This morning we organised a tour with the hotel to see the local sights of Cusco. Our driver Henry who works at the hotel was born and raised in Cusco so knew the best places to take us. I thought the tour would just be of old buildings and ruins but to my delight the first place we stopped was an animal rescue centre. They take in sick animals or animals that have been harmed by humans and look after them until they are well enough to go back into the wild. We saw wild cats, alpacas, llamas, parrots, pumas and even condors that were massive with a 10ft wingspan! We went into their gift shop and bought some baby alpaca cuddly toys that were actually made from the wool of alpacas.
We then drove 5 minutes down the road to Awana Cancha, a traditional weaving centre where women weave textiles such as scarves and ponchos using techniques created by the Incas. They use fur from alpacas, llamas, vicunas and guanacos (all members of the cameloid family) which is transformed into coloured wool using dyes and local products. They showed us the process from start to finish and then we bought a few of the smaller items in the gift shop.
For me, the best part about the centre was seeing the beautiful alpacas and llamas. The tour guide gave us alfalfa leaves to feed them which they wafted down. They were really friendly, mainly because we were feeding them and we even got to sit on one of the bigger llamas called Chico! It was lovely being around them, they followed us up the path and you’ll see from the photos they came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, the locals call the ones with the really long fur rastapacas!
Henry then took us to several historic locations, firstly we visited Tambomachey, a series of waterfalls and canals running through rocks created by the Inca Empire. We then went to Pukapukara, some ancient ruins with a great view of the mountains. Lastly we went to Saqsaywaman, one of the most important sites in Cusco. It is again ancient ruins that were built by the Incas, it was a series of walls and temples but 70% of the rocks were stolen when the Spanish invaded.
We were feeling peckish by this time so Henry took us to a local restaurant. Paul and Chalkie ordered alpaca and Emma ordered a guinea pig minus the head but still with feet in tact. They all enjoyed their food, I tried a little of each but decided my chicken was better! I felt a bit bad eating the alpaca because I have seen so many of them and cuddled the baby ones, it is however a local dish so I felt like I had to try it.
Emmas face with the guinea pig is a picture – it’s like “what on earth have I ordered”.