Peru's Sacred Valley

Today I visited the sacred valley where I saw amazing artists at work. The towns people had the hair of sheep hair and alpaca hair and weaved it into wonderful things such as rugs and clothing. I purchased two gloves, a scarf, a wool poncho, and two containers to hold wine. All very beautiful, handmade and colorful.

The sacred valley is an earth quake region and many of the homes built on hills have been destroyed by the earthquake that took place on August 15th. I was told that this day is called the Virgin Assumption Day and that the month of August is the month of the mother earth. The towns people were very scared during this time because the thought mother earth was upset with them.

I learned that the root from a potato here is shaved and used as a natural shampoo to clean the hair of the animals as well ad human hair. It took out all the dirt! Was amazing to watch.

Than a dyeing process took place where special flowers, insects and vegetables where used to tint the threads. The one that most caught my eye was the little animals that live on the cactus. They are crushed and the blood is than ground and used to make red shades and many types of cosmetics. The man was funny enough and put some on his face.



Upon our departure from this little village the towns people sprinkled a yellow flower on our head to represent a healthy and happy new year with plenty of prosperity. A picture is below, I was amazed at how humble and kind these people are. The always call you sir or madam in Spanish, and they always say thank you about 4 times. If only the people back home had these manners!


Our bus driving almost ran over 2 herds of crossing sheep, the roads are so narrow here it is quite scary because when you look down its like falling off a cliff. We are over 10000 feet above elevation!

A big thing here is cocoa leaves, they traditionally make tea for you and hand it out like candy. Downside to this is that it gives you a lot of energy and more than three cups and you are not going to sleep. It is also a diuretic which has made my trips to the bathroom quite frequent!. The upside to it is that it helps with the altitude sickness. The locals chew the leaves right in their mouth, I wonder if there is a hallucinogenic effect to it, since this is primary source of what is used to make cocaine.


There is 2000 varieties of potatoes in Peru and lots of corn. Its summer time here so the vegetation is fascinating to see. The fruits here taste really good. I had a banana this morning and it was divine!

I have visited Australia and till this day it is my favorite destination spot, I cannot wait to go back. But interestingly enough Peru doesn't have koalas but have tons of eucalyptus trees. Here they are used for medicinal purposes and for the structure for housing. It is mixed with timber and than placed on roofs of homes.

Another thing that has really excited me about Peru is that their main drink is called pisko which ironically is my nickname. The pisko sour drink is delicious, yesterday I tried a pisko maracuja sour and it was if I were on a tropical island. Its by far become my favorite drink, and I thought nothing could get me away from Jack Daniels!