We left the Sacred Valley heading back toward Cusco. We made a quick stop to see the mountains in the cloud forest.

And then we finally got to a place that was heaven for me – a cooperative of women who were spinners, weavers, knitters who also dyed their alpaca with natural dyes.

We first were met with the alpacas, llamas and even a vicuña all of which we were able to feed stalks of alfalfa. As we made our way around we went inside an area where they kept Guinea pigs, which are a specialty for Peruvian holidays. Makes me happy to be a vegetarian. But I finally got to see a version of the decoration that is seen on many, many houses which represents prosperity and fertility and all kinds of good karma. I loved that a chicken was on top!

But best of all was walking in and seeing hanks of dyed alpaca. I was distracted in basically petting it. Soon they had us seated so the local women could describe how they dye the wool with natural materials. They had one who was using a drop spindle to spin the alpaca and another one weaving a tapestry. It was so delightful to see women doing handwork that I also love to do.

We then had the opportunity to shop for items they made. There was a lot of purchasing being done. I bought a charming knit alpaca parka. Sure to get a lot of use in spring and fall.

Back on the road we headed to an ancient Incan ceremonial site, Saqsaywawan. Reminded me of the ancient Irish mounds we saw that also focused on the solstices.

Afterwards we visited an old monastery and an over the top decorated church. The monastery was lovely in its simplicity but the church was more than I could take in. I was pleased however to see how the local population adapted the Catholic version of things to include so many of their own views of the world.

We actually had some time to ourselves once we were established in our hotel, which was a former monastery. So we decided to walk the little bit to the center of that area and do a little souvenir shopping. We each managed to find a few things we had in mind so we considered it a successful venture especially when we found our way back to the hotel.

Dinner with the group tonight included two opera singers serenading us through the meal.