Pisac

Ryan blogging:

We woke up refreshed after a busy day at Machu Picchu.  I went for a short run and Steph worked on the blog.  I ran through a farm trail and passed several sheep and a few cows, one of which was blocking the path.  When I got back we had a leisurely breakfast outside in the garden.  Avashi had shown us some clay pots that he uses for cooking so we decided to go to the village of Pisaq and buy one.  Our directions for getting to Pisaq were "just grab any vehicle going in your direction and ask them to take you there".

We began flagging down vans and buses, none of which seemed to be going to Pisac.  After 20-30 minutes of walking we realized that we would have to take one of the buses to the village of Calca and then get another bus from Calca to Pisaq.  We hopped on a small crowded bus and began our journey.  The bus was crammed with locals one of which had an infant in her arms and sitting behind her was a women with a live chicken in a bag.  Towards the front of the bus sat a guy with a kitchen sink wrapped in plastic.  Only in South America do you see everything including the kitchen sink in a bus.  We arrived in Calca and hopped on another bus and eventually made it to Pisaq.  This whole process took some time but only cost us $4.50.

We quickly found the market and bought a few souvenirs for family and friends.  We had a delicious vegetarian lunch and looked around town for the clay pots.  All of the stores were closed, but Steph did manage to find a beautiful handmade Retablo.  She has been hunting one down ever since we landed in Santiago.  We walked back to the street where the bus dropped us off and got our series of buses back to town.  The second bus was so full that we had to stand up in the aisle for half the drive.

We arrived to the retreat, had another healthy delicious dinner and went to bed.