Sacred Valley, Part I

My impression is that many tourists think that they start in Cusco and go directly to Machu Picchu. I suppose you could do this, but there are so many great things to see between the two places. We spent two tour days in the Sacred Valley seeing Inca sites and other interesting things.

I am cheating a little with this first picture. These ruins are just outside Cusco, or, I should say, above Cusco on a high hill. Sacsayhuaman (pronounced a little like "sexy woman"), a fortress of huge proportions (watch this youtube video which shows the site from a helicopter) has some of the largest stones of all the ruins and all are neatly fitted together without mortar. You cannot slip anything inbetween the stones. The wikipedia page shows a lovely panoramic shot without too many people. I am surprised that I could get this photo without any tourists in it since the place was crawling with people.

Our tour guide, Jonathan, asked if we wanted to visit an animal rescue place, and we all agreed that we would really like that. I asked if it was the only place we were likely to see an Andean condor, and he said yes. You can watch a short youtube video here about the Ccochahuasi Sanctuary. We saw two condors, both took short flights, but I did not get a good shot of that. We also saw a tortoise, several macaws, llamas, a puma, a coati mundi, and a falcon, among others.

One of the large Inca sites near Cusco is Pisac where we hiked (mostly downhill) for several hours. Most of the tourists stayed at part of the site which was near the parking lot, but we were some of the few people who got a larger view of the place. When we got past the crowds, it was much more peaceful, and along the way we could hear an Andean flute player. The music echoed through the hills so beautifully, adding that perfect touch to the hike.

At the bottom of the hike, the little town of Pisac awaited with its market. This is what I learned about the Andes that amazed me. First of all, if you look at the variety of this produce, it is, for the most part, from Peru. The mountains have 2 growing seasons, and even in the high elevations, there is no snow. It is winter there now, but the days are lovely and warm because it is close to the equator. The rainy season is from Jan-April. You can not only buy produce at the market, but also any manner of souvenir from alpaca (maybe alpaca?) sweaters and textiles to ceramics and leather and keychains. Sunday is the biggest day for the market, and that was the day we were there. I'm sure the tour planners took that into consideration when coordinating the trip.