In which Roz and Layla see a march and Inca ruins

In which Layla and Roz start their Inca adventure properly.

By Layla

A quick return to the hotel room to grab some warmer clothes and we strolled down a cute little pedestrianised, cobbled street examining our various dining options. We settled on a nice little pizza place that was full of people - always a good sign - and had a very satisfactory dinner before heading home to bed.

Up bright and early the next day, with me still barely able to walk post-canyon, we decided to spend the day in downtown Cusco. This turned into a cheery day. First, we found ourselves in the main square in the midst of a major parade, whose purpose we failed to ascertain despite my best Spanish efforts. A small platform held some uniformed men, elevated above the procession of police, army, schoolchildren, and inexplicable others, almost all goose stepping and saluting as the passed the platform. We hopped into a little cafe overlooking the square, but no matter how much we watched, we never did manage to figure it out.

Next, after a wild goose chase thanks to Google Maps, we bought the ridiculously expensive tourist tickets needed to see any of the main sights in and around Cusco, and proceeded to the first - the museum of popular art. This museum is populated by the work of local artists who compete for the privilege of being featured every year. It was fairly rubbish, but also quite cheery, and we rather enjoyed going around the artworks, using our own grading system. 

All that mocking is hungry work so we retired to Jack's Cafe for pumpkin soup (Roz) and a big avocado and tomato wrap thing (me), and a long scrutiny of Ellen and Portia's glamorous Beverly Hills home, as featured in a random Architectural Digest magazine near our table. And then we headed to the big Inca site of Cusco - Qorikancha. This was originally an Inca temple, then the Christians built their temple on top of it, so it's an intriguing combination of styles. It was filled with tourists, so we skipped upstairs to see their quirky modern art collection, mocked their art installation of plastic juice bottles filled with the fluorescent yellow Inca cola, and pottered in their little garden, before heading back up one of these cobbled streets. 

We found ourselves in a bar/restaurant called Los Perros and settled ourselves down for what turned out to be the entire night, fuelled by wine, beer, potato skins, sandwiches, wontons, dominoes, and Scrabble with about 4 bags of tiles crammed into one. It was a long game. I won with a seven-letter word over the triple word score; Roz was unimpressed.

This morning we had breakfast at the hotel, then left, dragging our suitcases up and down streets til we got to the place from which I'd heard one could get a minibus to Ollantaytambo. Sure enough, one appeared, and conveyed us to this sunny little mountain town en route to Machu Pichhu, in what's known as the Sacred Valley. We were immediately charmed by its cobbles and quaintness, and our nice little hotel. We had some tasty sandwiches in Hearts Cafe, run by an NGO that improves local children's nutrition - apt, considering my current job. We had a stroll round the main square. And then the main attraction: Ollantaytambo's Inca ruins. These are quite impressive - essentially a massive fortress with a temple at the top, surrounded by glorious mountain scenery. I forced my aching leg muscles into compliance, and we climbed all over the ruins, including a pleasant 20 minutes perched on a fortress wall, reading our books. 

After having a lovely time, we returned to the main square, then to Hearts Cafe, where Roz had tea imported from the UK with scones, and I had banoffee pie. An excellent conclusion to the afternoon.