I suspect unless you have been to Peru, you have never heard of Urubamba. As we walked in group of three couples to Urubamba I thought we were traveling to a village. Based on the narrow road that held more pedicabs than cars, I was not expecting much.
The clues seem to appear as my brain was struggling to connect the dots. We passed a pediatrician's office. Not a general practitioner, but someone who specialized in children's medicine. Then we passed a preschool. Then a bigger school. We reached a main square (Plaza des Armes) where people were gathered rehearsing for something. What we didn't know at the time.
One member of our group spoke Spanish so she asked about what was happening. The impression she was left with was they were rehearsing for a festival to take place in the Spring. What we learned a couple of days later was they were rehearsing for Carnavale taking place two days later on Sunday.
Urubamba has about two to three thousand people living in the center of the city (thus giving the air of a small village), but is the hub for a greater agricultural region in the Sacred Valley region supporting 24,550 people in the district, and over 70,000 in the region. Its major industries are white corn, tourism, and altitude acclimation.
I was still feeling a bit off. Though we ate what at the time I thought would be a snack before walking into town, I realized I was no longer interested in bed. I found myself walking slower and slower on our return trip. The group got far ahead of us. Thankfully, Don kept me company. Without him, I may have just sat on a bench and taken a nap. I snapped pictures along the way to help me remember the bustling downtown.
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