Lares

On Saturday, the kids and I went to Lares, a small town at the head of the valley by the same name a few hours North of Cusco. The original plan was to take a bus to Calca in the Sacred Valley and then the local bus to Lares on the same the next day. However, when I found we would have to leave our house before 5:00 a.m. I called Jaime, my friend the taxi driver, and arranged for him to bring us to the bus in Calca. However, when he arrived in the morning he told me he had never been to Lares and would like to go with us but he would have to return that night. I certainly didn´t want to deprive him of the opportunity so I agreed and off we went. Zak and I had originally hoped to take a four day hike to Lares with a friend but we basically ran out of time and Mom felt that four days was a bit too long to leave Maya with someone else in a foreign country. Lares makes a fine destination in no small part because of a series of hot springs just outside of town alongside a beautiful river. But, like many things in life, the best part is getting there. Both the road and the hiking path, cross a mountain pass at about 14,000 feet which allows for many miles of travel above the tree line to the accompaniment of scores of beautiful vistas. The locals primarily subsist by animal husbandry with llamas being the most popular stock at the higher elevations. Homes and corrals are constructed out of the same ubiquitous stones that make farming next to impossible. Current habitations are indistinguishable from the 500+ year old Inca houses save for the fact that those houses presently occupied are covered with thatch roofs. We had a great time in the hot springs although Zak and I burned our shoulders even though we liberally applied sun block; the sun at these elevations is brutal on us gringos. We ate dinner at a small local restaurant and Maya was so tired from playing in the springs that she fell asleep at the table so we returned a bit earlier than we had planned.