a small site which we wandered around by ourselves - Jeff ventured up the hills to check out the farming areas.
Across the road, past some ladies sitting spinning and weaving (in the middle of nowhere) to the next site Pukapukara ... where we met a Peruvian man who offered to show us around this site ... for a price - donation I think he said. He told us he was a trained/qualified guide and this was his day off. We accepted his offer and certainly had an informed (we hope) description of the site, after which he said visitors usually pay 10 soles each for the guided tour but we could pay what we thought it was worth... It was only a small site so we gave him 5 each.
After further discussion we enlisted him to continue the day with us ... also for a price. Instead of walking to the next site (1 hour walk) he suggested we take a local bus for 60 centimos. Another interesting adventure... local buses fill up rather quickly... should say over-fill.
The day continued with lots of unexpected adventures - we certainly saw the sites we had planned but saw aspects that we hadn´t known about - especially at Sachsayhuaman - where Lex and I had been before. Previously we´d seen the huge construction area, but on the other side there are tunnels where mummies had been found as well as the huge rock slides .... and much more.
We were also taken to a textile and silver shop and factory - got a tour of that ... also the place where Jill bought a jacket and Lex bought me a silver bracelet. Not far from the factory we stopped for a strawberry maize beer ... different - but also a place we wouldn´t have ventured into.
Our guide turned out to be enjoyable and informative company - but he was also dead keen to show us a restaurant ... not a tourist place, but a place where loacls eat...´very cheap´.... well NOT but Peruvian standards - but it was a special place , way up on the hill and overlooking Cusco, and the food was good. We had expected things that happened - like when we went to the shops, he would probably get a cut, and possibly even the restaurant ... where he disappeared when the bill arrived - but it was still a great day out.
1 comment:
lucky you
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