Land of the Incas (Part 1)

Before I forget I thought I'd write down the experiences I had in Cuzco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu.  My mum and sister, after some persuasion, finally decided to visit Peru and we decided that since this was a once in a lifetime trip we'd visit as many of the must see sites of Peru.  I'd always dreamt of standing on a rock above the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu looking down on the ruins of a city and a nation of which there is but a shadow now.  So we headed south of Lima to Cusco.

Cusco main plaza with the cathedral

Cusco was the site of the historic capital of the Inca Empire and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1983 by UNESCO.  The city lies at 11,200 ft above sea level.  As soon as we stepped off the plane and walked up the ramp into the airport we felt the effects of the high altitude.  Just walking at a quick pace left us pretty breathless and tired so, the first day we took the advice of our guide and took things easy.  We sipped mate de coca (coca leaf tea) which is supposed to be an excellent cure for all sorts of things including altitude sickness.  To be honest it tastes awful but it really does work.

Mate de coca

We spent the afternoon walking around the many market stalls of Cusco where you can buy all sorts of beautiful souvenirs and pretty coloured cloth and embroidery.  There are lots of street sellers in Cuzco selling everything from silver jewelery to puppies and chickens! Although this is quite a novelty at first,  it quickly becomes quite a nuisance because they do keep nagging on at you till you either manage to out run them or give in and buy something.  There are also ladies who wander around in traditional costume carrying all sorts of interesting things in a blanket on their back - I saw baby alpacas, lambs, babies and puppies.  I was silly enough to stop and start talking to one of these women when all of a sudden she plonked a lamb in my arms and out of nowhere her friends gathered round and demanded a photo.  The catch was that they expected payment and were not happy with a few coins!  They nearly cleared out my purse as I made a mental note never, ever to stand still long enough to attract their attention again.

A stall owner amongst his ware in Pisac

After a lovely relaxing day in Cusco we headed off on an organised tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.  We got into a bus early in the morning and climbed further and further away from Cuzco into the Andes passing through beautiful mountain villages which time seemed to have forgotten: the people still spun cotton, ground corn on mill stones and farmed llama and alpaca.  The women wore  the traditional costume of brightly coloured material and sombreros with long black pigtails down their backs and carried their children in a sling behind them  Its really hard to do justice to the beauty and peace of this area. Its probably the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life and I was sad to leave it all behind.

The town of Ollantaytambo named after an Inca warrior

We carried on up the steep narrow roads through the mountains to the ancient ruins outside the town of Pisac.  The town is well known for its pottery and so we bought souvenirs in the market and had a silver jewelery demonstration where they showed us how they use precious stones from the surrounding mountains and silver from the mines close by to make beautiful Inca jewelery.  Then it was off to Urubamba for a buffet lunch Andean style and onto to our next destination: Ollantaytambo.  This little market town high up in the Andes was probably my favourite place yet.  It was built on a steep mountain side with terraces for farming yucca and camote - the staple foods of the Incas.  We spent a lovely afternoon being told about how and why the Incas seemed to choose to built on the highest mountain tops and in the most time consuming and sophisticated way.  Apparently the terraces and high walls as well as building on a mountain top provided safety from earthquakes and provided a good vantage point to spy out approaching enemies.  We stopped to have some more coca tea (yuck!) in a tiny cafe at the top of a very creaky and narrow spiral staircase.  The cafe seemed to serve as both a place to sit and relax as well as a luggage storage area and the kind man there offered to look after our bags for us as we took a walk through the brightly coloured markets.  That evening as darkness fell we boarded our train to Aguas Calientes from where we were to head to Machu Picchu the following morning.

Sun setting behind the trees as we left Ollantaytambo