Pisaq and Calca

So today my new roommate Julia from Germany and I got up at 7:30 and headed out to the valley.

We stopped at the favorite juice lady in the market and grabbed some bread and cheese and fruit for lunch then got on the bus.

First we stopped in Pisaq which I wasn't in love with. They have a super huge tourist market on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday so we were passing tour buses like crazy on the way. Every lookout place where the buses stop were a load of traditionally dressed natives selling stuff and photos with their children and llamas. Unfortunately I forgot to grab my camera today but I'm sure I will have plenty of opportunities to take photos of this. For free, from the local bus window.

Pisaq didn't seem to have much personality other than waiting for market day and I think that if I chose to live there I would run into the same "always a tourist" problem I am running into here so we moved on down the line to Calca, passing Coya and Lamay on the way.

Calca is cool, we spent a few hours walking around and we ate lunch and such. I looked at a couple of rooms for rent that were okay - ridiculously cheap - one for 50 soles a month, the other for 70 soles a month (3.27 soles per dollar) and unfurnished with shared bathrooms with cold water. Not really what I'm looking for, but it gives me hope that I can find something amazing for 300 soles. My strategy is going to be to take next week and spend the week in the valley, stay in hostels and look for apartments every day and see what I can come up with. Unless I fall particularly in love with any of these towns, I may just see where I find the best spot to live and move there.

Also in Calca is a three wheeled motorcycle with a hard shell for sale. I am having dreams of buying it and toodling all around the Sacred Valley in it. I am having to force myself to not call and ask him how much it is but I might do it anyway. Also dreams of being the lady gringa taxi driver in the rad ass taxi. There is no way to explain this, I will just have to get the photo from Julia and post it. It is amazing and I want to drive it to the tip of South America. If I knew how to work on motorcycles I would be much more likely to really persue it.

I have been having a great time on these adventures lately and look forward to more of them coming up. I promise to remember my camera next time. I was going to head to Coya and Lamay tomorrow, but I got a notice that I have a package so I get to go to the post office instead. How exciting!