Over the weekend I had more drama with my ear and my now bad cold and I returned to see the general practicioner Dr. Sugar on Sunday.. I learned the clinic that I went to (and that was recommended by my travel insurance!) is apparently not typically for tourists.. As soon as I arrived at the clinic they tried to explain to me in rapid Spanish that I needed to go elsewhere and all but forced me to get into an ambulance with a random man. Luckily the doctor I saw previously came outside and told them that he would see me. He looked at my ear and told me that it actually looked worse than before despite all the antibiotics and that I had to see an ear specialist. However, he said that I had bad luck as somehow all of their ear specialists were at a ear conference in Lima over the weekend and wouldnt be back until Monday night! Amazing.
So, I decided to make the most of the following day and took the local mini-van transport system called the “combi” to Pisac for the day. The combis leave from random little parking lots around the city and there is no set schedule. You just show up, buy a ticket for 3 to 4 soles and then get in the mini-van and wait for it to fill up. If I’d gone on the weekend I think there would have been a lot more folks, but as it was late morning on a Monday, there was only one other woman in the mini-van when I arrived. We waited for almost 45 minutes for the mini-van to fill up and at the end I was the only “gringa” in the group. The majority seemed to be men headed to work. The van took a scenic route up through the Andes and passed a large number of ancient Incan ruins along the way. It was a gorgeous ride!
I was the only person who hopped off in Pisac, and once I arrived I started to explore the little town with a population around 900 .. It’s a really beautiful place. The ruins are on a hill overlooking the town below.
I had breakfast at a cute little cafe near the town’s Plaza de Armas and then explored the huge market that was filled with tons of tents selling scarves, bags, sweaters, hats, and tons of other Peruvian souvenirs.
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I walked up to the ruins, however as my tourist ticket has expired I didn’t go in but instead walked around and enjoyed them from below.
I wandered the streets of the town and found a gorgeous church next to a huge field of people collecting corn and potatos.
Then headed to the other side of town and saw a beautiful garden through a guarded window.
I walked around to try to find out what it was and discovered it was a walled in private garden that was only a month ago opened to the public… The Pisac Botantic Gardens!!
The garden was truthly breathtakingly gorgeous and by far one of my favorite places I’ve discovered in Peru.
One of the workers met me at the gate and gave me a wonderful guided tour. We started in the open-air Potato Museum which displayed over 300 types of potatoes! Peruvians pride themselves on the fact that there are more than 3000 types of potatoes in Peru in total!
The guide explained that in Peru it’s a legend that when a couple gets engaged the groom’s mother takes the bride aside and tests her skills at cooking to see how well she will be able to care for the groom. One of the tests that she does is give the bride potatoes to peel, as potatoes are one of the most common foods in Peru. Below is the potato she gives to the bride if the mother is not a fan. The guide said these are called “mother-in-law” potatoes!
Another fun highlight was the greenhouse of cactuses! Below are two that were the guide’s favorite.. The one on the right he called the “lovers” as he thought it looked like two cactus kissing and then the one on the right is the San Pedro cactus, which shamans give to people to lead them on deep internal drug trips and quests.. Perhaps next time I’ll try the cactus…
Finally, another highlight of the garden was their scent distillery section where they distilled flowers and plants into the most amazing scents I have ever smelled! It’s hard to capture how wonderful the smells of muna, peruvian patchouli, citron, and other floral scents were but they truly smelled like they were incredibly fresh and pure. Below is the machine they used to distill the scent..
I dreamed of never leaving the garden, and considered remaining in Pisac just to spend the whole next day in the garden!
However, I had to return to meet with the ear specialist at the clinic/hospital that night, and so I went back to the main road to flag down the bus to take me back to Cuzco. The hour-long bus ride back was on the most packed bus I have ever been on in my life. It was worse than a crowded subway car at rush hour in Manhattan! I spent the whole ride standing with three nice guys fresh out of the Israeli military in the aisle of the bus, and every so often we’d all have to hold our breath and press as far to the side as possible so people and their large packages could get off at one of the many stops along the way .. Standing in the aisle was fine until the driver would make sharp turns around the winding roads up and down the mountains of the Andes and we’d have to hold on for dear life..
Overall, a fun adventurous day! It’s definitely an adventure to travel by yourself as a woman traveler in Peru, particularly one who speaks limited espanol. However, I think this trip has been a great learning experience and despite all my health problems, I’m really glad I came!
