We went to Chinchero this morning. The Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco was magical, for weavers (me!) and non-weavers (Lee) alike. They sat us down on a bench and walked us through each step of the process, from wool straight from the sheep and alpaca, to washing the wool, spinning, and plying. Then we were shown all the different natural sources of the dyes - leaves, sticks, berries, cochineal beetles taken off the cactus. We got to stir the wool around in the cochineal dye as our guide added different minerals to set the dyes. Lee's pot turned orange and mine was a deep red. Very cool.

Cochineal beetles live on the cactus and when crushed make the most beautiful colored dyes.

We used cochineal to dye wool crimson and orange.

We also saw how they warped and wove on their backstrap looms, including the addition of a woven trim that's added to the edges of many of the fabrics. I could have sat and watched that step for quite awhile, as that's new for me. But they were ready for us to move onto the showrooms, where we were happy to spend a bit of money.

On our trip back to Cusco our driver stopped so we could take some pictures of the nearby mountains. I'm looking forward to seeing more of them tomorrow when we start our hike.

We've been in Cusco for just over a day and walked about 10 miles. Plaza de Armas is usually the center of our forays but we've also been to Plaza San Blas and San Pedro. San Pedro is home to a massive market with trinkets, flowers, every part of a slaughtered animal (the snouts were a new thing for me), foods stalls with soups and smoothies. It was reminiscent of our favorite market in Kaohsiung.

San Pedro market

We visited both the Precolumbian and the Inka Museums, which were pretty much the same thing, but both interesting enough. My favorite exhibits were, naturally, the textiles. There was a piece of woven cloth in one exhibit purported to be from 800 BCE.

An Inca wall at our hotel

I've had the chance to watch a number of women weaving on blackstrap looms, which has been fascinating. The intricacy of many of the designs is awe inspiring. All from a two shed loom (with a lot of pick-up work). Makes me want to take a workshop and really learn the process.

Tomorrow we're going to hire a taxi to take us to Cinchero, about 45 minutes out of the city, to see a weaving studio and hopefully see the process from alpaca to cloth.

We've arrived at our hotel, had a cup of coka tea - when in Rome, after all - and walked to the Plaza de Armas for lunch. That's a lot for being at 11,000 feet and just off the plane. Walking on the flat ground isn't so bad but there doesn't seem to be much flat ground. Walking to our room on the third floor was easier the second time than the first, but my heart was still pounding by the top of the stairs.

The goal today is to stay hydrated and take it easy. So far, so good.

Our hotel - Rumi Punku

Cool little items adorn many of the roof lines, including our hotel.

View of the Plaza des Armas from our lunch spot.

So it's been another six weeks of summer training. Many miles in the saddle and what feels like nearly as many in hiking boots. We've seen moose and deer, too many snakes and seven black bears. We've hiked Bear Mountain three times and the Housatonic River twice, both on the Appalachian Trail. We found a nice seven mile loop in New Hartford and explored the M&M Trail ridge walk to Tariffeville.

There's been more hiking than biking but we've done a 30-mile loop along most of the bike path south of here and gotten back to the quiet roads of Granby. One of our bear sightings, which included a mom and her two cubs, was on one of those rides.

In this last week before we leave for Peru we've planned a 12 mile out-and-back hike to Tariffeville, a 36 mile out-and-back ride to Westfield along the bike path and a reprise hike at the Jesse Gerard Trail that got rained out yesterday. (Not ones to sit around, at least not this summer, we hiked 6 1/2 miles in the rain at Maclean instead.)

Here are a few photo highlights:

The view of New York's Taconic Mountains from the top of the Macedonia Brook hike near Kent, CT

Cool fungus - it's been a wet spring so there's been a lot of interesting plantlife

Pond along the Jesse Gerard Trail in New Hartford

Zach and Cierra joined us for the Penwood Hike to Tariffeville

Lunch along the Housatonic River near Kent

Mount Monadnock - you can't see them in this photo but the rocks were a-swarm with snakes, thus inducing a first-in-my-life panic attack and an aborted trip, as I could not continue on past every snake, or stick that looked like a snake.