Ailsa and Andy’s Travels: Day 4 Banana Cake & Feeding the Lamas

I have been having this mystery bread at breakfast time, I don’t know what it is but it’s delicious so I was determined to find out before we left. Andy and I have been contemplating what it could be for 3 days now and neither of us were close……it was Peruvian Banana Bread. I’m not particularly partial to a banana but if you ever get the chance to try some Peruvian Banana bread, I can highly recommend it!

Bags all packed, we hopped on a quick flight to Cusco which is high up in the Andes,… 3,400m or 11,152 feet to be precise! One thing all the guide books talk about is being prepared for Altitude sickness. We are staying in a little town called Urubamba for 2 nights, to acclimatise, before heading to Machu Picchu. A very informative driver collected us at the airport and told us all sorts of interesting things about the countryside as we drove through it. Did you know Peru is home of the potato and they have over 300 different varieties! He also told us how Cusco suffered terribly during Covid, but the thing that has saved the town was the filming of the latest Transformers film - much of it was filmed in Cusco!

Still en route, we stopped and saw some traditional Peruvian ladies spinning their lama and alpaca wool. We fed the lamas then the ladies spent time showing us the different processes involved in turning the raw fleece into beautifully hand dyed and spun items. It was fascinating. A local root is rubbed in a bowl of water which creates a natural soap, the raw fleece is washed in this soapy water and with very little effort all the dirt is removed. They then showed us many of the different plants that are used to dye the wool, how it’s hung to dry and finally the spinning and weaving process. It takes years for the knowledge to be passed down through the generations.

Let’s talk guinea pigs for a minute - to us they are fluffy pets….not in Peru! Guinea pigs make up a large part of their staple diet, much like chicken does in the UK. As a result, most of the homes outside the cities will have an area where they keep many guinea pigs - for eating. We did see them on skewers at food stalls several times.

Who knew that the mountains in Peru were such an abundant source of fresh food - we saw avocados, water melons, bananas, corn on the cob, and many other fruits all being sold. David (the driver) told us that avocados are cheap in Peru - 80p for 1kg and they’re grown only 3 hours away in the jungle.

Next stop was a view point above The Sacred Valley - simply stunning before finally arriving in Urubamba, at the Rio Sagrado hotel. Rio Sagrado means “sacred river” and as I write I can hear the river rumbling past the lodge.

We were greeted at the hotel by the wafting of special smoke and the sounding of a particular sea shell which was blown into to make a low rumbling noise. This was a traditional Inka welcome.

The hotel is beautiful, food is stunning, and home for 2 nights before heading to Machu Picchu.

Traditional Peruvian ladies spinning fleece