Sonali does stuff: Sonali does Peru

This day will always be remembered as the day my bro-in-law forgot his wallet. We were taking an early morning flight from La Paz to Cusco. Even before we headed out he had a feeling he didn't have his wallet with him. But of course instead of checking we made our way to the airport only to confirm that! My friend's dad was kind enough to go over to the house and confirm that the wallet was in fact in the house. But it was too late to surpass the traffic and get to the airport on time. So we did the only thing we could: the rest of us checked in and were on our way while my sis and her husband stayed back an extra day to take the flight the next morning. What really sucked? The flight was delayed by an hour and 15 mins.

I loved Cusco! The architecture was unique and quite pleasing to the eye. The ground floor of all buildings were made out of stone (preserved from the ancient Incan empire). The first floor built mush after of course was made in the traditional colonial style(bricks). The main plaza, Plaza de Armas was charming surrounded by cathedrals, shops, restaurants and a million tour/travel agencies. For lunch, i gave the alpaca medium rare a try and to be honest, it was quite good! With almost 0 cholesterol, this lean meat is preferred over beef (also, they have more alpacas than cows in peru).

One of my favorite places: Choco Museo (Chocolate Museum). It really wasn't that much of a museum in that it had a very brief history of coco beans starting from the Mayans all the way to Nestle. But the most awesome part was the cafe inside the museum that served hot melted chocolate. I tried the Mayan Style: Melted Bitter Chocolate + Chilli + Honey + Milk = YUM! I could have stayed all day but the awesome hotel beckoned. Casa Andina Private Collection, a beautiful 4-star hotel about 2 blocks from the main plaza was just perfect. The courtyard style architecture and unique Cusqenian decor was refreshing!

This is also where two of my friends(A & R) joined us for the next 3 days before they carried on with the rest of their vacation.

The next day was a day trip to the Sacred Valley: a valley in the Andes of Peru. It formed the heartland of the Inca Empire where most of the terrace agriculture was done. The valley consists several towns along the way, the most significant of which are Pisac, Urubamba, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero. But first, we made a pit stop at the Ccochahuasi Animal Sanctuary. It was quite easily the highlight of the day.We saw rescued llamas, alpacas, picunyas, pumas, wild cats, condors, macaws and monkeys! Did you know that Condors mate for life and when one dies, sometimes the other commits suicide?

After walking around the terrace farms of Pisac and listening to stories of how the incans protected their granaries, we made another pit stop for empanadas at Horno Tipico Restuarant (Typical Oven Restaurant). One word: delicious! My sis and BIL who had reached Cusco by now, cabbed it to the next meeting place: Urubamba for an organized lunch buffet. Even though they had a massive spread of local, traditional dishes, I was kind of underwhelmed. Our final stop in SV (not to be confused with the Silicon Valley) was a little town called Ollantaytambo. The primary attraction is the huge fortress built by the incans to protect well, their granaries! The temple area at the top of the steep terracing also provided excellent protection. The huge stones used for the buildings were brought from a quarry on the other side of the Urubamba river which runs through the Sacred valley.

Next stop, Macchu Picchu, but first here are some pics: