Ollantaytambo and Samanapaq

 Hi All, we spent 3 days in the Sacred Valley at a very lovely hostel, a very well set out B and B, with great facilities and in a ¨tranquillo¨ situation far away from barking dogs, jet planes and other sleep reducing noises: The B-B was called Samanapaq in Ollantaytambo - bet you can´t say those 5 names times quickly! Ollantaytambo is, according to our anthropologist friend, Jean -Jacques Decoster, is the oldest Inka settlement which is still inhabinated by Inka descendants - almost 600 years of continual settlement. Ollantay (as the locals call it) has cobbled narrow streets and most run in the direction of the fall of the mountain side towards the Urubamba River. Hence every street (calle) has a channel made of the cobble stones on one side where water gushes down past every house. Clever devils the Inkas, running water to every house then further down the same water channels flooded the terraces where ¨the best maize in the world¨is grown according to the locals! We walked part of the Inka trail along the river which leads to Machu Picchu some two days walk away. The train line also follows the river to Aguas Caliente, the stop point for the final ascent to Machu Picchu - having been to MP, last year  we did not visit this time whilst in Ollantay. The Sared Valley is simply beautiful, with Ollantay at one end and Pisac at the other, some 50 miles away.It is about 1,000 meteres deep and several kilometres wide, rich agricultral fields where potatoes and corn are grown. Our short ¨holiday¨was unfortunately interrupted when I began to suffer from a severe head cold and sore throat which lead to further problems when we returned to Cusco (which is 1,000 meters higher) this lead to severe bout of altitude sickness, an ambulance ride to a clinic which specialises in Altitude sickness for 24 hours and I also spent one hour in a decompression chamber, drugged to the eyeballs!! Jean -Jacques to the rescue! Our motto when travelling has always been - we are no use to anyone if we get ill, and consequently we watch everything we eat and drink, every thing we touch. But the series of events caught us out and now Andrea has a severe cold - but being the tough little thing she is I don´t think she will suffer the same problems. We have also decided not to go to Lares to distribute the toys and gifts to the children as lares is another 500 meters higher in the mountains and was a full day´s journey  (we had planned to leave at 6am return 8pm) but given the situation have put our health first rather than risk further problems. Given all this I have no new photos to down load as they have to be burnt to a disc for me to download - the card reader I brought with will not work n this computer. Ok, finalyy Jean - Jacques Decoster is, if I havent already told you, is a Frenchman who is an anthrlopolgist we met at the Rotary club of Cusco, an extremely interesting man having spent some 25 years in Cusco but has lived here for permantly for the the past 12 years´. He is a member of Rotary and hence helped us in a huge way when I need medical attention as he speaks fluent Spanish, English and of course French! He lived in Cocchirhuay for 2 years in late 1980´s - (the other community where we are distributing gifts the the children) during the time of the Shining Path revolution  - saw some dreadful things which he said he would rather forget!. It is of some interest to note that the leader of the Shining Path guerillas, and the corrupt leader of the army, and the former Japanese decendent President of Peru, also corrupt, are now all incarcerated in the same goal. Ok enough for for now, You have had your dose of Peruvian life and history. Until next time. Trevor and Andrea