It’s incredible how much can change in a day. We woke up this morning to rain, so we assumed our idea of a motorbike trip through the Sacred Valley was out the window and settled down to the idea of another slow, gentle day around town.
After a slow morning, we found the weather had cleared so we set out on a ‘half day’ eight hour incredible trip. This evening, mid-round of Yaniv with Jack and Heather, we found out that Peru has basically declared a lockdown. No flights – so our one to Lima tomorrow morning has been cancelled – no buses, no leaving ‘home’ for anything other than groceries and the pharmacy. We’re still processing. This obviously presents issues for travellers, whose hostel doesn’t even have a kitchen, and who are anticipating the shops to be wiped when we look for lunch.
We’ll see how this all pans out. This was completely unexpected for a country with 71 cases, 56 of which are in one city (Lima). Who knew they’d give absolutely no notice so we could get somewhere we want to be for 15 days of isolation?
Anyway, I thought I’d be able to keep this blog covid-free and I’ve failed. Let’s dwell on happier things, like the beauty of the Sacred Valley in all its greenery, all its splendour – and the photos my talented husband has taken to capture all that. We had such a lovely ride.
We stopped via a number of different Incan ruins sights on the way to Pisaq, where we enjoyed the Sunday markets and had a delicious homemade lunch of creamy cheesy pasta, potatoes, chicken, and ‘Roco’ – stuffed capsicums fried on one side in a cheesy batter. Just delish!
For the afternoon, we cruised through Urubamba to the dirt roads behind it, but weren’t able to find a route through to Moray so we backtracked and took the long way.
Moray is a splendid site. It looks like stadium-style seating but apparently it was used for agriculture. A number of the terraces are still in stellar condition.
We rode home surrounded by glowing afternoon light that illuminated the patchwork farm field, and a beautiful view of mountains with a storm rolling in (which we weren’t caught in, fortunately).
After all this beauty, which was already a surprise twist in a day I thought was devoted to Spanish study and sewing, we now find ourselves feeling very lost, even though we know exactly where we are and where we’ll be for the next 15 days. We’re also nursing a bit of a broken heart as you know how keen I was to get to the coast and leave behind altitude.
There might be not much fun stuff to share for the next little while, so I’ll wait until there is before writing again.
VRPS
[Cusco]
The Two Swords 