Peru Day 1 and 2

I took my first group to Peru in June. We had a group of 19 and 16 of us got to hike the Inca Trail into Machu Picchu. After 26 long hours of flying we arrived in Cusco, where we had a few days to acclimate before we started the trail. We spent our first day wandering around Cusco and getting a feel for the city. They were getting ready for the Inti Raymi festival in a few days so there were lots of dancers and musicians practicing. On day 2, we went to see the salt mines in Maras. Each salt pool is owned by one family and provides most of their income. The pools are fed by a salty spring that runs through an ancient salt deposit in the mountain before it exits the mountain. They've built tiny canals they can use to direct it to their springs. After the pools are filled with about 6 inches of water, it takes 4 days to evaporate to where the salt can be harvested. Next we had lunch by Andean lake where I had the first trout I've ever liked, fresh from the lake, and met our first llama.  We were there during potato harvest, so they also taught us about how they dry potatoes to preserve them. Once preserved, they are good for 20 years! Finally we visited the agricultural terraces of Moray. The Incas could grow all different kinds of crop here since the temperature drops by 5* C between each 3 terraces. This is where the domesticated corn as well as thousands of varieties of potatoes.