Friday 22 January

Cusco

Free day for us, so we started by going to an animal refuge to see condors and pumas for the morning. This is like any animal refuge, where injured or smuggled animals go. We saw the pumas, who had been drugged in a disco so patrons could pat them, or macaws which had been kept in tiny cages and had broken wings or damaged tails (which don’t grow back). Llamas, alpacas, deer, tortoises, monkeys of various sorts – all needed rescuing from bad situations. The condors are monogamous, and have only one egg every four years, so they are trying to get a pair to release back into the wild. There are only 400 condors left in the wild in Peru.

Lesley making friends with an albino (blue eyed) llama

Puma

Iconic view of  condor spreading his wings

macaws that can't be released due to ill-treatment before being rescued

alpaca wool coloured with natural dyes

12 year old girl weaving - she's been doing it since was seven

We then waked around the city a bit, looking at two museums which were included in our entry to a historic site we had already visited and saw all manner of things. The Incas actually had models of the buildings and sites they constructed – we saw one such model on a rock. They also mummified their dead loved ones (with knees up to chin and posing with hand on face etc), then carted them around with them! If the person visited another person in life, then they were taken visiting after death. Mummies were placed together if they were friends before they died. A very considerate culture! We also saw skulls with holes in them, not by being bashed with a rock, but by being deliberately operated on to correct an ailment. One of the holes was square!

We decided to pay the cost of sending some purchases back home, so as not to have to carry them with us. We are keeping the jumpers, and pashmina Lesley bought, as they will be useful later.

rock showing stairs and walls - Incan model for a building

Tonight we had a cocktail party with some nibblies and musicians. A free night, so some went out to dinner. We stayed at the hotel and had soup and bread with another couple – that’s all we wanted. Been eating too much. Lesley bought an alpaca pashmina. She had a lighter one bought on the Gold Coast but wanted one that would be a little warmer. Very nice!

Leaving early tomorrow for Lake Titicaca, going by train through the Andes. This apparently is one of the world’s best train journeys. Ten hours in all. Looking forward to it.