In the Sacred Valley, Part I

I'm a few days behind on posts, mainly because we didn't take our computer to the Sacred Valley/Machu Picchu.  So let's pick up where I left off.

During our last full morning in Cusco, we got up to see a few things before we left for the Sacred Valley.  We started at Hathun Rumiyoq, one of the main streets in ancient Cusco.  It took a little while for us to find it because some roads around it were closed off.  But it was worth finding.  The Inca stonework is impressive and the size of the stones that were used is absolutely jaw dropping.  To think that people carved these stones so they would fit perfectly to the ones around it is impressive.  I don't think that I've fully wrapped my mind around the amount of work that went into making this wall.

To give you some perspective, Mike is 6'1.
And the wall also went down.

Our next stop that morning was the Mercado Central. If you're in Cusco, it is worth the visit. One of the first things you see in the market is rows of women working at juice stands, waving menus at people walking by, trying to lure them into purchasing a glass of juice from them.  Mike and I made a mental note to come back.

The juice stands.

We walked around and looked at all the different products that were being sold.  There was just about everything for sale there,  They had cat food, clothes, and fresh meat and veggies, just to name a few.  It was colorful and jammed packed full of people.  I really liked that there were mostly locals there.  And since it was about lunchtime, there were a lot of people crowding the stalls that served a hot meal.  We picked one that was packed with people, sat down, and had a massive bowl of hen soup.  We were lucky enough to get seats at the counter.  There were rows of benches behind the counter so that many people could eat there.  Our soup was really good, but we defiantly got ripped off by the women running the stall because we were tourists.  Granted, our meal ended up being about $6 for the two of us but it really rubbed Mike the wrong way.  But the lesson we learned was to eat somewhere with posted prices.  As we were walking out of the market, we decided to get some juice before we left.  Nothing beats fresh juice.  It was a nice way to end our market adventure.

One of the stalls serving a hot meal.

Then it was off to the Sacred Valley, or more specifically, Ollyantatambo.  Ollyantatambo was built as an Inca administrative center.  It was also the gateway for the Inca's to the Amazonian portion of their empire.  The city was the only one to resist Spanish attacks.

We took a taxi from Cusco to Ollyantatambo.  Before your eyeballs pop completely out of your head, it only cost about $30 to make the hour and a half drive.  It was a beautiful drive.  The Andes are absolutely amazing.  Mike and I kept saying "wow" every time we turned a corner.

This picture doesn't even begin to do it justice.

I'm glad we made to drive.  We were able to see where the locals in Cusco live, the farms and the people working in them, and what other towns in Peru look like.  Not surprisingly, there is a lot of poverty.  What was really interesting to me is that the women working in the fields wore traditional Andean clothing.

Around 3:00, we arrived in Ollyantatambo.  We checked into our hotel, which was surprisingly hard to find, and then decided to go explore.  On the edge of the Plaza Manay Raquy, which is filled with stalls of women selling souvenirs, there is a massive Inca fortress that towers over the city.  We wanted to climb up it, but it was not cheap.  For whatever reason, you couldn't buy a ticket for just that one site but rather a pass to multiple attractions in the Sacred Valley.  So we turned around and left.

The fortress.

Later that night, after dinner, we went to a bar for a pisco sour.  While we were there, we met a couple from Orlando and one pisco sour turned into three.  Over the course of these pisco sours, we learned that the other set of ruins we saw towering over the city were free to climb.  Now three pisco sours doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're close to 9,200 feet above sea level, alcohol hits you hard.  We decided to call it a night so that we could get up the next morning to climb it.

My next post will focus on our morning climb, our absolutely adorable guide, and our train ride to Augas Calients, the jumping off point for Machu Picchu.