Sacred Valley - Cusco - June 6th

This mornings start was not quite as early as our pickup was at 7:00 a.m., however we did need to be backed to leave our luggage for later pickup.  We realized as we headed to a 6:30 breakfast that the couple from Atlanta, and Brother with his daughter stayed at the Andean as well.  They stayed in Cusco before the trek to Machu Picchu.  The breakfast was European style continental.  We did get eggs to order along with various breads, dips, olives, boiled eggs, etc.  Unfortunately the husband got sick yesterday and was still under the weather.  They opted to stay back and travel with the luggage to our hotel in Cusco.

Janie and I with the two remaining ladies, headed out to Chinchero to meet our guide for the Sacred Valley day tour.  This meant from Urubamba we headed southeast and climbed up the mountains that you could tell were being farmed.  On the other side of the community we stopped at the Artisanal Textile Workshop facility.  We met our guide Alejandro and a new driver (switched vans).  Then we toured the textile workshop with a start similar to the trip up feeding the animals.  This time though we got to see Guinea Pigs and learn about how they clean, spin, and color the Alpaca fur.  Turned out to be a good experience.

Real baby Alpaca that died naturally - good luck charm

Quinoa - Black is supposed to help with stress

Potatoes

Potatoes

To clean the wool, the use hot water with a natural plant based soap.  Then they take the clean (white only) wool and spin it.  Then they take it and using a variety of plants and techniques die the wool.  Amazing how they learned to do this thousands of years ago.

We loaded up and on the other side of Chinchero we stopped at a roadside viewing area.  Of course the stands with clothing and trinkets were there as well as a zip line crew.  The views were the main reason for stopping and they didn't disappoint.  The Sacred Valley is 70 kilometers with the Urubamba River running through it.  The longest valley in the world and of course the longest River in the world as this is the start of the Amazon.

Panoramic View facing SE

Inca ruins and Catholic Church Spanish built when taking over the area

One hill side had Inca ruins that were where they stored food supplies.  There was a Catholic Church built by the Spaniards when they used religion to try and control the local population.  80 percent of Peruvians are Catholic, but still also use many of the Inca's religious concepts for Sky (Condor), Earth (Puma) and Underground (Snake).  As we left this spot we drove by the future spot of a new airport.  The government is planning to build to help with tourism.  We learned that until the government wiped out the terrorist in the area back in the 90's there was no tourism.  Since then it has taken off and becoming a large part of the economy outside of agriculture and mining of copper and silver.  Then we continued on to Masra once a very key part of the Inca empire until the Spanish invaded.

Here we stopped to learn about the salt production from one of the rivers flowing out of the mountains where there are old sea bed salt deposits.  We learned like many communities the government is needed to kick start some industries or economic growth.  In this case granting a community full rights to product and sell.  Left over from the Inca period is the social construct like Co-Ops where all the city people share in everything and family means common group.  Like our guides always called our groups family.

Salt and Chocolate Tasting

Corn drying in the sun

After the salt lesson we drove up to the Moray where we toured the ruins of the area.  Just above us on the mountain is the MIL by Centro restaurant.  3 months advance reservation and very high priced special Peruvian meal.  The owner is a Michelin Star chef (Vergillio Martinez).  The Moray is an archeologic site.  Best way to explain it is managed water collection.  We saw Ibis birds which is the name of our Lima hotel.

Ibis - size of a large duck

Burro with front leg tied to keep from running - head of sheep herding

Farmer herding Sheep and a pig

Then down this long dirt road with what seemed like hundreds of switch backs until we were back in the valley.

View of the valley below as we traversed switch backs

Everything to the west was desert

Mountains all green and lots of farming - east

From Moray we headed to Parque Arqueological Nacional in Ollantaytambo where we picked up the train for the trip to Machu Picchu yesterday.  The park is off the town square where the road turns down to the train station.

This area was a strong hold for the Inca empire as the three valleys converge.   They built the structure to show power and control over the forest tribes that we known for their Coco farming.  Long history on the use of Coco and how the Inca tried to control as the leaf was key to workers productivity.  We toured the area and learned how the Spanish conquered Cusco and followed the leaders here who then ended up at Mach Picchu and beyond before being completely eliminated.  Coco leaves are still used today, but can not be exported.  The leaves are not narcotic and require fields full and processing to make Cocaine.

At the top you see the valley to Machu Picchu facing the opposite direction

This is the Inca trail to Cusco - Tamba is a stopping point for shelter, food and drink all along the trail a key trade route for the Incas.

Across the valley you see more Inca ruins where food was stored - three valleys converge - control point for the Incas with natives to the Northeast and Spanish coming from Cusco during the period of being conquered.

After this tour we drove down to our lunch spot for a buffet of Peruvian dishes.  All was ok, but nothing to write home about.  The Chimichurris were really good.  We ordered a Chi Cha drink which if fermented from one of their types of corn.  It was more wine like, but made similar to the Pisco Sour with egg white topping.

Then the long drive to Cusco and our new hotel the Maybe.  It is close to the train transfer station and about a kilometer from the City Center.  Tomorrow is our 1:oo p.m. pickup for a half day city tour.