Trip to Peru: Sacred Valley of the Incas

Well, I have written myself into a hole here. I didn't mean to write so much about my trip to Peru, but I now need to finish with my last full, eventful day there. We had signed up for a private guided tour of various Inca sites outside Cusco. Allowing ourselves to sleep in a little, the journey began at 9 AM. We piled into the tour van once again with our driver and tour guide, who's name I forgot.

The tour began with a drive up the hills of Cusco, where we were given a great view of the city, which I didn't get a photo of unfortunately. We drove by other sites which we would have seen had we taken the city tour. We stopped several times at scenic outlooks above the city of Pisac, which lies in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. This is the same valley that the train to Machu Picchu travels through, but a different section that we had not seen. The day started out sunny, so the green valley below looked breathtaking.

Our first stop could be considered a petting zoo, but it was a - well, I forget what it was, but it gave tourists an opportunity to feed and learn about llamas, alpacas and other members of the South American camelid (camel) family. It was quite fun, actually, and the stopover ended with time to walk though a gift shop where you could buy locally made goods woven from llama hair. This was to be the theme of the day - at every stop we were either bombarded with locals selling their little crafts, or we were directed into a market, which was to be our next stop.

I guess all tours stop at the street market in Pisac, as the lot was full of buses and vans. We were told that normally people spend an hour here, but since we wanted to cut time off our trip, we compromised on 20 minutes. That time actually went by very quickly and we did buy some stuff. Back on the road, we now had a one hour drive down a road-in-repair before our next and final stop - Ollantaytambo.

The city is still inhabited, with its buildings containing some stones brought down from the Temple of the Sun, which sits on the adjacent hillside. By this time it had started to rain lightly, so we were all wearing our rain jackets and walking in mud or slippery stone streets. We were led up a rather steep and muddy trail to a place where we had a good viewpoint of the city. I don't know if every tour gets taken up here, but we guessed that our guild found us fit enough for the short but tricky climb in the rain. We then worked our way to the entrance to the park, which gave us access to the Temple of the Sun.

Once inside, the guide started talking about the importance of water, wheat, the sun and other natural resources to the Incas. Then he pointed out a natural rock on the side of the hill that resembled an old man's head. You really had to use your imagination to visualize the face, and he then opened a book and showed us a picture that made the figure more clear. The Incas had taken this natural formation and added to it other characteristics such as the sack of wheat on the man's back, which was really a place where they kept wheat on the hill. Once again, without a guide, we would have never of noticed the old man or the llama figure on the opposite hill also made from natural rocks and man-made enhancements.
We then began our walk up the steps to the Temple of the Sun. We were still at a high altitude, and we all tired easily. Our guide, having lived his whole life in Cusco, had no trouble at all. Just like at Macchu Picchu, he pointed out the fine work that went into carving the stones. He said theses large rocks came from the hills on the other side of the valley, so they had to be taken down the hill, across the river and up the steep slopes to their current location. As we continued, there were these indentations in one wall that were acoustically designed, as we found out when we stuck our heads in and talked, hearing our voices reverb deeply within the hole. Our time here was almost over, but we were given one more chance to buy stuff on the way our.

Our tour of the day was basically over, as it would take over an our to get back to the hotel. The ride was very quiet and relaxing and I really enjoyed just looking at the farms on the country side. We had been told that these people cared about only two things, protection and fertility, which explained the meaning of the symbols we saw on each rooftop - two bulls and a cross. They farmed the old fashioned way, with oxen and tools made of wood and metal. I saw young children hearding cattle, wondering how they were able to control these large and powerful animals. Yet in the larger cities, there were school children in uniform walking home from school. What a simple and diverse culture there is in Peru.
Just like yesterday, the driver flew through the towns, passing everybody with no regard for the rules of the road. However, they got us back to the hotel before 5 as promised. The tour was definitely worth the time and price and I'm glad we did it.

After a short break, we went to find a place to eat for our last night in Cusco. We ended up eating pizza, and I tried another beer and Pisco Sour, which made me feel really weird due to the altitude. The next morning we had to check out by 8 but our flight wasn't until noon. We killed some time walking around and using the internet connection in the hotel. Once at the airport, we were early enough to catch an earlier flight to Lima. This actually made the trip to Cusco complete. Every single plan we made was changed for some reason or another. Both flights, the hotel and the train ride. However, I think it all worked out for the better.

Back in Lima, once we found our driver, we went back to the Marriott hotel. At this point we all had mentally ended our trip. All that was left to do was fly home the next day. Since our plane left at 7:30, we needed to be at the airport at 4:30 AM, so the alarms were set for 3 AM. It turns out that for international check-in for flights to the US, it does take some time. Between the time we arrived at the airport and boarded the plane, we must of passed though 10 different check points. There was no way anybody was going to sneak anything on this flight. We departed on time for Miami, and caught our connecting flights to LA and then home. It is good to be home again.