Some days are special that you can’t imagine how they might be improved. Today was one of those days! Juan put together a varied combination that perfectly suited our family’s interests.

First up was a visit to a camelid farm. What’s a camelid you say? Well, basically it’s a relative of a camel, which in South America means llamas and their ilk (including alpacas, vicunas, and guanacos). Rowan was in heaven, but we all enjoyed feeding the friendly animals. And if you’ve been wondering, we can confirm from experience that vicunas do spit!Shortly after, we got our first view of the Sacred Valley (so named by the Incas), a wide swath of fertile land along the Urubamba river that we’ll be exploring the next few days.One of the commonly visited towns in the valley is Pisac, in part because of its market in town, and in part because of its extensive Inca ruins just outside of town. We arrived at the market before the hordes of tourist buses, but we were not so lucky at the ruins. Luckily the latter are quite large and Juan knew how to find the less-trafficked areas. The archeological site boasts broad terraces and several complexes of buildings but the new thing for us was the cemetery located on an east-facing cliff face. Inca burials took place in holes carved into the rock. Unfortunately, Spanish treasure seekers looted them long ago.The surprise hit of the day was a museum not originally on our itinerary but proposed by Juan as an optional addition. We had already seen several historical museums in Cusco but this one, the Museo Inkariy, turned out to be a completely different experience – much to our delight. The museum features eight different pre-Columbian cultures leading up to the Inca and presents each one with carefully selected, high quality pieces and detailed interpretation, culminating in a dramatic life size diorama complete with sound. (If you ever visit this area, we highly recommend this museum!)Following the museum visit, we travelled to Urubamba where we participated in several activities organized through Turismo Rural Comunito, a local women’s cooperative. After a home-cooked meal, we had a hands-on lesson on chocolate making. The outcome was delicious and we look forward to trying the process at home. (If you know of a good source in the U.S. for raw dried cocoa beans, please let us know.)Next, we visited a ceramics workshop where we tried several stages in the pottery-making process, including grinding stones to make clay, throwing pots on a kick-wheel, and hand painting hardened clay pieces. We weren’t able to take the wet terra cotta pots home with us, of course, but we hope that our painted coasters will survive the journey.The day was capped off with a beautiful hotel (the Iorana in Urubamba), a delicious dinner at the recommended El Huacatay restaurant (try the roast alpaca!), and a ride home in a motortrike taxi (aka tuktuk) – that is a fun, if loud, mode of transportation!