I knew we would wake up early with jet-lag... 3.50am though?! Luckily I managed to get back to sleep for another couple of hours. Today we travelled to Ollyantambo in the Sacred Valley via Cusco. First we were taken on a tour of the city by our guide Alex and driver Fernando. Both are really nice people and even though Alex is a font of knowledge I think he was quite exhausted by our questions - he answered all of them though and took us on great tour. He is very generous and obviously likes to help people. He bought a little brooch for me from a street vendor who was obviously quite poor and later he bought us some traditional street food made from corn.
This is a photo of the girls who make the food. It turns out that they are all orphans who were rescued by the church. They are looked after and educated by the church and in return they cook the delicious food to raise money for work that the church does. Most of them will probably become nuns when they are older. I was in two minds whether this was a good thing but realised that these lovely girls could have had a much more sinister fate had they not been rescued. Alex asked if I could take a photo and they were very happy to pose - I hope they all do well in later life.
From Lima it was a plane journey (we cut the check-in a bit fine after an extended city tour but just made it in time!) and then a 2-hour car journey with our new guide Fernando and driver Mario to Ollyantambo. We are here for 2-nights. Time to acclimatise to the 2,800 meter altitude here.
