On Saturday, my sight-seeing partners were two of my Brazilian housemates, my Peruvian friend Diana, and two (male) Peruvian friends of one of the Brazilian girls. Since we were a mixture of nationalities, we spoke both English and Spanish that day.
The three Peruvians live in Cusco, so they were able to explain a lot of the history behind the sites we visited, and they also knew the ins and outs of the places too. We started by walking from the Cusco city center up to Saqsaywaman. (It is also spelled Sacsayhuamán and various other ways, but all come out sounding like "Sexy woman" with a Borat-style accent.)
Welcome to Saqsaywaman.
Getting here was quite a climb as the old stone streets past the city center climb up into the surrounding mountains. Being fully acclimated to the altitude and now in fairly good shape, I was able to make the climb up without much of a problem.
Not even inside the Saqsaywaman complex yet, and we've already climbed up this high.
And the climbing isn't over yet.
Waiting for the others to catch up.
Look, pretty flowers! Anything to distract my mind from all of the climbing.
There is a fee to enter the site, which is covered by a Tourist Ticket. For one price, you are allowed to enter 16 select sites and museums within a 10-day period. The regular price is 130 Soles. There is also a student price of 70 Soles (age limit of 25, and proper student ID required.) For nearly $35, this was one of the most expensive things that I bought while in Cusco, but it ended up being well worth it.
My ticket to a "ruined" weekend.
Saqsaywaman was an Incan fortress made from cut stone. It is very large, and from the top there are great views of Cusco. Most tourists were gathered in the main area of the fortress walls. You're free to wander around the area as you please, but I am pretty certain that climbing on the stones is prohibited.
Makes me look even shorter than I already am.
A new bride and groom taking wedding photos.
Those views of Cusco that I mentioned.
View of Cristo Blanco in the distance. (More on him later.)
It's a tight squeeze in places.
A rectangular hole in the rock. I don't know if it has any significance. I also hope that sitting in a rock wasn't prohibited.
There also were natural slides. A few people were going down them when we arrived. One of the Peruvian guys said that we all should go down, and my Brazilian friend agreed. He was speaking in Spanish so I misunderstood exactly what he said. Everyone also played rock-paper-scissors without me realizing what was going on. I thought he said for three people to go down at a time, and thus they needed to figure out who the third person was in their group. Since I already lost at rock-paper-scissors, I said that I would go. I didn't realize that I was actually agreeing to being the first person to go down the slide...alone! I was a little nervous climbing up to the starting point, but it ended up being a lot of fun. (Note to self: Keep working on my Spanish!)
There are several different lanes to slide down.
My turn. Weeeeeeeeeee!
After Saqsaywaman, we walked over to Cristo Blanco. This is a giant white Christ statue on a mountain top, and it is visible from Cusco. It is free to walk up to the statue. While it was nice to see, I wasn't overly impressed by it, perhaps because I saw a huge Virgin Mary statue in Santiago, Chile, that was larger than this and in a more ornate setting.
His view.
After that, we walked along a road over to another Incan ruin. Along the way, we passed by some open farm plots with a few families hanging out and having a good time. Diana explained that the families were cooking potatoes in fires below the ground. (The farm plots were basically large areas of dirt and mud.) So in essence, they were having family cook-outs. I asked Diana more about it, and she told me that anyone is allowed to use the land to create their potato barbecue ovens. I loved learning about this, and would have had no idea otherwise what these people were doing, which is another reason why it is so much more fun and interesting to sight-see with a local.
The families baking their potatoes.
The walk to our next destination took at least 20 minutes, and we gained a little bit more elevation too. Q'enqo was a holy site during the Incan Empire. Instead of buildings or walls made from stone, this site seemed to be mostly made of giant rocks in their natural, uncut shape.
Almost there.
Welcome to Q'enqo.
At first I thought this looked almost like a sofa. But I'm pretty sure this was actually used for human sacrifices. All the more reason to not be a couch potato.
A village down below.
Next, we caught a local bus to continue even farther to visit two more archeological sites, Puka Pukara and Tambomachay. Even though the all of the sites I visited that day appeared to have been made of the same type of rocks, it was amazing how different each site looked and had it's own unique characteristics.
Welcome to Puka Pukara.
Almost every site has vendors outside the entrance. There's no lack of souvenir shopping in Peru!
Popular belief is that the walled-in areas were used as corrals.
View of Puka Pukara from a distance.
The dandelions here seemed to have no stems.
Well hello, Mr. Alpaca and Donkey.
Walking from Puka Pukara to Tambomachay. Such a lovely hike!
Welcome to Tambomachay.
Or, more correctly, welcome to the bottom of the long walkway up to Tambomachay.
Alas, Tambomachay.
The best part about visiting Puka Pukara and Tambomachay was that we were far away from the busy city life in Cusco and were in the peaceful countryside with rolling green hills, babbling streams, and mountain views. I didn't realize until that moment, but I had really missed spending some quiet time in nature and taking peaceful hikes. (I would not describe my previous weekend of going to and from Machu Picchu as quiet time in nature.)
The views of Cusco were nice, but I loved this view much more.
On Sunday, the Brazilian girls and I booked a tour to the Valle Sagrado (Sacred Valley.) We paid 30 soles (around $10) each, which included charter bus transportation (with seat belts!) and a tour guide. We made several stops in the Sacred Valley - some for shopping, some for eating, and some for exploring more Incan ruins.
A view along the way. Countryside and a fútbol (soccer) field.
My first glimpse of snow-capped mountains.
The bus. We briefly stopped for a photo op...
...because of these amazing valley views!
Our first real destination was the town of Pisac. This ended up being a stop for shopping. We first were taken into a jewelry shop and were taught how to distinguish "real" silver jewelry. We also learned some of the traditional design patterns used in Peruvian jewelry. Then we were free to explore on our own. There were vendors lined up one after another along the city streets, all selling the usual items such as scarves, sweaters, blankets, and tapestries. I looked around, but wasn't in the mood for shopping, especially since the prices seemed to be higher here than in Cusco. We weren't given very much time either, so with a few minutes to spare I walked a little outside of the tourist area to see what the locals were up to.
Welcome to Pisac.
There are the famous terraces.
There are also buildings above the terraces.
Very impressive!
By now it was mid-day and the tour included a lunch stop in Urubamba. However, our cheap tour price did not include the actual cost of lunch. Let me explain briefly. People on-board the bus booked their trips through several different tour companies which offered different options. Thus, the bus dropped off people at three different restaurants depending on which package they booked, and these restaurants were miles apart from each other. For those who booked no lunch, like us, we could eat at the last restaurant, which was expensive, or fend for ourselves. Since we had about an hour, we decided to try our luck at locating a cheaper restaurant down the street. We were surprised to see that there were actually few restaurants (at least where we walked), so we basically went into the first one we passed. They didn't have any fish or vegetarian dishes, so I ordered rice and fries.
Better than nothing!
A view of city life in Urubamba.
After that, we traveled further to yet another Incan site. Here are some scenes from along the drive:
Almost looks like Arizona!
Okay, time for a game! In the pictures below, can you notice something that all of these buildings have in common, besides being made of bricks, having tile roofs and wooden doors, and being plastered with advertisements?
I hope you zoomed in on the pictures, or you never would have noticed. On the roof of each of the buildings is a cluster of ceramic bulls, known as Torito de Pucará. Usually there is also a cross between the bulls. This is a spiritual decoration which is a blending of Peru's native and Spanish cultures. It is said to bring good fortune, which can have various interpretations, but particularly fertility, protection, and happiness. Over time, the statues and crosses have become more ornate, being made in various colors and decorated with designs and other objects. So, if you travel to this region of Peru, look at the roofs and play I Spy!
The next stop was the archeological site of Ollantaytambo. This was once the estate of an Incan Emperor.
The terraces here are basically one giant StairMaster.
I tend to freak out slightly when having to climb too many stairs. (It messes with my mind, almost like a trance, as well as kills my legs, of course.) I tried very hard to keep my cool though.
Brilliant view! I can see why the Emperor picked this spot.
Our tour guide, Flor (if my memory is serving me correctly.) She could climb stairs like no one's business!
A few more splendid views...
In the town of Ollantaytambo. I didn't get to see much, but it seemed to be very cute and lively. There was actually a huge town festival going on the day we were there, which made traffic a nightmare.
I can't remember if this was taken in Ollantaytambo or along the drive afterward, but here's another mountain view.
It was getting late and was finally time for our last stop. We drove to a viewpoint across from Chinchero, which is another town and former Incan site. While Chinchero can be visited, we only looked at it from a distance.
Chinchero.
The sun was beginning to set, making the view even more dramatic.
At this viewpoint there was a cultural center, if you will. The local people teach tourists about the art of dying and spinning alpaca wool. This is done in an effort to keep the traditional culture alive.
We were shown various natural substances used as dyes.
Wool.
Spoiler Alert: These are not pets. These are a Peruvian delicacy, cuy.
After the "lesson," us tourists were shown back outside to peruse the merchandise for sale by the locals. I was exhausted and trying to save money, so I just did a quick look through the different vendor stands. While waiting to go back on the bus, the Peruvian girls who gave the lesson suggested that my friends and I try on some their traditional accessories. So, we gave it a try.
The hat looked like it was made of felt, but it was hard as a rock and weighed a ton. I am glad they had me try it on, because now I wonder how they keep it on their head and find it comfortable.
A visit to Machu Picchu is typically on everyone's list when visiting Peru and you have to travel through the Sacred Valley to get there. Make sure you take some time to actually visit the Sacred Valley though. It is well worth some exploring!
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